Changing structures
These three groups - Slavs, Baltic and Finnish tribes - played various roles in the political and cultural development of northern and western Europe, depending on their social structures and the opportunities given them by their locations.
The western Slavs were undergoing important internal changes. Tribal customs were slowly lapsing from the sixth century onwards, yielding to a system that may be called 'military democracy'. Tribal chieftains and the nobility sought to establish their personal sphere of power. They created bands of armed followers, built private forts and increasingly kept more of the tribal wealth for themselves. Their power, however, was balanced by that of the free farmers on their freeholds, who accepted military obligations but had the right to speak on tribal matters at popular assemblies. Gatherings of these warrior-farmers were consequently just as much a feature of society at this time as the bands of personal followers of the tribal chieftains. A lower social stratum of slaves, villains and serfs worked on the manors of the nobles and on the free holdings of the warrior-farmers. The Slav languages still to some extent have words in common for these social strata. The tribal lord was known as Knez or Knjas and the later word for feudal princes developed from this root. For instance, a Knez, Jacza of Kopenick, as he styles himself on his coins, owned Berlin-Kopenick about 1150. The more important farmers were known as Kmetz or Kmets; smaller, more or less independent farmers were called Smirdz. These are the Smerds or Smurds encountered in medieval manuscripts from the Elbe-Saale region and Mecklenburg. Finally, the slave, villain or serf was known as Cholop (Cholp). These social groups are well known from ecclesiastical chronicles, above all those of Thietmar of Merseburg, Adam of Bremen (both of the eleventh century), Helmold of Bosau and the biographer of St Otto of Bamberg who traveled to the towns at the mouth of the Oder. The states which emerged in the territories of the Obodrites and the Poles in the ninth century AD must be seen against this background.
It was a violent and troubled time. Neighbor fought neighbor, tribe fought tribe, kingdom fought kingdom for supremacy. From the documentary evidence we know of various Frankish incursions into Slav territory east of the Elbe from the seventh century onwards, at one point almost reaching the mouth of the Oder. Certain tribes were at times vassals, and some regions on the Elbe and Saale were even annexed to the Frankish Empire. In 929, under Henry l, the Germans began a great attempt to conquer the Slavs as far as the Oder. The archbishopric of Magdeburg was founded by Emperor Otto in 968; there were German bishops in Brandenburg and Havelberg from 948 and in Meissen and Oldenburg from 968. However, a great rebellion of Wilti tribes, who had formed a special alliance known as the Lutizen federation, put an end to German feudal rule beyond the Oder in 983. In the main the Obodrites and the Wilti managed to retain their independence until the middle of the twelfth century.
How did these events affect the social organization of the western Slavs and in what ways did they influence their relations with other tribes in the Baltic? As we have seen, their Mediterranean contacts gave them distinct advantages in technology and agriculture. The introduction of rye in the sixth century, one of the most important innovations, had an important stabilizing effect on Slav agricultural practice. Rye could be grown instead of barley and wheat every third year; we know that this happened, for instance, at the Slav fort of Tornow, south of Berlin. In the climatic conditions which prevail in the Baltic region, rye is indeed a more reliable crop than wheat, even though the preparation of the soil before sowing requires greater care. It was presumably from here that it was introduced to Scandinavia in the ninth and tenth centuries. In other areas, Livland for example, slash-and-burn agriculture was only replaced by rye cultivation in about 1000.
The extraction of iron-ore, in the south, bog iron-ore, increased markedly in all countries around the Baltic from the mid-third century onwards. Iron sickles, scythes, axes, hoes, harness mounts and plough-shares have been found in abundance. In Norway and Sweden, as well as in the lands of the western Slavs, iron ingots commonly occur in the form of axes and other implements such as sickles and spades.
The use in some areas of the collar harness and the breast-strap harness made it possible to extend the use of horse traction considerably. The horse could now be used to pull the plough, as well as the heavy carts and sledges. The Slavs received the collar harness, originally a Chinese invention, from nomadic tribes to the south-east. The breast-strap harness occurs sporadically in late classical times. It was known in Scandinavia by the beginning of the ninth century at the latest. A form of horse collar, on the other hand, a wooden yoke which rests on the withers of the horse and takes the reins, is first attested in the tenth century. This wooden yoke is not depicted on the horse harnesses on the ninth-century Norwegian tapestry from Oseberg. The use of the horse collar alongside the breast-strap harness in Scandinavia is probably due to the influence of the collar harness used by the eastern Slavs. Numerous finds from Novgorod date the use of the latter to the tenth century. Rich Scandinavian chieftains had horse collars ornamented with elaborate incised decoration and metal plaques.
The distribution of the various new types of harness in the various Baltic countries demonstrates how they adapted the basic innovation - horse traction - to their own indigenous farming traditions.
As horses are more effective than oxen it was possible to cut clown on work hours and above all to plough faster. Such an improvement was essential to increased production, especially in regions with light soils where large areas had to be tilled. The horse-drawn plough was almost twice as fast as the ox-drawn, as the chronicler Helmold among others tells us in relation to Slav agriculture in Mecklenburg. With its introduction, the iron-clad plough-share became the basic agricultural implement in the lands of the eastern Slavs, Finns and Baltic peoples.
Other important changes were taking place: goods were being produced to exchange for local raw materials; crafts and industrial activities were being concentrated in permanent centers; above all, production was being reorganized on a basis either of large manors or of the seigneurial establishments of the tribal nobility. Sources of iron ore were increasingly exploited, and salt mines began to be worked on a large scale from the seventh century onwards. One of the first areas to rise to prosperity on this industry was Kolobrzeg in lower Persenta. Other salt mines were located in Mecklenburg and in east Holstein. Quern stone quarries were opened up in suitable areas. Apart from occasional imported Rhenish quern stones and locally manufactured boulder quern stones, central German quarries apparently supplied large areas of the Elbe and Oder regions. Tar was essential to boat- and ship-building and archaeological finds demonstrate the growth of tar-burning in coastal areas later in the period. The extensive forests provided not only local requirements of honey and wax but also a surplus which was important in relation to trade with western Europe and the Arabs. The hunting of fur-bearing animals and the collection and working of amber were also of economic importance. The tribal nobility and the emerging ruling class of feudal lords organized the extraction, working and distribution of such raw materials and natural products, and a great part of their derived from them. The building of fortifications and defended manors, the choice of collecting points, and the establishment of merchant settlements, fairs and trading towns were all part of this organization.