The Lake settlement of Behren-Lubchin, as it may have appeared in the eleventh century. Circular in plan, like Tornow and many other forts, it was given added security by being surrounded by water. Access was only by a long bridge; the building of these bridges, several of which have been excavated, was one of the most remarkable achievements of Slav technology.
A land of forts
To the Scandinavians the territory of the eastern Slavs was known as the land of forts (Gardarike). This was an apt description of the Slav lands as a whole, particularly in the region south of the Baltic. The forts were the focal points of settlement and economic, social religious and cultural life. More than two thousand of them survive on the plan between the Vistula and the Elbe. The areas of settlement that grew up around these forts varied in size. Some consisted of between five and twenty villages and were know as Opole in Polish, Gefilde in German and as civitates in Latin. The inhabitants of such communities were bound together by common economic relations. The eastern Slavs and the Baltic tribes had a similar organizational pattern. Several of these units taken together were know as regiones in the Latin chronicles and often formed the territorial base of a tribe or clan. Physically they were cultivated clearings of varying extent surrounded by primeval forests.
On the map, the emerging settlement pattern in central and eastern Europe can be likened to the irregular spots of a leopard. A similar pattern is found in Scandinavia but there the forts and the associated social and economic organization had little importance.
Several forts of the Slavs and the Baltic tribes have been excavated, and it has been possible to gain an understanding of their construction and function. It is clear the different forts had different functions. The earliest and most common were tribal centers or places of refuge. Feldeberg near Neustrelitz is an example of this type of fort, of which several have been excavated in Pomerania and Mecklenburg. Feldberg, whit an enclosed area of five hectares, was at time inhabited by more that a thousand people. The houses were built in rows inside the fortified area. There was a small shrine or temple as well as a water source and a harbor. This type of fort occurred only in the period 600-800 and was then superseded by the forts of the emerging nobility.
Plan of the fort of Feldberg, strategically placed on a headland partly surrounded by a lake (A). A double rampart with ditch between (B) defended the rows of houses (D), tome of which were immediately behind it, tome on higher ground further back. A pond (C) penetrated the defenses, providing a water-supply. On the tip of the headland flood the temple (E).
Another type of fort combined two functions, being both the seat of the tribal leader and a refuge. At Tornow in Niederlausitz both the fort and the village associated with it have been found; an eighth-century fort had been replaced by a later seigniorial castle. The main house was surrounded by nineteen storerooms as well as lodgings for the lord's retinue. The farmers living in front of the fort brought their grain to these storerooms. More than seventy different parcels of grain, stored in wooden chests, clay containers, pottery vessels and sacks, were found during the excavations - obviously the last harvest before the destruction of the fort at the beginning of the ninth century. At a later date the seigniorial castle was rebuilt in front of the fort and the village. The fort itself was left in ruins.
Plan of Tornow. The defensive works consisted of a ditch (A), a fiat platform (B) and a rampart (C). The long entrance (D) was via a bridge and a passage. Inside the enclosure stood a house (E) probably belonging to the tribal leader, with a well (F) next to it. Occupying ail the space round the wall well nineteen store-rooms (G) containing grinding stones and containers for grain.
At Gross Raden near Schwerin, the excellent preservation of parts of the wooden structures has enabled archaeologists to make a reliable reconstruction of a ninth and tenth-century settlement and fort, including even details of the interior and of the implements used. One of the most spectacular finds was16 a ninth-century wooden temple situated on the periphery. The walls of the 10- by 7-metre building were constructed of vertical oak planking, the façade ends of which were carved into symbolic male and female heads. An aurochs head, the symbol of primeval force, was suspended over the door. A finely fashioned pottery drinking cup served as a chalice for ritual ceremonies. The seigniorial castles built after about 900 were of a different character and much better fortified. The castle of the rulers of the Obodrites was situated in, Mecklenburg not fat from the Baltic near Wismar. Mecklenburg is first mentioned as Michelinburg, in accordance with the Saxon way of speaking, in a document of 995. Latin chronicles call it Magnopolis, and an Arab traveler, Ibrahim ibn Jacub, probably recorded its Slavonic name, Wiligrad. The meaning is always the same, 'large fort'. This fort was indeed one of the largest Slav defensive structures on the whole Baltic coast; its wall, made of earth and stone and timber framed, was more than 10 meters high and 12 meters thick, and the area enclosed was about 15,000 square meters. Only the fort of the Polish rulers further south at Gniezno was of comparable size. Apart from a royal palace these forts also contained lodgings for the rulers' retinue of warriors, farm buildings, stables and work shops, primarily for the manufacture of weapons and ornaments. Similar forts also existed in the lands of the eastern Slavs and of the Baltic tribes. Well defended and provisioned, they were virtually impregnable.
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Left: plan of the castle of Mecklenburg, near the Baltic, the seat of the rulers of the Obodrites, it was one of the largest of Slav defensive structures. The wall, timber framed and built of earth and stones, was more than ten meters high.
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Right: plan of the trading centre of Oldenburg, showing the ancient citadel in relation to the later Christian church and town. There was a German bishop in Oldenburg as early as 968.
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They needed to be. Inside them the whole wealth of the tribe, as well as the private treasure of the rulers, was concentrated, and they were the objects of repeated attacks by warrior bands from Scandinavia. One such attack in the 840s is described in the Vila Anskarii, a chronicle by Rimbert of the life and deeds of St Ansgar, a missionary to Denmark and Sweden. 'Then it happened that they [the Danes] had to go to a fat distant fort in the land of the Slavs . . . There they made a surprise attack on the peaceful, unsuspecting inhabitants, captured the fort and returned to their homeland laden with stolen goods and many treasures. In 852 a Danish fleet attacked Kurland: “in this territory there were five regional forts. The inhabitants retreated to one of these after they had learnt of the Danish landing, in order to protect their territory by valiant defense. They were victorious and half the Danes were killed and half their ships destroyed. They won gold, silver and rich booty . . . A renewed attack on Kurland by the Swedes under King Olafled to the capture of the Seeburg. Another fort further inland resisted success-fully and an agreement was reached during the siege. The Swedes withdrew with a ransom and a promise of tribute. These three instances could be considerably amplified. All the evidence shows that the elaborate system of forts protected the tribes on the southern coast from attacks by Franks, German feudal lords and Scandinavians. They were also refuges in times of inter-tribal feud and conflicts with neighboring kingdoms.
The Slavs, however, did not merely sit behind their defenses waiting to be attacked. The Obodrites for instance were within teach of such important centers as Hedeby across the narrow isthmus of Schleswig. At the end of the tenth century their army marched into Hedeby and destroyed it. From the second half of the eleventh century the Rügen Slavs and the Pomeranians began to build fleets, beating the Danes several times and even settling on some of the Danish islands. Similar expeditions probably attacked Gotland, Öland and southern Sweden. Not only have many finds of Slav origin been made in these areas, but, from the mid-tenth century onwards, we find earlier strongholds being refortified, as exemplified by Eketorp on Öland. Marten Stenberger, the excavator of Eketorp, reached the conclusion that the numerous finds of Slav origin were evidence of trade, 'but it may also mean that Öland was occupied by Slavs from the southern coast of the Baltic, as is indicated by Saxo and the Scandinavian Knytlinga Saga'.
The western part of the Baltic was at times known as the Mare Rugianorum, on account of the activities of the fleet of the Rügen Slavs. However, the interaction of the Slav tribes and kingdoms with the Scandinavians was more or less intermittent and sporadic. The main concern of the Slav kingdoms of the Obodrites, the Pomeranians, the Poles and above all the Kiev Rus' was with territorial questions and national administration. There were never any serious national attempts to gain a foothold in Scandinavia.
But war between the Slavs and the Scandinavians was only one side of the coin. Economic, trade and cultural relations were of far greater importance.
Reconstruction of Slav block-houses at Meissen. These log constructions, built on wooden platforms without footings, have left few remains, but can be reconstructed from oak fragments. The carpentry was of a high order, the roof being laid directly on the topmost row of beams. Fireplaces seem to have been close to the door, and the smoke escaped through holes under the gables.