You can mark you interesting snippets of text that will be available through a unique link in your browser.


Wend

Translation
Wend
/wend/, n.
a member of a Slavic people of E Germany; Sorb.
[1780-90; < G Wende, OHG Winida; c. OE Winedas (pl.)]

* * *

Any member of a group of Slavic tribes that by the 5th century AD had settled in the area between the Oder and Elbe rivers in what is now eastern Germany.

They occupied the eastern borders of the domain of the Franks and other Germanic peoples. From the 6th century the Franks warred sporadically against the Wends; under Charlemagne in the early 9th century they began a campaign to subjugate the Wends and forcibly convert them to Christianity. German annexation of Wendish territories began in 929 but collapsed during a Wendish rebellion in 983. A German Crusade against the Wends in 1147, authorized by the church and led by Henry the Lion, inflicted great loss of life. The Wends thereafter offered little opposition to German colonization of the Elbe-Oder region; themselves enserfed, they were gradually assimilated by the Germans, except for a minority in the traditional region of Lusatia (in eastern Germany) who are now known as Sorbs.

* * *

▪ people
      any member of a group of Slavic tribes that had settled in the area between the Oder River (on the east) and the Elbe and Saale rivers (on the west) by the 5th century AD, in what is now eastern Germany. The Wends occupied the eastern borders of the domain of the Franks (Frank) and other Germanic peoples. From the 6th century the Franks warred sporadically against the Wends, and, under Charlemagne in the early 9th century, they began a campaign to subjugate the Wends and forcibly convert them to Christianity. German annexation of the Wendish territories began under Henry I in 929, but the Germans' control of the area east of the Elbe collapsed during a Wendish rebellion in 983. During their periodic rebellions against both Slavic and German overlords, the Wendish peasantry would also repudiate Christianity.

      The German expansion eastward into the Elbe-Oder region resumed under Emperor (Holy Roman Empire) Lothar II in 1125, and in 1147 a German crusade led by Henry the Lion against the Wends was authorized by the Roman Catholic church. This crusade caused great loss of life among the Wends, and they consequently offered little opposition to German colonization of the Elbe-Oder region in the following centuries. German settlers established themselves in the former Wendish areas, and their towns became important commercial centres in northern Germany. The Wends themselves were enserfed and were gradually assimilated by the Germans, with the exception of a minority in the traditional region of Lusatia, in present-day eastern Germany, who are now known as Sorbs.

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

Synonyms:

  
Share  

Look at other dictionaries:

  • wend — гл.; уст. идти идти, направляться, двигаться to * one s way home держать путь домой wend уст. идти; to wend one s way держать путь, направляться (to) wend уст. идти; to wend one s way держать путь, направляться (to) …   Большой англо-русский и русско-английский словарь

  • Wend — may refer to:* WEnd, the marker for the end of a while loop in some computer languages * WEND, a modern rock radio station * Wend von Wietersheim (1900 1975), German generalee also* Wend Valley * Wends * Wendy …   Wikipedia

  • Wend — Wend, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Wended}, Obs. {Went}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Wending}.] [AS. wendan to turn, to go, caus. of windan to wind; akin to OS. wendian, OFries. wenda, D. wenden to turn, G. wenden, Icel. venda, Sw. v[ a]nda, Dan. vende, Goth.… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Wend — Wend, v. t. To direct; to betake; used chiefly in the phrase to wend one s way. Also used reflexively. Great voyages to wend. Surrey. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • wend — v. obs. идти; to wend one s way держать путь, направляться (to) …   Англо-русский словарь Мюллера

  • Wend — (w[e^]nd), obs. p. p. of {Wene}. Chaucer. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Wend — Wend, n. (O. Eng. Law) A large extent of ground; a perambulation; a circuit. [Obs.] Burrill. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • wend — 1> идти, направляться, двигаться Ex: to wend one s way home держать путь домой …   Новый большой англо-русский словарь

  • Wend — ist der Nachname folgender Personen: Arno Wend (1906–1980), deutscher Politiker (SPD) und Opfer politischer Verfolgung Christoph Gottlieb Wend († 1745), deutscher Dichter, Librettist und Übersetzer Hagen Wend (* 1943), deutscher Geistlicher und… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • wend — 1> венед, венет, венд (древнейшее наименование славянских племен западной ветви) …   Новый большой англо-русский словарь

  • wend — /wend/, v., wended or (Archaic) went; wending. v.t. 1. to pursue or direct (one s way). v.i. 2. to proceed or go. [bef. 900; ME wenden, OE wendan; c. D, G wenden, Goth wandjan, causative of windan to WIND2] * * * Any member of a group of Slavic… …   Universalium