Obotrites - Obotritic Confederation Tribes

Obotritic Confederation Tribes

The Bavarian Geographer, an anonymous medieval document compiled in Regensburg in 830, contains a list of the tribes in Central Eastern Europe to the east of the Elbe. The list includes the Nortabtrezi (Obotrites) - with 53 civitates. Adam of Bremen referred to them as the Reregi because of their lucrative trade emporium Reric. In common with other Slavic groups, they were often described by Germanic sources as Wends.

The main tribes of the Obotritic confederation were:

• the Obotrites proper (Wismar Bay to Lake Schwerin);
• the Wagrians (the eastern Holstein as part of Saxony);
• the Warnower (the upper Warnow and Mildenitz);
• the Polabians proper (between the Trave and the Elbe).

Other tribes associated with the confederation include:

• the Linonen near Lenzen,
• the Travnjane near the Trave,
• the Drevani in the Hanoverian Wendland and the northern Altmark.