Wendish Crusade

The Wendish Crusade was a 1147 campaign by Saxon, Danish, and Polish forces against pagan Slavic peoples east of the Elbe, fought alongside the Second Crusade.

Second Crusade: A crusading expedition launched in 1147 to recover Edessa and defend the Crusader states. The Wendish campaign was authorized as a northern front of this crusade.
Diet of Frankfurt (1147): An assembly where German princes and church leaders organized participation in the Second Crusade. The assembly helped establish a northern campaign against Slavic peoples as a crusading commitment.
German eastward expansion: The long-term settlement and political expansion of German-speaking populations into lands east of the Elbe. The crusade belonged to a broader process of conquest, colonization, and lordship in the region.
Siege of Damascus (1148): A failed 1148 attack on Damascus by forces of the Second Crusade in the eastern Mediterranean. It shows the campaign’s simultaneous but geographically separate crusading front.
Bernard of Clairvaux: A Cistercian abbot who preached the Second Crusade and urged military action against pagan Slavs. His preaching helped frame the campaign as a crusade and promote its recruitment.
Saxony: A historical region and duchy in north-central Germany, ruled by powerful princes during the twelfth century. Saxon princes supplied leading forces and pursued interests east of their duchy.
Margraviate of Brandenburg: A medieval frontier principality founded by Albert the Bear in 1157 in the region of Brandenburg. Its emergence followed the crusade and embodied the consolidation of German rule east of the Elbe.
Baltic Crusades: Medieval military campaigns aimed at converting and subjugating pagan peoples around the Baltic Sea. The Wendish Crusade is an early episode in the broader Baltic crusading movement.
Obotrites: A confederation of West Slavic peoples centered in present-day Mecklenburg and neighboring regions. They were among the principal Slavic targets of the Saxon-led campaign.
Henry the Lion: A Welf duke of Saxony and Bavaria who expanded his power in northern Germany during the twelfth century. He led Saxon forces and used the campaign to advance regional power.

Linked from 4 pages

OstsiedlungRelated: The campaign joined religious warfare and territorial ambitions in areas affected by eastward expansion.