430 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1049-1294.
of his people, and churches and convents were built at Meck lenburg, Liibeck, Oldenburg, and other centres. But with Gottschalk's murder, in 1066, the realm fell to pieces and the Wend tribes from that time on became the object of con quest to the dukes of Poland and Saxony. Attempts to Christianize them were met with violent resistance. Wends and Germans hated one another.1 These barbarous tribes practised polygamy, infanticide,2 burned the bodies of their dead, had their sacred springs, graves, and idols.
Two centuries were required to bring the territories occu pied by these peoples, and now for the most part inhabited by Germans, under the sway of the Church. The measures employed were the instructions of the missionary, the sword as wielded by the Teutonic Knights, and the colonization of the lands with German colonists. The sacraments and ritual of the Church were put in the forefront as conditions of union with the Church. The abolition of barbarous customs was also insisted upon. The bishopric and the convent were made the spiritual citadels of the newly evangelized dis tricts.
The first to labor among the Wends, who was actuated by true missionary zeal, was the Spanish Cistercian, Bernard. He was without any knowledge of the language and his bare feet and rude monastic garb were little adapted to give him an entrance to the people whose priests were well clad.
Bernard was followed by Otto, bishop of Bamberg, 1102- 1139, who made his first tour at Bernard's instance. He won the title of Apostle of Pommerania. In 1124 he set his face towards the country, furnished with the blessing of Honorius II. and well supplied with clerical helpers. He won the good-will of the Pommeranian duke, Wratislaw, who, in his youth, as a prisoner of war, had received baptism. The bap-
1 Hauck gives illustrations of the cruelties of the two peoples in time of war, III. 90 sqq.
2 They thought nothing of strangling girls when there were a number born to the same mother. Si plures filias aliqua genuisset, ut cetera facilius providerent, aliquas ex eis juyulabant, pro nihilo ducentes parricidium. Herbord, II. 16
§ 74. MISSIONS IX NORTHEASTERN GERMANY. 431
tism of seven thousand at Pyritz has a special interest from its bearing on the practice of immersion followed at that time. Tanks were sunk into the earth, the rims rising knee high above the ground. Into these, as the chronicler reports,1 it was easy to descend. Tent-coverings were drawn over each of them. Otto instructed the people in the seven sacraments 2 and insisted upon the abandonment of polygamy and infan ticide.
At Stettin he destroyed the temple of the god Triglar, and sent the triple head of the idol to Rome as a sign of the tri umph of the cross.
In 1128 Otto made a second tour to Pommerania. He spoke through an interpreter. His instructions were followed by the destruction of temples and the erection of churches. He showed his interest in the material as well as spiritual well-being of the people and introduced the vine into the country.3 His work was continued by Norbert of Magde burg and the Premonst rants.
Vicelinus, d. 1154, the next most important name in the history of missions among the Wends, preached in the terri tory now covered by Holstein and the adjoining districts. He had spent three years in study at Paris and was commis sioned to his work by Adalbert, archbishop of Bremen-Ham burg. The fierce wars of Albert the Bear, of North Saxony, 1133-1170, and Henry the Lion, 1142-1163, against the Wagrians and Abotrites, the native tribes, were little adapted to prepare the way for Christianity. Vicelinus founded the important convent of Segeberg which became a centre of training for missionaries. Liibeck accepted Christianity, and in 1148 Vicelinus was ordained bishop of Oldenburg.
The German missionaries went as far as Riga. The sword played a prominent part in the reduction of the local tribes.
1 Facilis erat in aquam descendere, Herbord, II. 16. The detailed descrip tion of the baptismal scenes leaves not a particle of doubt that immersion was practised.
2 This is the earliest notice of the seven sacraments, provided Herbord's re port is not interpolated.
« Herbord, II. 41.