Pomerania during the Early Middle Ages covers the History of Pomerania from the 7th to the 11th centuries.

The southward movement of Germanic tribes during the migration period had left territory later called Pomerania largely depopulated by the 7th century.Jan M Piskorski, Pommern im Wandel der Zeiten, 1999, p.26, Between 650 and 850 AD, West Slavic tribes settled in Pomerania.Ole Harck, Christian Lübke, Zwischen Reric und Bornhöved: Die Beziehungen zwischen den Dänen und ihren slawischen Nachbarn vom 9. Bis ins 13. Jahrhundert: Beiträge einer internationalen Konferenz, Leipzig, 4.-6. Dezember 1997, Franz Steiner Verlag, 2001, p.15, Jan M Piskorski, Pommern im Wandel der Zeiten, 1999, pp.29ff The tribes between the Oder and the Vistula were collectively known as Pomeranians, and those west of the Oder as Veleti and later Lutici. A distinct Slavic tribe, the Rani, was based on the island of Rügen and the adjacent mainland.Werner Buchholz, Pommern, Siedler, 1999, pp.22,23, In the 8th and 9th centuries, Slavic-Scandinavian emporia were set up along the coastline as powerful centers of craft and trade.Ole Harck, Christian Lübke, Zwischen Reric und Bornhöved: Die Beziehungen zwischen den Dänen und ihren slawischen Nachbarn vom 9. Bis ins 13. Jahrhundert: Beiträge einer internationalen Konferenz, Leipzig, 4.-6. Dezember 1997, Franz Steiner Verlag, 2001, pp.15ff,

In 936, the Holy Roman Empire set up the Billung and Northern marches in Western Pomerania, divided by the Peene river. The Liutician federation regain independence in an uprising of 983 but succumbed to internal conflicts and disintegrated in the course of the 11th century.Joachim Herrmann, Die Slawen in Deutschland, Akademie-Verlag Berlin, 1985, pp.261,345ff In the 960s, Poland integrated Pomerania from its eastern edge on the Vistula River to the mouth of the Oder River and the island of Wolin, and the short-lived Diocese of Kołobrzeg was installed in 1000 AD. Western Pomerania regained independence during the Pomeranian uprising of 1005.Jan M Piskorski, Pommern im Wandel der Zeiten, 1999, p.32, :pagan reaction of 1005Werner Buchholz, Pommern, Siedler, 1999, p.25, : pagan uprising that also ended the Polish suzerainty in 1005Jürgen Petersohn, Der südliche Ostseeraum im kirchlich-politischen Kräftespiel des Reichs, Polens und Dänemarks vom 10. bis 13. Jahrhundert: Mission, Kirchenorganisation, Kultpolitik, Böhlau, 1979, p.43, . 1005/13Oskar Eggert, Geschichte Pommerns, Pommerscher Buchversand, 1974: 1005-1009Roderich Schmidt, Das historische Pommern: Personen, Orte, Ereignisse, Böhlau, 2007, p.101, . 1005/13A. P. Vlasto, Entry of Slavs Christendom, CUP Archive, 1970, p.129, : abandoned 1004 - 1005 in face of violent oppositionNora Berend, Christianization and the Rise of Christian Monarchy: Scandinavia, Central Europe and Rus' C. 900-1200, Cambridge University Press, 2007, p.293, , David Warner, Ottonian Germany: The Chronicon of Thietmar of Merseburg, Manchester University Press, 2001, p.358, , Michael Borgolte, Benjamin Scheller, Polen und Deutschland vor 1000 Jahren: Die Berliner Tagung über den"akt von Gnesen", Akademie Verlag, 2002, p.282, , Michael Müller-Wille, Rom und Byzanz im Norden: Mission und Glaubenswechsel im Ostseeraum während des 8.-14. Jahrhunderts: internationale Fachkonferenz der deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft in Verbindung mit der Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur, Mainz: Kiel, 18.-25. 9. 1994, 1997, p.105, ,

During the first half of the 11th century, the Luticians participated in the Holy Roman Empire's wars against Piast Poland.Joachim Herrmann, Die Slawen in Deutschland, Akademie-Verlag Berlin, 1985, pp.356ff The alliance broke off when Poland was defeated,Joachim Herrmann, Die Slawen in Deutschland, Akademie-Verlag Berlin, 1985, p.359 and the Liutician federation broke apart in 1057 during a civil war.Joachim Herrmann, Die Slawen in Deutschland, Akademie-Verlag Berlin, 1985, p.365 The Liutician capital was destroyed by the Germans in 1068/69,Joachim Herrmann, Die Slawen in Deutschland, Akademie-Verlag Berlin, 1985, p.366 making way for the subsequent eastward expansion of their western neighbor, the Obodrite state. In 1093, the Luticians,Joachim Herrmann, Die Slawen in Deutschland, Akademie-Verlag Berlin, 1985, p.379 Pomeranians and Rani had to pay tribute to Obodrite prince Henry.Joachim Herrmann, Die Slawen in Deutschland, Akademie-Verlag Berlin, 1985, p.367

Migration period

The pattern of settlement in Pomerania started to change in the 3rd century. The prospering material cultures of the Roman Iron Age decayed. Only in some areas a continuity of these cultures is observed until the 5th and 6th centuries.

These changes are associated with the migration period, when Germanic tribes migrated towards the Roman Empire.

Slavic Pomeranians

The 5th century marks the climax of an era that is characterized by a gap between the latest Germanic and the earliest Slavic archaeological findings in Pomerania, that researchers until today cannot explain sufficiently.

Origin debate

The origins of the Slavic tribes in Pomerania are subject to an ongoing debate. One school of thought, particularly popular among German researchers, sees the origins of these Slavs east of the Vistula and postulates a westward migration from there during the 6th and 7th centuries. It does not explain, however, the enormous increase in both the inhabited area and the numbers of the settlers. The second school of thought, popular among Polish researchers, seeks to prove an archeological continuity from the cultures of the Roman Iron Age to the medieval Slavic culture. The third hypothesis postulates that parts of the Veneti were assimilated by the Germanic tribes while the rest became Slavs. No consensus on the subject has emerged.Jan M Piskorski, Pommern im Wandel der Zeiten, 1999, pp.26,27

First appearance of Slavic cultures

The first appearance of Slavs in the area is still unclear and is related to the question of the general ethnogenesis of the Slavs. According to German historiography, Slavic immigration took place between 650 and 850 AD, reaching first the southern parts of the mainland, Usedom and Wolin in the late 8th century, and Rügen in the 9th century. On the other hand, Polish historiography has stressed linkages between Roman-era cultures and later, clearly Slavic, populations.

The first archeological records of Slavs in the Oder area are ceramics of the Sukow type dated back to the 6th or the beginning 7th century.Jan M Piskorski, Pommern im Wandel der Zeiten, 1999, p.29 The Sukow type is also known as Sukow-Szeligi group, Deez type, and Dziedzice type.Joachim Herrmann, Die Slawen in Deutschland, Akademie-Verlag Berlin, 1985, p.27 These findings are associated with the first wave of immigrants from what is now southwestern Poland. For some areas, continuous settlement from the Roman to the Slavic era is suggested on the basis of analyses of pollen name transitions.Joachim Herrmann, Die Slawen in Deutschland, Akademie-Verlag Berlin, 1985, p.27, pp.33ff Farther Pomerania and Pomerelia appear to have been unsettled in this period. Archeological research in Pomerelia is less extensive than that of Farther Pomerania. It has been previously suggested that subsequent appearances of new material cultures were due to other waves of immigration, but it is presently interpreted as a mere technology transfer not involving mass migration.Ole Harck, Christian Lübke, Zwischen Reric und Bornhöved: Die Beziehungen zwischen den Dänen und ihren slawischen Nachbarn vom 9. Bis ins 13. Jahrhundert: Beiträge einer internationalen Konferenz, Leipzig, 4.-6. Dezember 1997, Franz Steiner Verlag, 2001, p.17,

Slavic Feldberg type ceramics, found in a region comprising the Oder area up to the Parsęta river, as well as Mecklenburg and Brandenburg, are dated back to the 7th and 8th century. Feldberg ceramics dominate west of the Oder since the mid-8th century, except for Northwestern Pomerania.Ole Harck, Christian Lübke, Zwischen Reric und Bornhöved: Die Beziehungen zwischen den Dänen und ihren slawischen Nachbarn vom 9. Bis ins 13. Jahrhundert: Beiträge einer internationalen Konferenz, Leipzig, 4.-6. Dezember 1997, Franz Steiner Verlag, 2001, p.13, This ceramic type is associated by some researchers with subsequent waves of migration from Silesia, Bohemia and Lesser Poland.

The Bavarian Geographer's anonymous medieval document, compiled in 830 in Regensburg, contains a list of the tribes in Central-Eastern Europe east of the Elbe. It mentions among others the Uuilci (Veleti) with 95 civitas, the Nortabtrezi (Obotrites) with 53 civitas, the Milzane (Milceni) with 30 civitas, and the Hehfeldi (Hevelli) with 14 civitas.

Pomerelia has also been settled by Slavs in the 7th and 8th century. Based on archeological and linguistic findings, two hypotheses have been put forth: one posits that these settlers moved northward along the Vistula river, and another views them as the Veleti moving westward from the Vistula delta.

Slavic settlement extended to Western Pomerania in the 9th century and possibly as early as the 8th century.Horst Wernicke, Greifswald, Geschichte der Stadt, Helms, 2000, p.21, Dense Slavic settlement before the 9th century is especially unlikely for the northern areas, where findings of Feldberg ceramics are very rare. Freesendorf ceramics however, which became popular in the course of the 9th century, are found abundantly in northwestern Pomerania, too.Ole Harck, Christian Lübke, Zwischen Reric und Bornhöved: Die Beziehungen zwischen den Dänen und ihren slawischen Nachbarn vom 9. Bis ins 13. Jahrhundert: Beiträge einer internationalen Konferenz, Leipzig, 4.-6. Dezember 1997, Franz Steiner Verlag, 2001, p.14,

Soon after the Slavic settlement, Gords fortified with walls of wood and clay were built. One of the oldest gards is the stronghold of Dragovit, king of the Veleti, that was targeted by an expedition led by Charlemagne in 789 and is thought to be at modern Vorwerk near Demmin. The Slavs modeled their burghs and armament following West Central European standards, yet in the 8th and 9th century, the density of burghs in Mecklenburg and Pomerania became exceptionally high compared with other territories.Ole Harck, Christian Lübke, Zwischen Reric und Bornhöved: Die Beziehungen zwischen den Dänen und ihren slawischen Nachbarn vom 9. Bis ins 13. Jahrhundert: Beiträge einer internationalen Konferenz, Leipzig, 4.-6. Dezember 1997, Franz Steiner Verlag, 2001, p.18,

Tribal and territorial organization

By the 9th to 11th century the region was recorded as inhabited by various tribes belonging to the Lechitic group of the West Slavs. The small tribes dwelling west of the Oder river were known collectively as "Veleti" (Wilzi), since the late 10th century as "Lutici" (Lutici), the tribes further east as "Pomeranians". Another distinct tribe, the Rani, lived on the island of Rügen and the adjacent mainland. These tribes spoke Polabian (Veleti, Rani) and closely related Pomeranian (Pomeranians) dialects. A Frankish document titled Bavarian Geographer (ca 845) mentions the tribes of Volinians (Velunzani), Pyritzans (Prissani), Ukrani (Ukri) and Veleti (Wiltzi) around the lower Oder.

From the 9th to the 11th century, at least ten Pomeranian tribes dwelled between the Oder and Vistula river. They are not known by name except for the Volinians and Pyritzans. It is not known if these tribes ever formed any kind of a tribal union. It is also possible that on the two sides of the river, the tribes were split from the beginning into eastern and western Pomeranian groups, with the latter possibly related to the Veleti.Jan M Piskorski, Pommern im Wandel der Zeiten, 1999, p.30