Wends

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Wends (German: Wenden, Latin: Venedi) is the English name for some Slavic people from north-central Europe, particularly the Sorbs living in modern-day Germany. The name is derived from the German term Veneter, used for various non-Germanic tribes (see also Germanic placenames).

The term has not historically enjoyed consistent usage — it is mostly employed specifically for one or two Slavic groups but in the past it was often used as an over-arching term for all Slavic people. As a result, it is still difficult today to present a coherent picture of the Wends as a people.

The term Wends was used in history in the following meanings:

The Franks referred to most Slavs living between the Oder and Elbe rivers as either Wends or Sorbs, while in Slavic literature these people are called Polabian Slavs.
In general, a German name for West Slavic people formerly inhabiting territories of pre-World War II Pomerania and historical eastern Germany. The term Wends was used in connection to all Slavs west of Poland and north of Bohemia — Polabians, Pomeranians and Sorbs. It was also used to denote the Slovaks in German texts before ca. 1400.
German and English name for Sorbs, a Slavic people who moved into Central Europe during the great migration, most likely in response to pressure by the westward movement of warlike peoples such as the Huns and Avars. Some of their descendants, also called Wends or Lusatian Sorbs (Łužyski Serby), still live in Lusatia today, where the Sorbian language is maintained in schools. Many Wends were driven out of the Kingdom of Prussia during the Revolutions of 1848. Many Lusatian Wends immigrated to countries that welcomed them as a source of cheap labor, including the United States and Australia. In the United States, the majority of Wends settled in Texas, where they became some of the earliest members of the Missouri Synod of the Lutheran church. A notable settlement of Wends in Texas is the town of Serbin, in Lee County, where a church, St. Paul's Lutheran Church, stands as a typical example of Wendish architecture. In St. Paul's, the pulpit is located in the balcony of the church.
A Finnish historian, Matti Klinge, has speculated that the words Wends or Vandals used in Scandinavian sources occasionally meant all peoples of the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea from Pomerania to Finland, including some Finnic peoples. The existence of these supposed Finnic Wends is far from clear. In the 13th century there was indeed a people called Wends or Vends living as far as northern Latvia around the city of Wenden and it is not known if they were indeed Slavs as their name suggests. Some researchers think they were related to Finnic-speaking Votians. Between 1540 and 1973, the kings of Sweden were officially called king of the Swedes, the Geats and the Wends (Sw. Sveriges, Götes och Wendes Konung). The current monarch, Carl XVI Gustaf would be able to use the same title, but chose his Royal Title to be simply King of Sweden (Sveriges Konung). Thereby changing an age old tradition.