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Arminius1871 — German eastern settlement in the middle ages
#österreich #austria #brandenburg #colonisation #danzig #deutsche #deutschland #east #eastern #german #germany #geschichte #history #karte #map #osten #prussia #schlesien #settlement #siebenbürgen #silesia #pommern #sudetenland #ostpreußen #pommerania #ostsiedlung #ostkolonisation
Published: 2015-12-05 10:45:31 +0000 UTC; Views: 24827; Favourites: 140; Downloads: 326
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I was not really satisfied with this:So I made a new one, with my reference sadly only until the 14th century. There were
more settlement waves in the coming centuries, especially after the Turk wars and also
in the eastern part of East Prussia.
Short history:
Afte the great peoples migration time and the fall of the Roman Empire, most germanic
tribes left East Europe and migrated west- and southwards, creating the basis for many
coming european nations (Spain: Western Gothic Empire; France: Frankish Empire;
Italy: Eastern Gothic Empire and Langobards; England: Anglo-Saxons; Germany: several germanic tribes)
Not all Germanics left the areas, but were assimilated with the coming slavic tribes.
During the early middleage an age with a warm climate began and the Germans had a great
fertility rate. New agricultural technology enabled more food for the people and very often
the kings in the east (Poland, Hungary, Bohemia...) called for german settlers to get new tax payers
and western european laws and technology (Magdeburg and Lübeck law), or as defenders against
the invaders from Asia (Mongolstorm, Tartars, Huns, Turks etc.).
But the reason why they started to colonize the area between Saale and Oder river at all was,
that during the rulership of king Heinrich (10th century), slavic tribes invaded the kingdom and so the
Germans started to strike back and create "Marken" (borderland fortification areas). Beside the later
rather peaceful settlement (for example in Silesia), this were rather bloody battles. Also religion
and power reasons played a role of course.
The earlierst territory that was colonized by Germans, was Austria (German Eastern Mark/ borderland).
The german tribe of the Bavarians moved first along the Danube and Inn river, down to South Tyrol
and the area where now Vienna is and later on they moved into all the eastern alpine valleys.
The teutonic order had also a lot of battles with non-christians tribes, especially in Poland
and the baltic territories. They needed german settlers to secure supply, that´s how
Prussia was born (the german settlers also mixed with the baltic Pruzzen). That´s also a reason
why many baltic cities look rather german (Hansa architecture).
The german eastern settlement stopped when the plague haunted Europe. But smaller settlements
especially after the last Turk wars came up again along the Danube and in Siebenbürgen (Trannsylvania).
The history of the german culture in the east ended, when Stalin ordered in 1945 with permission of the western allied powers to deport or murder 15 million Germans from these territories. Only tiny minorities are left today.
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Wikipedia:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ostsiedl…
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Comments: 112
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That doesn´t mean that the German spirit can´t be an inspiration for you.
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And what is the german spirit?
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The Prussian virtues and the peak of our culture in 1914
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This map doesn't show many details, just only a very general outline. Most of those areas painted as Germans setlements became germanized much later than claimed on the map, or in a case of german islands in the East, they were totally mixed with domination of nongermans. It is rather a start of a long germanizing process. Which on some of those areas had not ended before IIWW at all.
Example rural Silesia was polish speaking well into early modern period, and in the case of Upper Silesia it have remained to IIWW. Only the process of german settling started there in 13th century, which at first was mostly in cities and in some rural areas. Later local polish speaking population culturally and linguistically germanized itself. Yet many of them remained polish, so there were fightings in Upper Silesia. Even the local branch of the Piast Dynasty germanized.
In a case of Western Pomerania. There was a similar thing as in Silesia. The map shows only the start of the process, when local peasants spoke their own local slavic dialects much longer. I have seen some years ago a map of areas between Danzig and Kolberg which shown where in rural lutheran churches were hold last masses in slavic dialects, mostly dates from 17th-20th century step by step from the West to East.
In a case of Silesia, the german high culture was atractive to local princess and knight, and they were among the first ones who adopted German language, although there was one local princes near Opole, who didn't know German at the end of 15th century. In this process also helped severing ties with the Kingdom of Poland, which after the extinction of the Piast Dynasty losed interests in the East, instead of plunging into the adventures in the East and internal conflicts of the nobility trying to get more power.
Also there is a difference betwen Bohemia and Poland. In Bohemia the kings were mostly germanized and had german culture in high regard and German was the language of the court, when in Poland it might have happened the same in 13th/14th centuries if some other than Władysław Łokietek would have became the king. His court and his son's court were Polish speaking, and it remained after them, that the polish royal court spoke Polish and the aristocracy, so it was a stimulus to developing the polish culture. And later in 16th and 17th centuries the polish nobility culture was that hight and had that high self estem, that they were totally non interesting of germanization, but originally german nobles/knights form areas of the former Teutonic Order State polonized themselves.
Dots about the german law in cities, also don't mean the german population of those cities. This law was just good and a common way to organize cities in those areas. So Polish aristocrats and kings granted german laws for their towns. There are even cities in the far east of the map, which got this law. And this didn't have anything with Germans at all.
A case of Kraków. This city was granted with the german law in 13th century. Most of the city elite in early 14th century were Germans and supported Bohemian kings in their wars with Władysław Łokietek. So after mayor Albrecht's mutiny Łokietek payed back them with the sacking of the city and slaughter of anyone who didn't know Polish. There was a famous shibboleth coined: Soczewica, koło, młyn, miele.
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Yes it´s a very general map, it shows where Germans lived in significant number, not just where they were a majority.
The other informations you listed up are very interesting, thanks for the input, I read everything
There were even slavic rests in "Western" Pomerania, but when the Swedes invaded there, they killed them off.
What you must understand is, that in those times it was usually no ethnical or racial reason. That came only up in the 19th century slowly.
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I understand about racial and ethinical reasons in the pre 19th century times.
But that is the fact, that there was on those areas mostly a slow process of germanization and adopting german identity by elites, instead of a plain german colonization, except small areas, which were settled by settlers who came from the West, but also in many areas those settlers polonized, just like in those colored areas in your map in the polish part of the Carpathian Mountains, on in polish cities.
Begginings of the national identity we can see among elites in 15th or 16th century, they knew that they were Poles, not Germans, or in the other side. During the double election in 1587 were elected a swedich prince, but from the jagielonian mother Sigismundus Vasa, and Maximilian Habsburg. Oponnents of Maximilian, who later prevailed, chanted: aż do gardeł naszych nie chcemy Niemca. It is an indiom, but means something like they very very much didn't want a German. So they knew that they were Poles, and Maximilian was a German.
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Ofc they all know that they are German or Polish etc., but usually it didn´t matter as much as religion yet.
And yes it´s true, the native Silesians weren't genocided they mixed up and were actually expelled in 1945 then.
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Na klar, die deutschen Händler vor allem durch die Hanse waren so gut wie überall.
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In nennbaren Mengen? also ich meine gab es da richtige Siedlungskolonien von deutschen?
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In Wiburg schon, ansonsten halt kleinere Familien.
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Wurden die darauf nach und nach assimiliert?
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Denke ja, die Wiburger wurden aber glaub ich von Russen vertrieben.
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Arrrrrgg diese Russen schon wieder
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Really good! But you forgot Rigan and Baltic settlers)
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Ah it´s old there were probably not on my basemap XD
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wow very good map ^^ your maps are ever the best 
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Thanks so much! I did it once, but the old map was ugly so I deleted it XD
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German settlements in... Romania? What happened there?
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Huns and Turks happened there XD
The invasions from the east depopulated these regions, so the hungaryan king called Germans to secure the borderlands
and also for farming and new taxes ofc. The Germans simply shipped down the danube river and settled along it or in
neighbour regions. We all know what happened from 1945 on with the eastern Germans, they were expelled or even killed.
The last one who stayed left after 1990, and only very very few are still there.
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They were mongols and cumans, but indeed, population was exterminated several times. For example, ottomans often used tatar armies to punish the rebellious hungarian leaders (Bethlen Gábor and his successors), and of course the population. The territory was rich in minerals, such as metals and salt, so Transylvania and later the Habsburgs were forced to repopulate it, due to economical reasons.
Hungarian history is full of tragedies, after the death of Mathias Corvus (Hunyadi Mátyás), who was in fact... a tyrant. 
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Yes but the Ottomans maybe avoided a rise of Hungary to a great power of Europe
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To be honest, i don't think, we had a chance. Even if we would had strong economy, our nobles always tried to use the situation on their behalf. We have a phrase: magyar magyarnak farkasa (hungarian is a wolf to other hungarians), and dögöljön meg a szomszéd tehene is (I wish, the the death of the neigbours cow). Even Mathias Corvus was aware, he couldn't win against the turks. His father, János Hunyadi won several times against them, but at those times Ottomans were just before the peak of their power.
Whatever, luckily we survived, just as serbs, croats, romanians and bulgarians after decades and centuries of occuppation.
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That is the same with the Germans, while France and Britain centralized our tiny states
fought against each other :/
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Very interesting and beautiful map. There's something about the font I find a bit off for a map like this, but it works.
Have you read A Terrible Revenge by Alfred-Maurice de Zayas? Very good book!
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Thansk^^ Oh should I make the font historical?^^
I heard about it
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Nette Karte.... aber wo ist der Neusiedler See? 
Ansonsten sehr detailiert, gute arbeit.
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Danke, ja bei der Vorlage waren fast gar keine Seen, nur ganz große, die ganzen bayerischen fehlen auch^^
danke!
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Where there Germans too? I don´t know where it is exactly.
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I see a lot of quite large settlement areas that were no longer settled by Germans by around 1900, is that correct? Like the Austrian extension around Tyrnau (I knew Pressburg was a German city, but did concentrated German settlement-area reach this far into Slovakia?
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The one at Pressburg lasted rather long, it changed with the 1. world war,
the Germans from cities like Marburg an der Drau left by their own, cause they
didn´t to become minorities or were forced to leave. Not as brutal as in ww 2.
but also forced.
Slovakia was still settled after that, especially in Käsmark and Zips, but don´t forget this
spots on the map don´t mean there live only 100% Germans, it was also mixed always.
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But I mean, there are also quite a few German-speaking (be it mixed) areas that faded away between 1400 and 1900, right? Because a lot of the Sprachinseln that I see on this map were smaller or nonexistent in ethnic maps of 1850-1914, like this one: upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia… (this one is from 1855).
So I mean, is it correct that some areas settled (sometimes in part) by Germans vanished or were assimilated between 1400 and 1900? Like the connection of Brünn, Wischau and Iglau to the Sudetenland, the German Sprachinsel around Kolin, Kuttenberg and Tschaslau, the German area around Tyrnau and the German Sprachinsel around Königsberg, Schemnitz and Karpfen in Slovakia, to name a few examples?
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The german regions that faded away I know was especially the link
between the huge Iglau language island in Bohemia, I think because of
the Hussits.
And don´t forget some might just naturally disappear. Yes it is indeed possible.
It´s also possible that mixed up and later didn´t know anymore they´re Germans.
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That map really needed some time, I´m glad you like it
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This tells me where my German cousins live at.
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Thank for the map.
According to
www.dfk-danzig.de/
in my beloved Stadt Danzig there is about 2000 of native people. Mostly elderly as younger generation moved to the west in few waves of emigration from soviet controlled Poland.
Poles still hate Germans but it is possible to live in Danzig for a German now. I know few people who are born in Danzig before 1945 or their descendants who moved back to Danzig and surroundings. Does it reverse a history a bit? I wish it does.
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Yes a tiny minority is still there, and even a few dozen in East Prussia.
A tiny bit yes, but the land in the east seems lost, at least I don´t see
anything that would change it in the next decades.
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You could mention something like, most famous:
Slovakia: Rudolf Schuster
Romania: Klaus Iohannis
also why is some part of map out of corner/square?
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Wow didn´t know about Rudolf Schuster!
Cause else the transylvania settlements wouldn´t be on the map anymore. Same for the other parts.
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Yeah, (Only half), I didn't know that either
I also discovered Emil Páleš, (a guy his work I like), is also from Carpathian Germans descendants.
He's kinda panslavist, but also study aryan culture he was recently in Iran/Persia.
Also when it comes to immigration he explained how back then, his family was offered by someone from Germany to come there not because they were Germans but mainly because they wanted them as work force, since his parents were dentists (Master's Degree) so they get offer 10 times higher salary and flat if they come to Germany, it was almost newer about (moral bullshit) refugees, but, about Gemrany demand for qualified workers.
Also in Moravia started DNA research to find descendants from Greate moravia and of Saints Cyril and Methodius for free, but, it is prefered to have old name and be from that region.
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nah, I would have to travel, to give my saliva sample
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