Those who came over the
northern Vistula, settled along the coasts of the Baltic as far west
as to the Elbe and Saale, and as far south as to the Erzgebirge (Ore
Mountains) on the borders of Bohemia.
These Slavic tribes were called by the Germans, _Wenden_, Lat.
_Venedi_, for which we prefer in English the form of _Vendes_, rather
than that of Wends. It appears indeed that this name was formerly
applied by the Germans indiscriminately to all the Slavic nations with
which they came in contact; for the name _Winden_, Eng. _Vindes_,
which is still, as we have seen, the German appellation for the
Slovenzi, or the Slavic inhabitants of Southern Germany, is evidently
the same in a slightly altered form. The name of _Wenden_, Vendes,
became, however, in the course of time, a specific appellation for the
northern German-Slavic tribes; of which, at the present day, only a
few meagre remnants are left. They were nevertheless once a powerful
nation. Five independent branches must be distinguished among them.
We first name the _Obotrites_, the former inhabitants of the present
duchies of Mecklenburg, and the adjacent country, west, north, and
south. They were divided into the Obotrites proper, the Wagrians in
Holstein, and the Polabae and Linones on the banks of the Elbe and
Leine; but were united under a common chief or king.
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