They and their
eastern neighbours the Wiltzi, (Germ. _Wilzen_, Lat. _Veletabae_,) with
whom they lived in perpetual warfare, were the most warlike and
powerful among the Vendish tribes. The Wiltzi or Pomeranians lived
interspersed with the Kassubes, a Lekhish tribe, between the Oder and
the Vistula, and were subjugated by the Obotrites in A.D. 782. It was
however only by the utmost exertions, that these latter could maintain
their own independence against their western and southern neighbours,
the Germans. Conquered by Charlemagne, they regained their
independence under his successors, and centuries passed away in
constant and bloody conflicts and alternate fortunes. In the middle of
the twelfth century, however, they were completely subjugated by Henry
the Lion, duke of Saxony and Bavaria. He laid waste their whole
country, destroyed most of the people, and compelled the few remaining
inhabitants and their prince, to accept Christianity from his bloody
hands. In A.D. 1167 he restored to this latter, whose name was
Pribislaus, a part of his kingdom, and gave his daughter Matilda in
marriage to the son of Pribislaus, who, a few years later, was made a
prince of the empire, and was thus gained over to the German cause.
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