Editing Wends (section)

===Decline (1000–1200)===
{{Main|Wendish Crusade}}
After their successes in 983 the Wends came under increasing pressure from Germans, [[Denmark|Danes]] and [[Polish people|Poles]]. The Poles invaded [[Pomerania]] several times. The Danes often raided the Baltic shores (and, in turn, the Wends often raided the raiders). The Holy Roman Empire and its [[margrave]]s tried to restore their marches.

In 1068/69, a German expedition took and destroyed [[Rethra]], one of the major pagan Wend temples. The Wendish religious centre shifted to [[Cape Arkona|Arkona]] thereafter. In 1124 and 1128, the Pomeranians and some Lutici were baptised. In 1147, the ''[[Wendish Crusade|Wend crusade]]'' took place in what is today north-eastern Germany.

This did not, however, affect the Wendish people in today's [[Saxony]], where a relatively stable co-existence of German and Slavic inhabitants as well as close dynastic and diplomatic cooperation of Wendish and German nobility had been achieved. (See: Wiprecht of Groitzsch).

In 1168, during the [[Northern Crusades]], [[Denmark]] mounted a crusade led by Bishop [[Absalon]] and King [[Valdemar I of Denmark|Valdemar the Great]] against the [[Rani (Slavic tribe)|Wends of Rugia]] in order to convert them to Christianity. The crusaders [[Siege of Arkona|captured and destroyed Arkona]], the Wendish temple-fortress, and tore down the statue of the Wendish god [[Svetovid|Svantevit]]. With the capitulation of the Rugian Wends, the last independent pagan Wends were defeated by the surrounding Christian feudal powers.

From the 12th to the 14th centuries, Germanic settlers moved into the Wendish lands in large numbers, transforming the area's culture from a Slavic to a Germanic one. Local dukes and monasteries invited settlers to repopulate farmlands devastated in the wars, as well as to cultivate new farmlands from the expansive woodlands and heavy soils, with the use of iron-based agricultural tools that had developed in Western Europe. Concurrently, a large number of new towns were created under [[German town law]] with the introduction of legally enforced markets, contracts and property rights. These developments over two centuries were collectively known as the {{Lang|de|[[Ostsiedlung]]}} (German eastward expansion). A minority of Germanic settlers moved beyond the Wendish territory into Hungary, Bohemia and Poland, where they were generally welcomed for their skills in farming and craftsmanship.

The [[Polabian language]] was spoken in the central area of [[Lower Saxony]] and in [[Brandenburg]] until around the 17th or 18th century.<ref>[[Harry van der Hulst]]. ''Word Prosodic Systems in the Languages of Europe.'' Walter de Gruyter. 1999. p. 837.</ref><ref>[[Britannica Online Encyclopedia]]. [http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/335581/Lekhitic-languages#ref32572 Lekhitic languages]. {{Retrieved| access-date=2013-03-09}}</ref> The German population assimilated most of the Wends, meaning that they disappeared as an ethnic minority - except for the [[Sorbs]]. Yet many place names and some family names in eastern Germany still show Wendish origins today. Also, the [[Duke of Mecklenburg|Dukes of Mecklenburg]], of [[Principality of Rügen|Rügen]] and of [[Dukes of Pomerania|Pomerania]] had Wendish ancestors.

Between 1540 and 1973, the kings of [[Sweden]] were officially called ''kings of the [[Swedish people|Swedes]], the [[King of the Goths|Goths]] and the [[King of the Wends|Wends]]'' ({{Langx|la|Suecorum, Gothorum et Vandalorum Rex}}; {{Langx|sv|Svears, Götes och Wendes Konung}}). After the Danish monarch [[Queen Margrethe II]] chose not to use these titles in 1972 the {{as of | 2013 | alt = current}} Swedish monarch, [[Carl XVI Gustaf]] also chose only to use the title King of Sweden" ({{Lang|sv|Sveriges Konung}}), thereby changing an age-old tradition.

From the Middle Ages, the kings of [[Denmark]] and of [[Denmark–Norway]] used the titles ''King of the [[King of the Wends|Wends]]'' (from 1362) and ''[[King of the Goths|Goths]]'' (from the 12th century). The use of both titles was discontinued in 1973.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://lagen.nu/1973:702 |title=Kungl. Maj:ts kungörelse med anledning av konung Gustaf VI Adolfs frånfälle |publisher=Lagen.nu |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140712202406/https://lagen.nu/1973:702 |archive-date=12 July 2014}}</ref>