Nadbałtyckie, połabskie i pomorskie uzupełnienia do prac o jeniectwie w średniowieczu (część pierwsza)
Baltic, Polabian and Pomeranian Supplements to Research on Captivity in the Middle Ages (Part One)

Summary/Abstract: Polish historical literature has recently seen a renewed interest in thefate of prisoners of war who fell into captivity in the numerous bat-tles fought during the Middle Ages. Due to the availability of histori-cal sources, particular attention has been paid to the fourteenth andfifteenth centuries, although, of course, relatively few examples ofcaptives from the earlier period have been discussed. In this respect,chronicles illustrating armed conflicts between the Polish or Polish‑Lithuanianstate and the Teutonic Order have been particularly use-ful. What came as an important point of reference for historians werealso cases of prisoners of war described in Western European sources.So far, there has been no broader study of medieval captives whichwould focus on the Slavia. This term first referred to the territoriesinhabited by the Polabian Slavs, from Holstein to the borders of West-ern Pomerania. At the end of the twelfth and in the thirteenth century,it came to be used for medieval Mecklenburg and Western Pomerania.From the perspective of the Kingdom of Denmark, it was still a muchwider area. The present study attempts to trace and discuss cases ofcaptivity in the geographical area in question.The work covers mainly the years 1177–1320, from the conflict overthe Saxon inheritance after the death of Henry the Lion, in which not onlyGerman, but also Mecklenburg and Pomeranian rulers took part, to theextinction of the Brandenburg margraves from the Ascanian dynasty. Waror conflict was an important tool of the policy of members of this dynasty,particularly experienced by other feudal lords from the area under study.Considering that the source material is quite extensive, for editorialreasons the study has been divided into parts. The first part coversthe period until the end of the twelfth century.

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