The Germans and the East

Medieval Colonizationin East Central Europe

27 Medieval฀Colonization฀฀ in฀East฀Central฀Europe ◆฀฀฀Jan฀M.฀Piskorski฀฀฀◆ The French historian Marc Ferro has stated that the phenomenon of colonization emerged in ancient Greece. He understood “colonization” to be the occupation of foreign territories and their later settlement. Between the Roman period and the era of great transoceanic expansion of modern Europe there were not supposed to have been any colonization processes in progress, and the terms “colonizer” and “colonization ” allegedly vanished from the sources. One sort of exception was—according to Ferro—the medieval trade factories of Genoa and Venice, and also perhaps Russian eastward expansion toward the Urals and, in time, to Siberia.1 It is not surprising that the above opinion is rather widely held in the field, although it is usually accompanied by various—although, in my view, inadequately formulated—qualifications. It is, indeed, the case that from the perspective of global events the conquest and colonization of the Americas was of utterly transformative significance.2 However, the modern expansion of Europe would be unthinkable without earlier experiences of colonization related to the extension of Europe’s frontiers, whether southwest over the Pyrenees, southeast to the Levant of the Crusaders, across the Black Sea and Mediterranean by the Italian cities. One might also mention the English colonization of Wales, Scotland and Ireland. Finally, from the lower Rhine to the Elbe and beyond, we are faced with the so-called “colonization of the East.”3 Nor should we forget the great expansion of Russia towards the east, undertaken primarily in the late fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.4 Historical research on the Middle Ages has shown that in the long period between the fall of the Imperium Romanum and the discovery of America (1492) and road to India (1497), colonization processes not only took place, but intensified. Although they took the form of pure melioratio terrae (“reclamation of land”)5 on some occasions and were motivated by expansionism on others, they most often embodied a mixture 28 ◆ JAN M. PISKORSKI of the two. An illustrative example of medieval colonization is the English conquest and settlement of Ireland in the second half of the twelfth century, especially as we are dealing with overseas colonization here.6 It also is impossible to overlook the so-called reconquista on the Iberian Peninsula.7 Many characteristics of colonial conquest and settlement are also to be found in Livonia (today’s Latvia and Estonia), reached by sea in the twelfth century by a modest group of German clergy, knights and burghers.8 The terms mentioned by Ferro also did not vanish from the sources. It is enough to recall the formulation by Helmold of Bosau from the mid-twelfth century on the subject of the transformation of Slavonic western Mecklenburg in unam Saxonum coloniam.9 Sources from the British Isles also speak of colonization. At the end of the tenth century Aelfric of Eynsham explained the term colonia as a peregrinorum cultura, which could only mean “the settlement of foreigners.” Gerald of Wales reflected at the turn of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries on how the English king could rule a conquered Wales. After the expulsion of the old population, he should—according to Gerald—transform Wales into a colony (coloniam).10 Thus when considering the phenomenon of colonization it is clearly not possible to ignore the Middle Ages, and not only in Europe.11 Rather, it is necessary to conduct new and very thorough research into the similarities and differences between colonization processes in the ancient, medieval and modern periods. The opinion widely held among modern and contemporary historians that these processes greatly differed appears somewhat artificial and unfounded, if, of course, we consider these processes qualitatively rather than quantitatively.12 Medievalists tend to distinguish two main colonization waves in the history of medieval Europe. The first embraced Carolingian Europe and occurred in the eighth and ninth centuries. The second, which covered almost the entire continent, began in the eleventh century and gained momentum in the following two or three centuries. Without ruling out the matter of a possible relationship between these two waves it is worth noting that the first had a military character, though not exclusively so, as it usually took the form of Landnahme, that is, the gain and occupation of conquered territories. The second wave was rather based—though again not exclusively—on economic causes. One of the most important features within the framework of the second wave of...