Eastern colonization

Ostsiedlung (German pronunciation: [ˈɔstˌziːdlʊŋ], literally east settling), in English called the German eastward expansion, was the medieval eastward migration and settlement of Germanic-speaking peoples from the Holy Roman Empire, especially its southern and western portions, into less-populated regions of Central Europe, parts of west Eastern Europe, and the Baltics. The affected area roughly stretched from Estonia in the north all the way to Slovenia in the south and extended into Transylvania, modern day Romania in the east. In part, Ostsiedlung followed the territorial expansion of the Empire and the Teutonic Order.

At first, Ostsiedlung followed the territorial expansion of the Holy Roman Empire (usually called German Empire) and the Teutonic Order. After incidental invasions with a crusading intention by Charlemagne, the Slav inhabited region between the Elbe/Saale and the Oder river, was frequently invaded by Saxon and Frankish lords of the Empire from 930 on, yet it took them two centuries to get hold of these lands. Not before the end of the 12th century these imperial lords succeeded in establishing the duchy of Mecklenburg, the margraviate of Brandenburg and a second duchy of Saxony (an offspring of the original one in Westphalia and Eastphalia). These processes were accompanied by violent occupations and rewarded with revolts. The lords and alongside the archbishop of Magdeburg used christianisation as an effective way to a lasting control of power but not without colonisation by servants from their western domains. After 1180 the Slavic ruling class was definitely enthroned or incorporated in the ranks of the imperial nobility. Side by side, lords, bishops and monasteries started to recruit farmers, tradesmen and artisans and of course clericals from their Saxon and Frankish homelands. A dense net of walled towns and fortified village churches arose. The colonization prospered and doubled the population each following generation. After a while, across the Oder river Slav lords, particularly the Piast dukes of Silesia and the Griffin dukes (Greifen; Gryfici) of Pomerania, connected to the Polish kingdom, became anxious to develop their lands in the same way in cooperation with knights and monasteries.

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