Capture of the Wends, set during the 1147 Wendish Crusade
The Wends were a collection of western Slavs that lived near German settlements in Central Europe, primarily in Pomerania, Polabia, and Silesia. The Wends were not one tribe, but several groups of people that included Pomeranians, Obotrites, and Silesians. The term "Wendes" comes from the Veneti Roman-era tribe, who inhabited the coast of the Baltic Sea. From 500 AD to 1000 AD, the Slavs conqured many Germanic lands in Eastern Europe and overthrew the rule of the Holy Roman Empire beyond the Elbe River in the "Great Slav Rising" of 983, delaying Germanization of the region for almost two centuries. However, crusaders from Saxony would launch the Wendish Crusade at the same time as the Second Crusade, and the Wends were conquered in 1147, leading to the Germanization of the region and the fall of the great Obotrite confederation.