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Thread - "Forgotten" ethnic communities - clans/tribes - in the early phases of Croatian ethnogenesis:
Obotrites/Obodrites/Abodrites
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Obotrites/Obodrites/Abodrites
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Annales Regni Francorum mention (for the year 818) the representatives of new Slavic political units established at the eastern & southeastern borders of the Frankish Empire, including the representatives of the Obodrites.
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Obodrites were a Slavic "people" ("gens") which in Early Middle Ages lived between Elbe river & the Baltic sea. But it's clear from the context of the Annales, as well as from later Vita Hludowici, that there were two groups of Obodrites, northern & sotheastern.
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The SE group of Obodrites had some sort of political organization & territory since in 818 they've sent their own representatives to the Imperial [Frankish] Court.
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In 824 Obodrites' envoyes complained about the Blugarians from whom they were divided by Danube river. The Annales mention how these Obodrites have a second name as well - "Praedencenti" - & that they settle ancient Dacia.
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Two groups of Obodrites ("northern" & "eastern") are known to Bavarian Geographer from the 9th century.
The movement of Obodrites from the North toward the Sout-East is indirectly confirmed by medieval toponyms.
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The movement of Obodrites from the North toward the Sout-East is indirectly confirmed by medieval toponyms.
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One of the centers of northern Obodrites was "Hliuna", which was also the name of one early medieval Croatian županija ("Hlivno" in old Croatian).
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The Annales mention how in 795 Hliuna had been pillaged by Saxons who also killed Višan (Wizzan), the ruler/chieftain ("rex") of the Obodrites. After this conflict Charlemagne himself arrived to this area where he also received a group of Avar envoys.
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(Hleulan/Chleulan is mentioned in 13th century Slovakia. Its inhabitants in Slovakian - Hlewenzky/Chlywensky)
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The ethnonym Clielanin/Cliuelani natione (Hlivnjani), derived from the toponym Hlivno, is mentioned in 12th c. Croatia, but not in Livno. It was mentioned for one Croat tribal community by the lake Vrana. After 12th c. this ethnonym is no longer mentioned in the sources.
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Under insufficiently known circumstances at the end of the 8th c., but certainly during the Frankish war against the Avars, a part of a larger ethnic community known as "Croats" most likely participated in this 7-year long conflict.
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After their conflict with the Saxons in 795, a part of Obodrites, known as Hlevjani/Chleulana, left Elbe river & joined a new community held together by the Croat warriors. A larger part of the Hlevljani clan/tribe came with Croats to the former Roman province of Dalmatia.
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They then settled in one of the large fields (Livanjsko polje) within the future Croatian Principality & were integrated within the Croat warrior stratum. Thus they also probably received rich & fertile land by Vrana lake in the Zadar hinterlad.
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Historians concluded that early medieval ethnic communities had been composite units. In a nutshell, a strong "tribal" core was gathering parts of the neighboring ethnic groups. They were all together under the leading tribe's ethnonym if they were winning.
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Early medieval archeological findings of Livno area
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