History, Wonder Tales, Fairy Tales, Myths and Legends The Flemish | Page 283

Polabian centres were smaller and less numerous then in Western Europe.However,
the diffrence between them and eastern German towns in Saxony and Thuringia, was
not really great.One more issue still has to be addressed.That is an alleged Norsemen
foundation and domination of Wolin.The entire claim is based on the Jцmsviking Saga
of the twelfth or thirteenth century, a rather unreliable historical source. Neither, any
other German written source, or archaeological data supports this fantastic
claim.Wolin developed into a commercial centre during the nineth century, and
declined in the twelfth as a result of Danish raids.
Both written records and
archaeology clearly show its predominantly Slavic character in all aspects of life.Of
course, some Danish and other foreign merchants, craftsmen and mercenaries lived
there, but this is in no way surprising.
Also, it seems reasonable to assume that agricultural changes in the Western Europe
had a profound effect east of the Elbe and Saale between the tentth and thirteenth
centuries. Taking into consideration close contacts with the Germanic people, it would
be hard to imagine otherwise.This in turn would facilitate some population growth. This
claim is supported by the analysis of land usage among the Polabian Slavs,
conducted by German scholar Joachim Herrmann. The finding shows that there was a
25 percent increase in land cultivation and expansion of agriculture in the areas with
heavier soils during the eleventh and twelfth century. That is prior to any significant
Germanic migration into the region. Hence, this suggests that there was asubstantial
population growth in that period in the area east of Elbe and Saale rivers. Even if the
entire population growth had been neutralised by losses during the numerous wars,
which is unlikely in any case, the Polabian population would remain at the tenth
century level.
The above evidence shows clearly that the Polabian Slavs were not hunter-gatherers
in the sparsely populated wilderness, and that such an idea was devised and
perpetuated for German political and chauvinistic purposes. Unfortunately, it is still a
common assumption, due to inability or V