Vends

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Vends were a small tribe who in the 12th-16th century lived in the area around the town of Wenden (now Cēsis) in what is now north-central Latvia. The origin of the Vends and their language is disputed; sometimes they are associated with the Western Slavic Wends, while other researchers believe they spoke a Finnic language and were related to the neighboring Livonians and the Votians.

Prior to their arrival in the area of Wenden in the 12th century, the Vends are believed to have settled by the Venta River near the present city of Ventspils in western Latvia. Their proximity to more numerous Finnic and Baltic tribes inclined the Vends to ally with the German crusaders, who began building a stone castle near the older Vendian wooden fortress in 1207. The castle of Wenden later became the residence of the Master of the Livonian Order.

Vends may have a connection with the national flag of Latvia. The Rhyme Chronicle of Livonia (Livländische Reimchronik) states that in 1290 when the local militia was recruited to defend Riga, they came from Wenden with a red banner crossed by white, "in the manner of the Vends".

The last known record of the Vends' existence as a distinct entity dates from the 16th century.

See also
 This article about an ethnic group in Europe is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../v/e/n/Vends.html"
Advanced Search
Included Web Search Engines


Safe Search

close

Top Matching Results

Occasionally Search.com will highlight specialized results that are based on the context of your query. Examples of specialized results include specific links to news, images, or video.

Top Matching Results may highlight information from other Search.com pages, content from the CNET Network of sites, or third party content. The listings are based purely on relevance. Search.com does not receive payment for listings in this section but our partners that provide this data may get paid for listing these products.

Sponsored Links

This section contains paid listings which have been purchased by companies that want to have their sites appear for specific search terms and related content. These listings are administered, sorted and maintained by a third party and are not endorsed by Search.com.

Search Results

Search.com sends your search query to several search engines at one time and integrates the results into one list which has been sorted by relevance using Search.com's proprietary algorithm. You can customize the list of search engines included in your metasearch from the preferences.

The search engines that are used in your metasearch may allow companies to pay to have their Web sites included within the results. To view the Paid Inclusion policy for a specific search engine, please visit their Web site. Search.com does not accept payment or share revenue with any search engine partner for listings in this section.