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Wends (, Old Norse: ''Vindr'', (ドイツ語:Wenden, Winden), (デンマーク語:vendere), (スウェーデン語:vender), (ポーランド語:Wendowie)) is a historical name for Slavs living near Germanic settlement areas. It does not refer to a homogeneous people, but to various peoples, tribes or groups depending on where and when it is used. In the Middle Ages the term "Wends" often referred to Western Slavs living within the Holy Roman Empire, though not always. Mieszko I, the first historical ruler of Poland, also appeared as "Dagome, King of the Wends" (Old Norse: ''Vindakonungr''). The name has also survived in Finnic languages ((フィンランド語:Venäjä), (エストニア語:Vene), Karelian: ''Veneä'') denoting Russia. ==People termed "Wendes" in the course of history== (詳細はVeneti, and then after the migration period they transferred it to their new neighbours, the Slavs (see ''Relation between Veneti and Slavs'' for further details). For the medieval Scandinavians, the term Wends (''Vender'') meant Slavs living near the southern shore of the Baltic Sea (''Vendland''), and the term was therefore used to refer to Polabian Slavs like the Obotrites, Rugian Slavs, Veleti/Lutici and Pomeranian tribes. For people living in the medieval Northern Holy Roman Empire and its precursors, especially for the Saxons, a Wend (''Wende'') was a Slav living in the area west of the River Oder, an area later entitled ''Germania Slavica'', settled by the Polabian Slav tribes (mentioned above) in the north and by others, such as the Sorbs and the Milceni, in the middle. The Germans in the south used the term ''Winde'' instead of ''Wende'' and applied it, just as the Germans in the north, to Slavs they had contact with, e.g. Polabian people from Bavaria Slavica or the Slovenes (the names Windic March and Windisch Feistritz still bear testimony to this historical denomination). Following the 8th century, the Frankish kings and their successors organised nearly all Wendish land into marches. This process later turned into the series of crusades. By the 12th century, all Wendish lands had become part of the Holy Roman Empire. In the course of the Ostsiedlung, which reached its peak in the 12th to 14th centuries, this land was settled by Germans and reorganised. Due to the process of assimilation following German settlement, many Slavs west of the Oder adopted the German culture and language. Only some rural communities which did not have a strong admixture with Germans and continued to use West Slavic languages were still termed ''Wends''. With the gradual decline of the use of these local Slavic tongues, the term ''Wends'' slowly disappeared, too. Some sources claim that in the 13th century there were actual historic people called Wends or Vends living as far as northern Latvia (east of the Baltic Sea) around the city of Wenden. Henry of Livonia (Henricus de Lettis) in his 13th-century Latin chronicle described a tribe called the Vindi. Today, only one group of ''Wends'' still exists: the Lusatian Sorbs in present-day eastern Germany. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Wends」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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