{{Short description|Early Slavic tribe}} {{about|the mediaeval tribe|the modern people|Sorbs}} thumb|right|Sorbian tribes in the Early Middle Ages [[File:Paris, BnF MS Latin 10910 fol. 155r Chronicle of Fredegar - DERUANUS.jpg|thumb|right|The first mention of Sorbs in the Chronicle of Fredegar, under 631]]
The '''Sorbs''' or '''Sorabi''' or '''Surbi''' were a medieval Early Slavic tribe, who settled between Saale and Elbe, and as a tribal confederation a region encompassing much of present-day Saxony and Thuringia. They were part of a larger group called ''Polabian Slavs''.{{Efn|Some assumed subgroups of the Sorbs include the Glomatians, Milceni,Nisans, among others.}}
Their history has been transmitted mainly via Frankish medieval chronicles, beginning with the Chronicle of Fredegar. Said chronicle reports that in 631 under their first named ruler, Dervan, the Sorbs relinquished fealty to the Frankish king and joined a wider Slavic tribal polity led by Samo. It is commonly believed that they are related to the so-called White Serbs and their 7th-century migration to the Balkans, mentioned in the Constantine VII's ''De Administrando Imperio'' (10th century), being ancestors of the Serbs.
The Sorbs were consequently mentioned by 8th–10th century chroniclers mainly in relation to border conflicts with neighboring populations.{{Efn|Such Miliduch's war in 806 and Czimislav's war in 839 against the Carolingian Empire.}} The tribe first accepted the suzerainty of the Carolingian Empire under Tunglo in 826. By the middle of the 9th century, an imperial frontier district known as the Sorbian March had been established by the Carolingians.
Despite prolonged resistance, Sorbian territories were gradually integrated into the administrative system of the Holy Roman Empire. An expansionary process which occurred through the further establishment and expansion of additional ''marches'' and which had been concluded fully by the 12th century. The region subject to this process—and much of its population—was Germanized during the ''Ostsiedlung''. Populations which maintained their Slavic identity and use of local Slavic languages came to constitute the contemporary Sorbs of Lusatia.{{sfn|Stone|2016|p=1-74}}
==Etymology== thumb|Sorbs and their sub-tribes, Luzici, Milceni and Daleminci, seen in the southwest corner of the early West Slavic tribal area, by W. Fix, 1869 thumb|right|Sorbian tribes between the 7th and 11th century, by Wilhelm Bogusławski, 1861 {{main|Names of the Serbs and Serbia}}
Early Sorbs are mentioned between the 6th and 10th century as ''Cervetiis'' (''Servetiis''), ''gentis (S)urbiorum'', ''Suurbi'', ''Sorabi'', ''Soraborum'', ''Sorabos'', ''Surpe'', ''Sorabici'', ''Sorabiet'', ''Sarbin'', ''Swrbjn'', ''Servians'', ''Zribia'', and ''Suurbelant''.<ref name="Łuczyński">{{cite journal |last=Łuczyński |first=Michal |date=2017 |title="Geograf Bawarski" — nowe odczytania |trans-title="Bavarian Geographer" — New readings |url=https://rcin.org.pl/dlibra/show-content/publication/edition/64469?id=64469 |language=pl |journal=Polonica |volume=XXXVII (37) |page=71 |doi=10.17651/POLON.37.9 |access-date=4 August 2020|url-access=subscription |doi-access=free }}</ref> It is generally considered that their ethnonym ''*Sŕbъ'' (plur. ''*Sŕby'') originates from Proto-Slavic language with an appellative meaning of a "family kinship" and "alliance", while other argue a derivation from Iranian-Sarmatian language.<ref name="Łuczyński"/><ref name="Rudnicki1959">{{cite book|last=Rudnicki|first=Mikołaj|authorlink=Mikołaj Rudnicki|title=Prasłowiańszczyzna, Lechia-Polska|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R9IeAAAAMAAJ|year=1959|publisher=Państwowe wydawn. naukowe, Oddzia ︢w Poznaniu|language=pl|page=182}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Pohl |first=Heinz-Dieter |date=1970 |title=Die slawischen Sprachen in Jugoslawien |trans-title=The Slavic languages in Yugoslavia |language=German |journal=Der Donauraum |volume=15 |issue=1–2 |page=72 |doi=10.7767/dnrm.1970.15.12.63 |s2cid=183316961 |quote=Srbin, Plural Srbi: „Serbe“, wird zum urslawischen *sirbŭ „Genosse“ gestellt und ist somit slawischen Ursprungs41. Hrvat „Kroate“, ist iranischer Herkunft, über urslawisches *chŭrvatŭ aus altiranischem *(fšu-)haurvatā, „Viehhüter“42.}}</ref><ref name="Popowska">{{cite journal|last=Popowska-Taborska |first=Hanna |date=1993 |title=Ślady etnonimów słowiańskich z elementem obcym w nazewnictwie polskim |url=http://yadda.icm.edu.pl/yadda/element/bwmeta1.element.hdl_11089_16320 |language=pl |journal=Acta Universitatis Lodziensis. Folia Linguistica |volume=27 |pages=225–230 |doi=10.18778/0208-6077.27.29 |access-date=16 August 2020|doi-access=free }}</ref>
==History== [[File:Sorbian Polity under Dervan.jpg|right|thumb|Dervan's Sorbian polity]]
===Origin=== {{see also|Leipzig group}} According to the old theorization by Joachim Herrmann, the Serbian tribe characterized by Rüssen-type of Leipzig group pottery arrived from the Middle Danube in the beginning of the 7th century and settled between Saale and Elbe river, but only since the 10th century their ethnonym was transferred to the Luzici, Milceni and other tribes of Sukow-Dziedzice and Tornow group who supposedly were present from the late 5th and early 6th century (Tornow since the 7th century, as was also argued that to the West were present some Slavs with Prague-Korchak culture).<ref name="Sedov">{{cite book |first=Valentin Vasilyevich |last=Sedov |year=2013 |orig-year=1995 |title=Славяне в раннем Средневековье |trans-title=Sloveni u ranom srednjem veku (Slavs in Early Middle Ages) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HD4oAAAAMAAJ |publisher=Akademska knjiga |location=Novi Sad |isbn=978-86-6263-026-1 |pages=191–205, 458–466}}</ref>{{sfn|Brather|2004|pp=316–326}}{{sfn|Heather|2010|pp=409}} Herrmann also considered that the Sorbs settled and influenced around Magdeburg, Havelland, Thuringia and northeast Bavaria,{{sfn|Herrmann|1985|pp=9, 26–27, 32}} and alongside them immigrated Croats and Bulgars from Middle Danube escaping the pressure of Pannonian Avars.{{sfn|Herrmann|1985|pp=27}}{{sfn|Vatseba|2018b|p=385}} However, since the 1980s, Herrmann's theory about waves of several archaeological cultures carried by distinctive ethnic groups is outdated and rejected by archaeologists, historians and other scholars because it was found to be completely unfounded and based on wrong data and chronologies among others.{{sfn|Barford|2001|pp=65, 89, 277–278, 280}}<ref>Brather, 2004, p. 316–326; 2008, pp. 47–48, 56–58; 2011, p. 455; 2020, p. 219</ref>{{sfn|Roslund|2007|pp=190}}<ref name="Schuster">{{cite web|last=Schuster-Šewc|first=Heinz|title=Порекло и историја етнонима Serb "Лужички Србин"|trans-title=Origin and history of the ethnonym Serb "Lusatian Serb"|publisher=Пројекат Растко - Будишин|translator=Petrović, Tanja|website=rastko.rs|language=sr|url=http://www.rastko.rs/rastko-lu/jezik/hsuster-srbin.html|quote=Облик прихваћен у данашњем говорном немачком језику са вокалом о- (такође и старија форма са -у), непознат је лужичкосрпском језику у Горњој и Доњој Лужици, а према изворима био је ограничен само на западни део старолужичког, западно од реке Mulde и Saale. Одавде је овај облик доспео у средњи век и у латинске и немачке хронике, а касније је одатле пренесен на источније насељена старолужичка племена (Glomaci, Nisani, Milzani), остајући међутим и даље ограничен само на изворе на немачком и латинском језику ... Узрок томе свакако лежи у опасности од мешања са именом јужнословенских Срба. Неосновано је у сваком случају мишљење које заступају неки историчари и археолози, према коме источни Лужичани и Милчани првобитно уопште етнички нису припадали истој групи са Лужичким Србима насељеним западно од Елбе, и према коме је етноним Serb тек касније (од 10/11. века) пренесен и на њих.}}</ref>{{sfn|Vatseba|2018b|pp=384–386}} Pottery of similar quality to the Rüssen-type in the rest of Polabia appears only since the second half of the 8th century.{{sfn|Vatseba|2018b|pp=386}} Dendrochronology also showed that the wooden building material was from the late 8th to the beginning of the 10th century, while the material from the 6th and 7th century is almost non-existent.{{sfn|Pech|2015|pp=124–125}} This is also doubting the accuracy of the historical sources and their interpretation.{{sfn|Pech|2015|pp=124–125}} Peter Heather, in conclusion, stated that it is an "old theory" with seriously erroneous dating of the ceramics and sites, which in reality date to the 8th and 9th century.{{sfn|Heather|2010|pp=409–410|ps=:The new chronologies have also put paid to older theories that an initial Slavic penetration into the Elbe region in the later fifth or sixth centuries was followed by a second wave of migration in the seventh. This hypothesis had in mind a potential parallel with the Serbs and Croats and the Balkans. It was based, however, on the appearance of brand-new types of pottery in the Elbe region, which were finished on a slow wheel rather than entirely hand-formed. The geographical spread of the subtypes of this pottery broadly coincides with the main tribal confederations known from the Carolingian and Ottonian eras (Map 18): the Wilzi (Feldberg pottery), the Lausitzi (Tornow pottery) and the Sorbs (Leipzig pottery). It used therefore to be thought that the appearance of the new pottery types marked the arrival in the region of these tribal groups. Dendrochronology has shown, however, that the sites containing these wheel-turned pottery types date not from the late sixth and the seventh century, but from the later eighth and ninth. By this date, Carolingian narrative coverage of the region is more than full enough to rule out the possibility of any further large-scale migration. The new pottery types therefore represent the spread of new ceramic technologies among Slavs already indigenous to the Elbe region. The later dating also makes much better sense of the fact that some of the pottery resembles eighth century Carolingian ceramics, by which they were clearly influenced}} The archaeological data and historical sources indicate earliest Slavic migration along the Carpathians and the Alps since the late 6th century with Korchak-type material,{{sfn|Heather|2010|pp=408–410}}<ref name="Kazanski">Michel Kazanski (2020). "[https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02902087/file/Kazanski_Archaeology-Slavic%20Migrations_2020.pdf Archaeology of the Slavic Migrations]". ''Encyclopedia of Slavic Languages and Linguistics Online''. BRILL, pp. 15–16</ref> and "the Serbs, most likely, were already carriers of ceramics of the Prague-Korchak type".{{sfn|Vatseba|2018b|pp=386, 389}}{{sfn|Vatseba|2022|p=66}} Heinz Schuster-Šewc deemd as "unfounded" the idea that the Luzici and Milceni did not ethnically belong to the same group as the Sorbs living west of the Elbe river and adopted the Sorbian ethonym since the 10-11th century.<ref name="Schuster"/>
According to some researchers the archaeological data cannot confirm the thesis about a single proto-linguistic group yet supports the claim about two separated ethno-cultural groups with different ancestries whose respective territories correspond to Tornow-type ceramics (Lower Sorbian language) and Leipzig-type ceramics (Upper Sorbian language).<ref name="Sedov"/>{{sfn|Vatseba|2018b|p=387}} Upper Sorbian is more similar to Czech, Slovak and Ukrainian, while Lower Sorbian to Lechitic dialects,{{sfn|Vatseba|2018b|p=387}} with Schuster-Šewc arguing a migration from northeastern Bohemia to Lusatia.{{sfn|Vatseba|2018b|p=389}}{{sfn|Vatseba|2018d|p=29}} However, linguistic research does see a loose connection between Sorbian languages (specifically Upper Sorbian language<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Schuster-Šewc |first1=Heinz |date=2013 |title=Das Sorbische – Genese und sprachlicher Status |trans-title=The Sorbian Language – its Origins and Linguistic Status |url=https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=31630 |language=de |journal=Lětopis |issue=2 |pages=86–94}}</ref>) and South Slavic languages,{{sfn|Sedov|2013|pp=199, 202}} particularly the Late Common Slavic *''-nū-''>''-nq-'' // ''-ny-''>''-ni-'' verb suffix which is also present in Polabian language dialect, Cieszyn Silesian dialect, and Western South Slavic languages (most of Slovenian dialects and Western part of Serbo-Croatian dialects including Kajkavian, Čakavian, Western Štokavian) which could indicate a northward migration from the south or pointing to a single common area of Slavic pre-migratory period.{{sfn|Andersen|1999|p=50–59, 62}}{{sfn|Andersen|2020|pp=27–29}}{{sfn|Andersen|2023|p=78}}{{sfn|Schallert|2024|p=603–604}} However, it could be also an ''in situ'' development and analogies unrelated to historical migrations.{{sfn|Andersen|2020|p=29}} Aleksandar Loma considered that the supposed South Slavic linguistic connection actually "implies that before the 7th century the ancestors of Sorbs came from the east of the Slavic territory to their later homeland, where they subsequently mingled with the West-Slavs. Thus, if the southern Serbs stem from the west and the western from the east, we have a good reason to assume existence of a former East-Slavic tribe under the same name", and that "any further refutation of their ethnogenetic connection by the diversity of their [Sorbian and Serbian] dialects becomes pointless".{{sfn|Loma|1993|pp=113, 125–126}}
It is considered that the ancient homeland of the Sorbs probably was near other Slavs somewhere in Southeastern Poland and Western Ukraine, from where migrated westward along the Carpathians to Silesia, Bohemia and eventually Saxony.{{sfn|Vatseba|2022|pp=55–56}} The appearance of the Slavs in Polabia is usually interpreted as a migration with or without Avar influence (either independent arrival with or without Avar pressure, or under decision by the Avars as anti-Frankish border guards, or under patronage of the Franks as anti-Avar border guards in Thuringia).{{sfn|Vatseba|2022|pp=45–47, 52–53}} However, as the Sorbs probably were present around Bohemia already by the mid-6th century, it excludes their relation with first two Frankish-Avar conflicts (562, 566), and Avars in general, and supports the initiative of the Franks.{{sfn|Vatseba|2022|p=57–60}}
The original settlement area of the tribe of Sorbs was between Saale and Elbe river valleys and the Ore Mountains, possibly also expanding to the Lower Havel river in the north, and from the Ilm and Saale in the southwest in Thuringia to the Gera river and city of Erfurt.{{sfn|Vatseba|2022|p=44}} Based on historical and archaeological evidence, they most probably arrived there from North(-western) Bohemia being part of same ethnocultural area alongside Bohemian tribes of Pšované, Litoměřici, Lemuzi and Děčané.{{sfn|Vatseba|2022|p=54}} According to a fringe theory their area of settlement possibly also included part of Chebsko (the northwestern edge of the Czech Republic),<ref name="Simek1955"/><ref name="Łowmiański6404">{{cite book |last=Łowmiański |first=Henryk |author-link=Henryk Łowmiański |title=Hrvatska pradomovina (Chorwacja Nadwiślańska in Początki Polski) |trans-title=Croatian ancient homeland |editor1-last=Nosić |editor1-first=Milan |translator-last1=Kryżan-Stanojević |translator-first1=Barbara |language=hr |publisher=Maveda |year=2004 |orig-year=1964 |oclc=831099194 |pages=76–77, 84–86}}</ref> but it is a baseless claim without a source, and scholars, including E. Simek proved only Czechs lived there.<ref name="Łowmiański6404"/> Henryk Łowmiański concluded that there's no mention of Sorbs/Serbs living in the territory of Bohemia in Czech and German historical sources.<ref name="Łowmiański6404"/> The area of White Serbs in the Saale-Elbe valley had flat-graves with cremations in urns, while the area of Upper Lusatia and partly Lower Lusatia also had kurgan cremation burials, which was more common in neighboring area of Northeastern Bohemia and Lower Silesia (inhabited by White Croats and Polish tribes), assumed by Rostyslav Vatseba as an indication of a Lechitic-Croatian contact zone in the eastern part of Saxony.{{sfn|Vatseba|2018d|p=29}}{{sfn|Vatseba|2018b|pp=383, 386—387, 389}}{{sfn|Vatseba|2019|p=127}}
It is often considered that the earliest mention of the Sorbs is from the 6th century or earlier by Vibius Sequester,{{sfn|Dvornik|1956|pp=32–33}} who recorded ''Cervetiis'' (''Servetiis'') living on the other part of the river Elbe which divided them from the Suevi (''Albis Germaniae Suevos a Cerveciis dividiit'').<ref name="Łuczyński"/><ref name="Fischer1932">{{cite book|last=Fischer|first=Adam|title=Etnografja Słowiańska: Łużyczanie|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0A8MAAAAYAAJ|year=1932|publisher=Ksia̧żnica-Atlas|language=pl|page=46|quote=Najdawniejszą wzmiankę o plemionach łużyckich mamy u Wibia Sequestra (VI w.), że „Albis Suevos a Cervetiis dividit". Następnie wiemy, że w latach 623–631 istniało Księstwo łużyckie nad Salą, a wedle Fredegara...}}</ref><ref name="Małowist1954">{{cite book|last=Małowist|first=Marian|title=Materiały źródłowe do historii Polski epoki feudalnej|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iKQP-ioTC7sC|year=1954|publisher=Państwowe Wydawn. Naukowe|language=pl|page=47|quote=Albis Germaniae Suevos a Cervetiis dividit. (Rzeka) Łaba oddziela Swewów1 od Serbów... Swewowie oznaczają tu znany lud germański, który w początkach n . e . mieszkał nad Łabą, a następnie...}}</ref><ref name="Simek1955">{{cite book|last=Simek|first=Emanuel|title=Chebsko V Staré Dobe: Dnesní Nejzápadnejsi Slovanské Území|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ebEacgAACAAJ|year=1955|publisher=Vydává Masarykova Universita v Brne|language=cs|pages=47, 269, 271, 274|quote=O Srbech máme zachován první historický záznam ze VI. století u Vibia Sequestra, který praví, že Labe dělí v GermaniinSrby od Suevů65. Tím ovšem nemusí být řečeno, že v končinách severně od českých hor nemohli býti Srbové již i za Labem (západně od Labe), neboť nevíme, koho Vibius Sequester svými Suevy mínil. Ať již tomu bylo jakkoli, víme bezpečně ze zpráv kroniky Fredegarovy, že Srbové měli celou oblast mezi Labem a Sálou osídlenu již delší dobu před založením říše Samovy66, tedy nejméně již v druhé polovici VI. století67. Jejich kníže Drevan se osvobodil od nadvlády francké a připojil se někdy kolem roku 630 se svou državou k říši Samově68. V následujících letech podnikali Srbové opětovně vpády přes Sálu do Durinska 69... 67 Schwarz, ON 48, dospěl k závěru, že se země mezi Labem a Sálou stala srbskou asi r. 595 a kolem roku 600 že bylo slovanské stěhování do končin západně od Labe určitě již skončeno; R. Fischer, GSl V. 58, Heimatbildung XVIII. 298, ON Falk. 59, NK 69 datuje příchod Slovanů na Chebsko do druhé polovice VI. století, G. Fischer(ová), Flurnamen 218, do VI. století. Chebský historik Sieg1 dospěl v posledním svém souhrnném díle o dějinách Chebska Eger u. Egerland 4 k závěru, že Slované (myslil na Srby) přišli do Chebska již kolem roku 490, tedy před koncem V. století.}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Sułowski |first=Zygmunt |date=1961 |title=Migracja Słowian na zachód w pierwszym tysiącleciu n. e. |url=http://bazhum.pl/bib/article/273968/ |language=pl |journal=Roczniki Historyczne |volume=27 |pages=50–52 |access-date=4 August 2020}}</ref><ref name="Tyszkiewicz1990">{{cite book|last=Tyszkiewicz|first=Lech A.|title=Słowianie w historiografii antycznej do połowy VI wieku|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7ZQTAQAAMAAJ|year=1990|publisher=Wydawn. Uniwersytetu Wrocławskiego|language=pl|isbn=978-83-229-0421-3|page=124|quote=...Germaniae Suevos a Cervetiis dividit mergitur in oceanum”. Według Szafarzyka, który odrzucił emendację Oberlina Cervetiis na Cheruscis, zagadkowy lud Cervetti to nikt inny, jak tylko Serbowie połabscy.}}</ref><ref name="Dulinicz2001">{{cite book|last=Dulinicz|first=Marek|title=Kształtowanie się Słowiańszczyzny Północno-Zachodniej: studium archeologiczne|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=akYjAQAAIAAJ|year=2001|publisher=Instytut Archeologii i Etnologii Polskiej Akademii Nauk|language=pl|isbn=978-83-85463-89-4|page=17}}</ref><ref name="Moczulski2007">{{cite book|last=Moczulski|first=Leszek|authorlink=Leszek Moczulski|title=Narodziny Międzymorza: ukształtowanie ojczyzn, powstanie państw oraz układy geopolityczne wschodniej części Europy w późnej starożytności i we wczesnym średniowieczu|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FY_u2_TUiFoC|year=2007|publisher=Bellona|language=pl|pages=335–336|quote=Tak jest ze wzmianką Vibiusa Sequestra, pisarza z przełomu IV—V w., którą niektórzy badacze uznali za najwcześniejszą informację o Słowianach na Polabiu: Albis Germaniae Suevon a Cervetiis dividit (Vibii Sequestris, De fluminibus, fontibus, lacubus, memoribus, paludibus, montibus, gentibus, per litteras, wyd. Al. Riese, Geographi latini minores, Heilbronn 1878). Jeśli początek nazwy Cerve-tiis odpowiadał Serbe — chodziło o Serbów, jeśli Cherue — byli to Cheruskowie, choć nie można wykluczyć, że pod tą nazwą kryje się jeszcze inny lud (por. G. Labuda, Fragmenty dziejów Słowiańszczyzny Zachodniej, t. 1, Poznań 1960, s. 91; H. Lowmiański, Początki Polski..., t. II, Warszawa 1964, s. 296; J. Strzelczyk, Vibius Sequester [w:] Slownik Starożytności Słowiańskich, t. VI, Wroclaw 1977, s. 414). Pierwsza ewentualność sygeruje, że zachodnia eks-pansja Słowian rozpoczęta się kilka pokoleń wcześniej niż się obecnie przypuszcza, druga —że rozgraniczenie pomiędzy Cheruskami a Swebami (Gotonami przez Labę względnie Semnonami przez Soławę) uksztaltowało się — być może po klęsce Marboda — dalej na południowy wschód, niżby wynikało z Germanii Tacyta (patrz wyżej). Tyle tylko, że nie będzie to sytuacja z IV w. Istnienie styku serbsko-turyńskiego w początkach VII w. potwierdza Kronika Fredegara (Chronicarum quae dicuntw; Fredegari scholastici, wyd. B., Krusch, Monu-menta Gennaniae Bisiorka, Scriptores rerum Merovingicarum, t. II, Hannover 1888, s. 130); bylby on jednak późniejszy niż styk Franków ze Slowianami (Sldawami, Winklami) w Alpach i na osi Dunaju. Tyle tylko, te o takim styku możemy mówić dopiero w końcu VI w.}}</ref> According to one theory, the original Serbs were not of Slavic origin and such an early mention is related to possible westward migration of a Sarmatian tribe of Serboi with the Huns who later as an elite subjugated Slavic population giving it their name,{{sfn|Dvornik|1949|p=273–275, 285}}{{sfn|Dvornik|1956|pp=26–28}}<ref name="TD70S">{{cite book |last=Sulimirski |first=Tadeusz |author-link=Tadeusz Sulimirski |date=1970 |title=The Sarmatians |url=https://archive.org/details/the-sarmatians-tadeusz-sulimirski/page/n79/mode/2up?q=serb |publisher=Thames and Hudson |pages=189–190 |isbn=9780500020715}}</ref>{{sfn|Loma|1993|p=119–122}} and that those who remained in the Caucasus region, were mentioned by Constantine VII in ''De Ceremoniis'' as ''Sarban'' (Serbs) and ''Krevatades'' (Croats).{{sfn|Dvornik|1956|pp=27–28}}{{sfn|Loma|1993|pp=122, 126}} According to Lubor Niederle, that Serbian district in Polabia was located somewhere between Magdeburg and Lusatia, and was later mentioned by the Ottonians as ''Ciervisti'', ''Zerbisti'', and ''Kirvisti''.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Fomina |first=Z.Ye. |date=2016 |title=Славянская топонимия в современной Германии в лингвокультуроло-гическоми лингво-историческом аспек |trans-title=Slavonic Toponymy in Linguoculturological and Linguo-historical Aspects in Germany |url=https://www.elibrary.ru/item.asp?id=25957680 |language=ru |journal=Современные лингвистические и методико-дидактические исследования |volume=1 |issue=12 |page=30 |quote=Как следует из многотомного издания „Славянские древности“ (1953) известного чешского ученого Любора Нидерле, первым историческим известием о славянах на Эльбе является запись Вибия Секвестра «De fluminibus» (VI век), в которой об Эльбе говорится: «Albis Suevos a Cervetiis dividit». Cervetii означает здесь наименованиесербскогоокруга (pagus) на правом берегу Эльбы, между Магдебургом и Лужицами, который в позднейших грамотах Оттона I, Оттона II и Генриха II упоминается под термином Ciervisti, Zerbisti, Kirvisti, нынешний Цербст[8]. В тот период, как пишет Любор Нидерле, а именно в 782 году, началось большое, имевшее мировое значение, наступление германцев против сла-вян. ПерейдяЭльбу, славяне представляли большую опасность для империи Карла Вели-кого. Для того, чтобы создать какой-то порядок на востоке, Карл Великий в 805 году соз-дал так называемый limes Sorabicus, который должен был стать границей экономических (торговых) связеймежду германцами и славянами[8].|access-date=4 August 2020}}</ref>
===7th century=== According to the ''Chronicle of Fredegar'', the ''Surbi'' lived in the Saale-Elbe valley, having settled in the Thuringian part of Francia at least since the second-half of the 6th century and were vassals of Merovingian dynasty.<ref name="Simek1955"/><ref name="LaetHerrmann1996">{{cite book|author1=Sigfried J. de Laet|author2=Joachim Herrmann|title=History of Humanity: From the seventh century B.C. to the seventh century A.D.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WGUz01yBumEC&pg=PA284|date=1 January 1996|publisher=UNESCO|isbn=978-92-3-102812-0|pages=282–284}}</ref>{{sfn|Stone|2016|p=5-6}} The Saale-Elbe line marked the approximate limit of Slavic westward migration.{{sfn|Vlasto|1970|p=142}} It is described that they since long time ago were "attached" or "belonged" to the Frankish kingdom, which would be possible at the latest in the interval of Theudebert II's of Austrasia (595–612), probably helping the Franks in the conquest of Thuringia and later siding with Theudebert II during princely rebellion of Theuderic II.{{sfn|Vatseba|2022|pp=59, 61, 67–68}}
Fredegar recounts that under the leadership of ''dux'' (duke) Dervan (''Dervanus dux gente Surbiorum que ex genere Sclavinorum''), they joined the Slavic tribal union of Samo, after Samo's decisive victory against Frankish King Dagobert I in 631.<ref name="LaetHerrmann1996"/>{{sfn|Stone|2016|p=5-6}} Afterwards, these Slavic tribes continuously raided Thuringia.<ref name="LaetHerrmann1996"/> The fate of the tribes during and Samo's death and dissolution of the union in 658 is undetermined, but it is considered that subsequently returned to Frankish vassalage,<ref name="Pronk-Tiethoff2013">{{cite book|author=Saskia Pronk-Tiethoff|title=The Germanic loanwords in Proto-Slavic|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0iWLAgAAQBAJ|year=2013|publisher=Rodopi|isbn=978-94-012-0984-7|pages=68–69}}</ref> under semi-independent Radulf, King of Thuringia (632–642) until around 700 AD.{{sfn|Vatseba|2022|p=65}}
===8th century=== In 782, the Sorbs, inhabiting the region between the Elbe and Saale, plundered Thuringia and Saxony.{{sfn|Verbruggen|1997|p=21}} Charlemagne sent Adalgis, Worad and Geilo into Saxony, aimed at attacking the Sorbs, however, they met with rebel Saxons who destroyed them.<ref name="Bradbury2004">{{cite book|author=Jim Bradbury|title=The Routledge Companion to Medieval Warfare|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3FRsBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA118|date=2 August 2004|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-59847-2|pages=118–}}</ref>
In 789, Charlemagne launched a campaign against the Wiltzi; after reaching the Elbe, he went further and successfully "subjected the Slavs".{{sfn|Scholz|Rogers|1970|p=68}}<ref name="Petersen2013">{{cite book|author=Leif Inge Ree Petersen|title=Siege Warfare and Military Organization in the Successor States (400-800 AD): Byzantium, the West and Islam|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BRGaAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA749|date=1 August 2013|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-25446-6|pages=749–750}}</ref> His army also included the Sorbs and Obotrites led by chieftain Witzan.{{sfn|Scholz|Rogers|1970|p=68}}<ref name="Petersen2013"/> The army reached Dragovit of the Wiltzi, who surrendered, followed by other Slavic magnates and chieftains who submitted to Charlemagne.<ref name="Petersen2013"/>
===9th century=== {{see also|Sorbian March}} [[File:Slavs west territory Limes Sorabicus.jpg|thumb|Map of the Sorbian March, by Włodzimierz Dzwonkowski, 1918]] Charles the Younger launched a campaign against the Slavs in Bohemia in 805, killing their ''dux'', Lecho, and then proceeded crossing the Saale with his army and killed ''rex'' (king) Melito (or "Miliduoch") of the ''Sorabi'' or ''Siurbis'' who "live on the River Elbe" in 806.{{sfn|Scholz|Rogers|1970|p=85}}<ref>{{cite book |title=History of Bohemia |last=Vickers |first=Robert H. |year=1894 |publisher=C. H. Sergel Company |location=Chicago |page=[https://archive.org/details/historyofbohemia00vick/page/48 48]|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofbohemia00vick}}</ref><ref name="Labuda2002">{{cite book|author=Gerard Labuda|title=Fragmenty dziejów Słowiańszczyzny zachodniej|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FpaRAAAAMAAJ|year=2002|publisher=PTPN|isbn=978-83-7063-337-0|quote=806: „Et inde post non multos dies [imperator] Aquasgrani veniens Karlum filium suum in terram Sclavorum, qui dicuntur Sorabi, qui sedent super Albim fluvium, cum exercitu misit; in qua expeditione Miliduoch Sclavorum dux interf ectus}}</ref><ref name="Lowmianski58">Henryk Łowmiański, ''[https://rcin.org.pl/dlibra/publication/39264/edition/41519 O identyfikacji nazw Geografa bawarskiego]'', Studia Źródłoznawcze, t. III: 1958, s. 1–22; reed: w: ''Studia nad dziejami Słowiańszczyzny, Polski i Rusi w wiekach średnich'', Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu im. Adama Mickiewicza, Poznań 1986, s. 151–181, {{ISSN|0554-8217}}</ref> The region was laid to waste, upon which the other Slavic chieftains submitted and gave hostages.<ref>Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. 9, Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, JSTOR (Organization), 1880, p. 224</ref>{{sfn|Verbruggen|1997|pp=314-315}} Franks constructed two castles, one on each river.{{sfn|Scholz|Rogers|1970|p=85}} Ten years later, in 816 the Sorbs rebelled, but their disobedience was suppressed after Saxons and East Franks campaign conquering their cities, and renewing their oaths of submission.{{sfn|Scholz|Rogers|1970|p=100}}<ref name="Lowmianski58"/>{{sfn|Bury|2011|p=900}} In 822, the Sorbs sent an embassy with gifts alongside other Slavs (Obodrites, Wilzi, Bohemians, Moravians, Praedenecenti as well as Pannonian Avars) to a Louis the Pious's general assembly at Frankfurt.{{sfn|Scholz|Rogers|1970|p=111}}
In May 826, at a meeting at Ingelheim, Cedrag of the Obotrites and Tunglo "one of the magnates" of the Sorbs were accused of malpractices; they were ordered to appear in October, and Tunglo surrendered his son as hostage to be allowed to return home.{{sfn|Scholz|Rogers|1970|p=119–120}}{{sfn|Dvornik|1949|p=291}}<ref>{{cite book|title=Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6sH7llB_CQ8C|year=1880|page=224}}</ref> The Franks had, sometime before the 830s, established the Sorbian March, comprising eastern Thuringia, in easternmost East Francia.
In 839, the Saxons fought "the Sorabos, called ''Colodici''" at Kesigesburch and won the battle, managing to kill their king Cimusclo (or "Czimislav"), with Kesigesburch and eleven forts being captured.<ref name="Lowmianski58"/> The Sorbs were forced to pay tribute and forfeited territory to the Franks.{{sfn|Nelson|1991|p=48}} The Sorbian tribe of Colodici was furthermore mentioned in 973 (''Coledizi pagus'', ''Cholidici''), in 975 (''Colidiki''), and 1015 (''Colidici locus'').<ref name="Šafárik1837">{{cite book|last=Šafárik|first=Pavel Jozef|authorlink=Pavel Jozef Šafárik|title=Slowanské starožitnosti|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PzQEAAAAYAAJ|year=1837|publisher=Tiskem I. Spurného|language=sk|page=912}}</ref> Besides Colodici other tribes which scholars consider part of the core Sorbian tribes were Glomacze-Daleminzi, Chutici-Chudzicy, Citici-Żytyce, Neletici-Nieletycy, Siusler-Susłowie among others.<ref name="Sedov"/>{{sfn|Herrmann|1985|pp=9}}{{sfn|Vatseba|2018b|pp=389–390}}
According to the ''Annales Fuldenses'', in 849 Thachulf, Duke of Thuringia held also the title "dux of the Sorbian March",{{sfn|Reuter|1992|p=29}} In 851, the Sorbs attacked and raided Frankish border, provoking Louis the German's invasion which "oppressed them severely. He tamed them, after they had lost their harvests and so the hope of food".{{sfn|Reuter|1992|p=32}} In August 856 the Sorbian ''duces'' joined king Louis's army in his successful attack on Daleminzi and Duchy of Bohemia.{{sfn|Reuter|1992|p=38}}{{sfn|Dvornik|1949|pp=292}} In 857, the brother of Sclavitag/Slavitach son of rebellious Wiztrach dux of Bohemians, found a refuge at the court of Zistibor of Sorbs before was made new dux of Bohemians by the Franks.{{sfn|Reuter|1992|p=39}}{{sfn|Dvornik|1949|pp=292}} For summer 858, Thachulf was ordered to attack the Sorbs, as one of three armies dealing with different Slavic frontiers.{{sfn|Reuter|1992|p=41}} It is unclear whether by then, or later in the year, Sorbs killed their dux Zistibor.{{sfn|Reuter|1992|p=43}} In 869, Sorbs (as a tribe, not confederation{{sfn|Reuter|1992|p=59}}) and Siusli (another Sorbic tribe{{sfn|Reuter|1992|p=59}}) "joined with the Bohemians and the other peoples of the region and crossed the old Thuringian border: they laid many places waste and killed some who rashly came together to attack them".{{sfn|Reuter|1992|p=59}} In August of the same year, many Sorbs and Bohemian mercenaries recruited by the Sorbs, were killed and forced to return home or surrender by Louis the Younger, Thuringian and Saxon forces.{{sfn|Reuter|1992|p=60}} After death of Thachulf in August 873, the Sorbs and Siusli rebelled again, but Liutbert (archbishop of Mainz) and new Sorbian March dux Radulf II in January 874 "by pillaging and burning crushed their insolence without battle and reduced them to their former servility".{{sfn|Reuter|1992|p=73}} After the Viking raids in the Rhineland against the Saxons in 880, joint forces of the Sorbs, Daleminzi, Bohemians and other near tribes attacked the Slavs around Saale river "faithful to the Thuringians with plunder and burning. Count Poppo, dux of the Sorbian march, came against them with the Thuringians, and with God's help so defeated them that not one out of a great multitude remained".{{sfn|Reuter|1992|pp=88–89}} The Sorbs in Saxony probably were the Slavs who successfully repelled and killed Arn (bishop of Würzburg) in 892.{{sfn|Reuter|1992|pp=124}}{{sfn|Reuter|2013|p=106}}
It is considered that somewhere in the second-half of the 9th century, Svatopluk I of Moravia (r. 871–894) may have incorporated the Sorbs into Great Moravia,{{sfn|Vlasto|1970|p=142}}{{sfn|Reuter|1992|p=137}} or spread Moravian influence in the region,{{sfn|Dvornik|1949|pp=292}} because ''Annales Fuldenses'' mentions an oath of fidelity mission with gifts by Sorbs in Salz and then Bohemians in Regensburg to king Arnulf in 895/897 (with Bohemians calling the Moravians as "enemies" and "oppressors"{{sfn|Reuter|1992|p=137}}),{{sfn|Reuter|1992|p=137}}{{sfn|Dvornik|1949|pp=292}}{{sfn|Dvornik|1956|p=104}} while Thietmar of Merseburg in his ''Chronicon Thietmari'' speaking about Thuringia wrote that "in the reign of the Duke Svatopluk we were ruled by Bohemian princes. Our ancestors paid him an annual tribute and he had bishops in his country, then called Marierun [Moravia]".{{sfn|Dvornik|1949|pp=292}}
The mid-9th century Bavarian Geographer mentioned the ''Surbi'' having 50 ''civitates'' (''Iuxta illos est regio, que vocatur Surbi, in qua regione plures sunt, que habent civitates L'').{{sfn|Riché|1993|p=110}}<ref name="Łuczyński"/> Alfred the Great in his ''Geography of Europe'' (888–893) relying on Orosius, recorded that "''north of the Dalamensians are the ''Surpe''/Servians''".<ref>{{cite book |first=James |last=Ingram |author-link=James Ingram (academic) |year=1807 |title=An Inaugural Lecture on the Utility of Anglo-Saxon Literatures to which is Added the Geography of Europe by King Alfred, Including His Account of the Discovery of the North Cape in the Ninth Century |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=la6yJEKOTW0C |publisher=University Press |page=72}}</ref>{{sfn|Dvornik|1949|p=272}}
===10th century=== {{see also|Siege of Gana|Margravate of Meissen}} King Henry the Fowler had subjected the Stodorani in 928, and in the following year imposed overlordship on the Obotrites and Veletians, and strengthened the grip on the Sorbs and Glomacze.{{sfn|Vlasto|1970|p=144}}
Between 932 and 963 the Sorbs were gradualy losing their independence, pressured by count Gero, king Otto's ''margrave of the East'' ({{langx|la|Gero Orientalium marchio}}), who expanded German rule into the lands of Polabian Slavs.{{sfn|Vlasto|1970|p=147}}{{sfn|Pech|2015|pp=129}} Since the 940s, several Burgwards were built in the territory of the Sorbs,{{sfn|Reuter|2013|p=166}} and the Margravate of Meissen and March of Lusatia were established ater 965,{{sfn|Dvornik|1956|pp=108–109}} within the Holy Roman Empire, with Otto I founding new bishoprics in Slavic regions (including Bishopric of Merseburg{{sfn|Reuter|2013|p=165}}).{{sfn|Dvornik|1956|p=109}} Bishop Boso of St. Emmeram (d. 970), a Slavic-speaker, had considerable success in Christianizing the Sorbs.{{sfn|Vlasto|1970|p=90}} Although by 994 some Slavic people managed to get independence, only Sorbs remained under Saxon control.{{sfn|Reuter|2013|p=257}}
Newer scholarly analyses of primary sources have shown that copies of some charters that contain data on foundation of dioceses in Slavic regions and Gero's jurisdiction over those territories should be considered as inerpolated or forged, thus leading modern researchers to question or reject various traditional views regarding the nature and effective scope of German expansion towards those Slavic lands in the middle of the 10th century.{{sfn|Stieldorf|2026|p=179, 231–251}}
The Arab historians and geographers Al-Masudi and Al-Bakri (10th and 11th century) writing on the Saqaliba mentioned the ''Sarbin'' or ''Sernin'' living between the Germans and the Moravians, a "Slavic people much feared for reasons that it would take too long to explain and whose deeds would need much too detailed an account. They have no particular religious affiliation". They, like other Slavs, "have the custom of burning themselves alive when a king or chieftain dies. They also immolate his horses".{{sfn|Dvornik|1949|p=270–271}}<ref name="Fadlan2012">{{cite book|last=Faḍlān|first=Aḥmad Ibn|authorlink=Ahmad ibn Fadlan|title=Ibn Fadlan and the Land of Darkness: Arab Travellers in the Far North|url=https://archive.org/details/IbnFadlanAndTheLandOfDarknessArabTravellersInTheFarNorthPenguinClassicsCopie/page/n195/mode/2up?q=sarbin|year=2012|publisher=Penguin|translator-last1=Lunde|translator-first1=Paul|translator-last2=Stone|translator-first2=Caroline|isbn=978-0-14-045507-6|pages=128, 200}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Lewicki |first=Tadeusz |date=1949 |title=Świat słowiański w oczach pisarzy arabskich |url=http://bazhum.pl/bib/article/226703/ |language=pl |journal=Slavia Antiqua |volume=2 |issue=2 |pages=321–388 |access-date=4 August 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Janković |first=Đorđe |date=2001 |title=Slovenski i srpski pogrebni obred u pisanim izvorima i arheološka građa |trans-title=Slavic and Serbian Mortuary Ritual in Written Sources and Archaeological Material |url=https://www.rastko.rs/arheologija/djankovic/djankovic-sahrane.html |language=sr |journal=Journal of the Serbian Archaeological Society |issue=17 |page=128 |access-date=4 August 2020}}</ref> In the Hebrew book ''Josippon'' (10th century) are listed four Slavic ethnic names from Venice to Saxony; ''Mwr.wh'' (Moravians), ''Krw.tj'' (Croats), ''Swrbjn'' (Sorbs), ''Lwcnj'' (Lučané or Lusatians).<ref name="Łowmiański6404"/>
===Aftermath=== thumb|right|250px|Sorbian and other neighboring Slavic regions in German-Polish conflicts at the beginning of the 11th century {{main|Sorbs}}
In the spring of 1002, German ''marches'' in Sorbian lands were temporarily overrun by the Polish duke Bolesław I the Brave, who seized all regions up to the river Elbe, capturing the town of Bautzen ({{langx|hsb|Budyšin}}), and also the neighboring city of Meissen ({{langx|hsb|Mišno}}) with territories towards the west, up to White Elster river.{{sfn|Warner|2001|p=211-212}} Those Sorbian and other Slavic regions remained contested for several years, since German-Polish relations were marked by a series of recurring conflicts and temporary treaties, that consequently resulted in the gradual resoration of German rule over Sorbian lands.{{sfn|Bachrach|2020|p=1-36}}
Cosmas of Prague in his 12th century ''Chronica Boemorum'', speaking about mythical history of Czechs, mentions certain tutor ''Duringo'' of ''Sribia genere'' and as ''scelestus Zribin''.{{sfn|Cosmas of Prague|1923|pp=28–29}}{{sfn|Havlíková|2016|p=186}} The chronicle, dealing with real historical events, mentions land of Serbia (''Zribiam'' 1040, 1087, 1088, 1095, 1109, and ''Sribiae'' 1113), mainly in regard of being crossed by Saxons to attack Bohemia, or local castles being attacked by Bohemia, from there moved regional princes to Poland and back, or as a land where were banished people from Bohemia.{{sfn|Havlíková|2016|p=186}} In an 1140 royal charter to the lands east of river Saale were referred as ''Zurba''.{{sfn|Hengst|2016|p=21}}
Since then the Sorbian tribes mostly disappeared from the political scene. From the 11th to the 15th century, agriculture east of Elbe River developed and colonization by Frankish, Flemish and Saxon settlers intensified. The Slavs were allowed to live mainly in the periphery of the cities, and the military-administrative as well as religious authority was in the hands of the Germans. Despite the long process of Germanization, part of the Slavs living in Lusatia preserved their identity and language until now, and in the early 20th century there lived some 150 thousand Lusatian Sorbs.<ref name="Sedov"/>
==Organization== According to Rostyslav Vatseba, "between the Elbe and Saale rivers the heterachical dryht-type state existed during the reign of Miliduch (before 806). The local society of the White Serbs was of clan character, which indicates the beginnings of state formation. The Sorbian 'civitates' are equal to simple chiefdoms, the particular clan regions correspond with complex chiefdoms. The high king ('rex supérbus') had only hegemonic authority over the heads of the clan regions ('ceteri reges'). Later on in the 9th and early 10th century the political unity of the Sorbi region was lost, despite a presumably more hierarchical mode of government in the Colodici's principality of Czimislav (830s). The author suggests that Colodici's 'castellа' served as places of the high prince's dryht members ('witsessen') residence, providing the ability to control the neighbouring clans. Such a system presumably could have persisted to the times of Čestibor".{{sfn|Vatseba|2018a|p=103}} The peasants were called ''smerdi'', while two other classes were ''vitaz/vitiezi'' and ''zhupans''.{{sfn|Dvornik|1949|pp=290}}{{sfn|Dvornik|1956|pp=58}}
== Relation to the ''White Serbs'' == {{see also|White Serbia|Slavic migrations to the Balkans}} thumb|right|Slavic and Serbian migrations to the Balkans.
In the scholarship, the Polabian Sorbs have often been identified with the ''White Serbs'', mentioned in the 10th-century Byzantine chronicle, known as the ''De Administrando Imperio'', that narrates the migration of Serbs to the Balkans and states their origin from the ''White Serbs'' ({{langx|el|ἄσπροι Σέρβλοι}}), that lived far to the north, in the region that is known is historiography as the White Serbia. Those accounts functions as the foundation-stone narrative of traditional Serbian historiography. This identification derives from the similarities of the Frankish exonym and the Balkan endonym, in addition to the similarities of areas inhabited by the Sorbs with the described northern location in the Byzantine account.<ref name="Dzino2023HSCE">{{cite journal |last=Džino |first=Danijel |year=2023 |title=Early Medieval Serbs in the Balkans: Reconsideration of the Evidence |url=https://real.mtak.hu/173294/1/HSCE_2023_4-25.pdf|journal=Historical Studies on Central Europe |volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=4–25 |doi=10.47074/HSCE.2023-1.01}}</ref><ref name="Zivkovic2012Godisnjak">{{cite journal |last=Živković |first=Tibor |title=Nova tumačenja vesti o južnoslovenskim gentes u ''De administrando imperio'' vizantijskog cara Konstantina VII Porfirogenita (944–959) |trans-title=New interpretations of reports on the South Slavic ''gentes'' in the ''De administrando imperio'' of the Byzantine emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus (944–959) |url=https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=157368|journal=Godišnjak CBI |year=2012 |volume=41 |pages=201–210 |doi=10.5644/Godisnjak.CBI.ANUBiH-40.11202 |language=sr}}</ref>
Since the 19th century, ''De Administrando Imperio,'' with its ''White Serbia'' and its ''White Croatia'' narrative, became the foundation-stone narrative of both modern Serbian and Croatian historiography.<ref name="Dzino2023HSCE" /><ref>{{cite book |last=Džino |first=Danijel |url=https://www.academia.edu/9292992/Local_knowledge_and_wider_contexts_stories_of_the_arrival_of_the_Croats_in_De_Administrando_Imperio_in_the_past_and_present |title=Byzantium, Its Neighbours and Its Cultures |publisher=Australian Association for Byzantine Studies |year=2014 |editor-last=Džino |editor-first=Danijel |series=Byzantina Australiensia |volume=20 |location=Brisbane |pages=89–105 |chapter=Local Knowledge and Wider Contexts: Stories of the Arrival of the Croats in ''De Administrando Imperio'' in the Past and Present |doi=10.1163/9789004344914_006 |access-date=2026-02-06 |editor-last2=Parry |editor-first2=Ken}}</ref> Based on the similarities in name and location of the lands of the Sorbs of Frankish chronicles and ''White Serbia'' of the Byzantine account, those historians who have subscribed to the historicity of ''De Administrando Imperio'''s narrative, have often held the two as identical.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Antolović |first=Michael |year=2016 |title=Ilarion Ruvarac (1832–1905): Nationalism and the Founding of Modern Serbian Historiography |url=https://epa.oszk.hu/02400/02460/00016/pdf/EPA02460_hungarian_historical_review_2016_2_332-356.pdf |journal=Hungarian Historical Review |volume=5 |issue=2 |pages=332–356 |access-date=2026-02-06}}</ref>{{sfn|Vatseba|2022|p=}}<ref name="Zivkovic2012Godisnjak" />
thumb|The origins of the Serbs narrated in ''De Administrando Imperio''. From a 12th-century Byzantine manuscript. Łowmiański argues that the ''Boiki'' region (the name used by ''De Administrando Imperio'' for the region from whence "unbaptized Serbs called white" migrated), which is commonly scholarly understood as Bohemia, accordingly, in his view the account should be read as meaning "near" as is erroneously stating "in".<ref name="Łowmiański6404" /> ''De Administrando Imperio'' describes this ''Boiki'' region's location as neighboring Francia and being north of Hungary. It also further reports that when two brothers succeeded their father, one of them migrated with half of the people from ''White Serbia'' to the Balkans during the rule of Heraclius (610–641).<ref>{{Cite book|last=Živković|first=Tibor|authorlink=Tibor Živković|year=2002|title=Јужни Словени под византијском влашћу (600-1025)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oE-gAAAAMAAJ|location=Belgrade|publisher=Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts|page=198|isbn=9788677430276 }}</ref>{{sfn|Živković|2012a|p=152–185}} According to traditional historiography, in line with a more general identification of ''White Serbia'' as the lands of the Sorbs, the Unknown Archon who led the Serbians to the Balkans is commonly viewed as related to Dervan by historians following this perspective.<ref name="Kardaras">{{cite book |last=Kardaras |first=Georgios |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1IN1DwAAQBAJ |title=Byzantium and the Avars, 6th-9th Century AD: political, diplomatic and cultural relations |publisher=BRILL |year=2018 |isbn=978-90-04-38226-8 |editor=Florin Curta |pages=95–96 |quote=Jenkins 1962, 131–133, according to whom the leader of the Serbs migrating towards the Balkans was the brother of Dervan... Contrary to the story of the Croats, there is no mention of a clash between Serbs and Avars, nor any separate, conflicting traditions... The assumption of Francis Dvornik, that the Serbs helped the Croats in their war against the Avars, should be ruled out, as Porphyrogenitus makes no mention of any clash between Serbs and Avars. |editor2=Dušan Zupka}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Relja Novaković |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5K0BAAAAMAAJ |title=Odakle su Sebl dos̆il na Balkansko poluostrvo |publisher=Istorijski institut |year=1977 |page=337}}</ref><ref name="Steinhubel2020">{{cite book |last=Steinhübel |first=Ján |author-link=Ján Steinhübel |date=2020 |orig-year=2016 |title=The Nitrian Principality: The Beginnings of Medieval Slovakia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vqUPEAAAQBAJ |publisher=Brill |page=39 |isbn=978-90-04-43863-7}}</ref>
In the scholarship is generally considered that they might have arrived as a small military elite which managed to organize other already settled and more numerous Slavs.{{sfn|Heather|2010|pp=404–408, 424–425, 444}}<ref name="Dzino2023HSCE" /> Francis Dvornik considered that a Sorbian elite migration might have been caused by the Frankish pressure and conquest of Thuringia, and the Byzantine alliance against the Avars.{{sfn|Dvornik|1949|p=287}}{{sfn|Dvornik|1956|p=62}} According to him the Sorbs can be viewed as a "typical foederati of the empire"{{sfn|Vatseba|2022|p=62}} and that their migration might have temporarily diminished Sorbian power on the borders of Francia.{{sfn|Dvornik|1949|p=291}} However, other scholars like John Van Antwerp Fine Jr. and Georgios Kardaras note that they did not fight the Avars, as there's no evidence or mention of it in historical sources.<ref name="Kardaras"/>{{sfn|Fine|1991|p=37, 57}} In Dvornik's account the Sorbs who emigrated to Southeastern Europe arrived as a military and ruling elite, that could not influence "racial and linguistic evolution" of other Southern Slavs and natives, imposing only their name rather than mass migrating an entire people group, in a similar manner to the Bulgar relationship to Bulgarians.{{sfn|Dvornik|1949|pp=275–276, 287, 291}}{{sfn|Dvornik|1956|p=63}}
Despite the similarity and common ancestry mentioned in ''DAI'', Frankish chroniclers do not mention the common ancestry of the ''Sorabi'' of the Elbe and the ''Sorabos'' of Dalmatia, but rather perceived their emissaries as of separate political groups.{{sfn|Živković|2011|p=383}}
==Foreign perception== The 10th-century Widukind of Corvey in his ''The Deeds of the Saxons'' wrote that the "heathens are bad", but their land is rich for cultivation and harvest.{{sfn|Pech|2015|pp=129}} Thietmar of Merseburg in the early 11th century regarded them as pagans.{{sfn|Goetz|2015|p=103}} The 12th-century Helmond described the Sorbs of having a "generally innate cruelty", that the pagan people would "tear out the entrails of captured Christians and then wrap them around a stake", while a clergyman stated that the Sorbs and Elbe Slavs are "men without mercy ... rob, murder and kill many with selected tortures".{{sfn|Pech|2015|pp=129}}
==Rulers== {|class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center" |- ! Monarch ! Reign |- |Dervan |c. 615 – 636 |- |Miliduch |c. 790 – 806 |- |Tunglo |c. 826 |- |Czimislav |c. 830 – 840 |- |Čestibor |c. 840 – 859 |- |Slavibor |c. 859 – 894 |}
; Other notable people:
* Ludmila of Bohemia (c. 860 – 921) * Albrecht I of Meissen (12th century)
==See also== *Origin hypotheses of the Serbs *Genetic studies on Serbs
== Footnotes == {{Notelist}}
==References== {{reflist|2}}
==Sources== ;Primary sources * ''Chronicle of Fredegar'', 642 ** {{Cite book|editor-last=Wallace-Hadrill|editor-first1=John Michael|title=The fourth book of the Chronicle of Fredegar with its Continuations|year=1960|location=London|publisher=Thomas Nelson|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eudnAAAAMAAJ}} * ''Royal Frankish Annals'', 829 ** {{Cite book|editor-last1=Scholz|editor-first1=Bernhard W.|editor-last2=Rogers|editor-first2=Barbara|title=Carolingian Chronicles: Royal Frankish Annals and Nithard's Histories|year=1970|location=Ann Arbor|publisher=University of Michigan Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sTzl6wFjehMC&pg=PP7}} * ''Annales Bertiniani'', 882 ** {{Cite book|editor-last=Nelson|editor-first=Janet L.|editor-link=Janet L. Nelson|title=The Annals of St-Bertin|year=1991|location=Manchester|publisher=Manchester University Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gkO9AAAAIAAJ&pg=PP7}} * ''Bavarian Geographer'', mid-9th-century * ''Annales Fuldenses'', 901 ** {{Cite book|editor-last=Reuter|editor-first=Timothy|editor-link=Timothy Reuter|title=The Annals of Fulda|year=1992|location=Manchester|publisher=Manchester University Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=icdRAQAAIAAJ&pg=PP5}} * ''Widukind's Chronicle'', 973 ** {{Cite book|editor-last1=Bachrach|editor-first1=Bernard S.|editor-link1=Bernard S. Bachrach|editor-last2=Bachrach|editor-first2=David S.|title=Widukind of Corvey: Deeds of the Saxons|year=2014|location=Washington|publisher=The Catholic University of America Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=__EdBgAAQBAJ&pg=PR3}} * ''Thietmar's Chronicle'', 1018 ** {{Cite book|editor-last=Warner|editor-first=David A.|title=Ottonian Germany: The Chronicon of Thietmar of Merseburg|year=2001|location=Manchester and New York|publisher=Manchester University Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RQFmHxx3tsIC&pg=PP5}} * ''Cosmas's Chronicle'', 1125 ** {{cite book |author=Cosmas of Prague |editor=Bertold Bretholz |date=1923 |title=Die Chronik der Böhmen des Cosmas von Prague |url= |location=Berlin |publisher=Weidmannsche Buchhandlung}}
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P. |title=The Entry of the Slavs Into Christendom: An Introduction to the Medieval History of the Slavs|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fpVOAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA147|year=1970|publisher=CUP Archive|isbn=978-0-521-07459-9|pages=142–147}} * {{cite book|last=Verbruggen|first=J. F. |title=The Art of Warfare in Western Europe During the Middle Ages: From the Eighth Century to 1340|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-qH1u1Ca-1IC&pg=PA21|year=1997|publisher=Boydell & Brewer|isbn=978-0-85115-570-8}} * {{Cite book|last=Živković|first=Tibor|author-link=Tibor Živković|chapter=The Origin of the Royal Frankish Annalist's Information about the Serbs in Dalmatia|title=Homage to Academician Sima Ćirković|year=2011|location=Belgrade|publisher=The Institute for History|pages=381–398|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t_ZCCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA381}} * {{Cite book|last=Živković|first=Tibor|author-link=Tibor Živković|title=De conversione Croatorum et Serborum: A Lost Source|year=2012a|location=Belgrade|publisher=The Institute of History|url=https://www.academia.edu/1231887}} {{refend}}
==Further reading== * {{cite journal |last1=Wenzel |first1=Walter |year=2012 |title=Die slawische Besiedlung des Schliebener Ländchens im Lichte der Orts- und Personennamen |trans-title=The Slav colonisation of the Schlieben area in the light of place and personal names, as well as finds from excavations |url=https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=193580 |language=de |journal=Lětopis |issue=1 |pages=44–54}} * {{cite journal |last1=Wenzel |first1=Walter |year=2014 |title=Der Ortsname Dohna und Spuren früher alttschechischer Besiedlung in Sachsen |trans-title=The Name of the Village of Dohna and Traces of early Old Czech Settlement in Saxony |url=https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=219378 |language=de |journal=Lětopis |issue=2 |pages=48–54}} * {{cite journal |last1=Wenzel |first1=Walter |year=2015 |title=Das Land der Besunzane und Milzane – die Urheimat der Obersorben |trans-title=The Land of the Besunzane and Milzane – the Original Homeland of the Upper Sorbs |url=https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=296323 |language=de |journal=Lětopis |issue=2 |pages=3–14}} * {{cite journal |last1=Wenzel |first1=Walter |year=2016 |title=Die slawischen Stammesnamen Neletici und Nudzici |trans-title=The Slav Tribal Names Neletici and Nudzici |url=https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=409051 |language=de |journal=Lětopis |issue=1 |pages=69–74}} * {{cite journal |last1=Wenzel |first1=Walter |year=2018 |title=Der Stammesname Besunzane in neuer Sicht |trans-title=The Tribal Name Besunzane in a New Light |url=https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=708731 |language=de |journal=Lětopis |issue=2 |pages=107–111}}
{{Bavarian Geographer}} {{Slavic ethnic groups (VII-XII century)}}
Category:Sorbian people Category:West Slavic tribes Category:Lechites Category:Lusatia Category:History of Saxony Category:Slavic ethnic groups