Reric: The Market a King Erased – and Which Made Haithabu Great

Reric was, in the early 9th century, an important trading place on the southern Baltic coast, near today's Wismar (Mecklenburg). Merchants from the Slavic lands, Scandinavia and the Frankish empire met here. The place brought its ruler – the Slavic prince of the Obodrites – rich toll revenues. And that is exactly what made it a target.

Godfred acts

In 808 the Danish king Godfred marched against the Obodrites. The Royal Frankish Annals report soberly what happened next: he destroyed Reric and carried the merchants off with him. Their new home became a place on the Schlei – Haithabu. At a stroke Godfred shifted the trade and the tolls into his own realm, right behind the shelter of the Danevirke.

"… he destroyed that trading place and took the merchants with him."after the Annales regni Francorum for the year 808 (public domain, own translation)

Why this mattered so much

This one note explains the rise of Haithabu. A market lives on people, routes and security – and Godfred delivered all at once: the experienced merchants from Reric, the position on the short land bridge between Baltic and North Sea, and the protection of the border rampart. Over the following decades Haithabu became one of the largest towns of the North.

Where did Reric really lie?

For a long time Reric was only a name in the annals. It was archaeology that brought a very likely candidate to light: the site of Groß Strömkendorf near Wismar, an early trade and craft place with a fitting time horizon and international finds. The identification is well founded but still counts as likely, not finally proven.

Reric is a model case of how politics was made in the Viking Age: not only with the sword, but with trade routes, tolls and the deliberate resettlement of people. The end of one market was the beginning of the most famous other.

Read more with us

Hedeby · The Danevirke · Hacksilver – silver as currency · Viking traces in Germany · The Ox Road.

Sources & literature

Annales regni Francorum (808); excavations at Groß Strömkendorf; standard literature on Haithabu; quote public domain or own translation.

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