Page "Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor" Paragraph 56

Around the year 982, Imperial authority in Slavic territory extended as far east as the Lusatian Neisse River and as far south as the Ore Mountains.

Following Otto II's defeat at Stilo in 983, the Lutici Federation of Polabian Slavs revolted against their German overlords, sparking a in a great revolt known as the Slawenaufstand.

The Polabian Slavs destroyed the bishoprics of Havelberg and Brandenburg.

According the German chronicler Bishop Thietmar of Merseburg, the decades long forced Germanization and Christianization of the Slavs associated with these two churches was the reason for their destruction.

Thietmar blames the uprising on maltreatment of the Slavs by the Germans: " Warriors, who used to be our servants, now free as a consequence of our injustices.

" In the Obotrite territories along the Elbe River, the Luticians initiated a revolt aiming at the abolishment of feudal rule and Christianity, drawing on consideral support by the Obodrite populace and their leader Mstivoj.

In part, the Obrodite revolt was successful: The princely family, though in part remaining Christian, dissolved Christian institutions.