Niklot

Who was Niklot?

Niklot or Nyklot was a pagan chief or prince of the Slavic Obotrites and an ancestor of the House of Mecklenburg. From 1130 or 1131 until his death he was chief of the Obotrite confederacy, the Kissini, and the Circipani. At the same time he was Lord of Schwerin, Quetzin, and Malchow. For nearly 30 years he resisted Saxon princes, especially Henry the Lion during the Wendish Crusade. He also opposed the conversion of the pagan Polabian Slavs to Roman Catholic Christianity.

Niklot's place of birth is unknown. After the death of the Obodrite prince Henry, a Christian, Niklot renounced Christianity in support of the traditional pagan beliefs.

Niklot began his open resistance when Lothar III, Holy Roman Emperor, granted the Obotrite realm to his Danish vassal Canute Lavard. Together with Pribislaw, the son of Henry of Alt-Lübeck, Niklot fought against Lothar and Canute. After the murder of Canute in 1131, Niklot and Pribislav partitioned the Obotrite territory, with Niklot receiving the eastern lands. In order to weaken Pribislav in the following years, Niklot allied himself with Saxon lords, especially Count Adolf II of Holstein, allowing Slavic pirates to attack the Danes.