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Further information about Arcona concem its fali, which is widely reflected in the sources. The Rans were not able to stop the influx of Christianity to Pomerania and the Baltic coast of Polabia. In 1128 Szczecin was finally christened, and the Rans’ armed intervention failed. Neverthe-less, in 1147, during a “crusade” against the Slavs, they still managed to rescue a pagan prince of Abodrites, Niklot, by a sudden attack of fleet (Wachowski, 1950, p. 193). In 1157 a civil war in Denmark ended and Rugen had to resist an enterprising ruler, Valdemar I the Great, supported by an outstanding counsellor and military leader, Absalon, the bishop of Roskild. The prince of Rugen, Tetislav started negotiations with the Danes in 1160. In the peace treaty the Rans promised to restrain themselves from piracy and acknowledged the tributary supremacy of Denmark. In 1162 they even supported the Danes in the siege of Wolgast (Wołogoszcz). Bishop Absalon took part in one of the Rans’ counselling meetings then. Probably around that time the idea of accepting Christianity from Denmark emerged. Such course of action would strengthen the position of the prince, who at least sińce the late 11 the. had been dominated by the priests and the council, through eliminating the priests of Sventovit from the political gamę (Wehrmann, 1922, p. 24; Wachowski, 1950, p. 184-195; Pieradzka, 1953, p. 197; SSS, vol. 4, p. 568-569). The Saxo-Danish rivalry aroused hope for fuli independence. Danish supremacy was overthrown, but the hope for Saxon help was belied. In 1166 the Danes ravaged Rugen twice (after Wachowski, 1950, p. 195; according to SSS, vol. 4, p. 569, it happened in 1165). At that time the Rans remained the last Slavonic tribe adhering to pagan religion. In 1167 Abodrite prince Pribislav was baptized and recognized the supremacy of the Saxon prince (Wachowski, 1950, p. 195; SSS, vol. 4, p. 398).

On Whit Sunday of 1168, precisely on the 19th of May (Knytilngasaga, ch.122; Osięglowski, 1967, p. 283) a Danish expedition led by king Valdemar and bishop Absalon landed in Rugen. The attack had been prepared to-gether with Saxon prince Henry the Lion, who was represented by Pomera-nian princes Casimir and Boguslav, Abodrite prince Pribislav, baptized in the previous year, and Berno, the bishop of Mecklemburg. Saxo Gram-maticus (XIV, p. 821-822) begins his relation of the surrender of the tempie with a description of the location of the stronghold: “The king attacked Rugen from many directions; when he found everywhere the occasion to plunder but not to flght, eager for bloodshed he besieged the town of Arcona. This town from the east, south and north is defended by natural, not man-made barriers, and situated at the very end of a certain cape. The precipices are higher than the walls, which cannot be reached by an arrow shot from a war machinę. At the three sides mentioned it was sur-rounded by the sea, and from the west enclosed in a 50-elbow-high rampart, whose lower part was madę of earth and the upper one of timber filled with earth. In the northerji part there was a spring, which was accessible to the

Fig. 6. The location of Arcona (the Jaromasburg stronghold) in relation to its neighbourhood; 1:25,000 scalę; C. Schuchhardt, 1926, p. 15.

inhabitants through a fortifled path. That path had once been cut off by Erie, who in this way subdued them rather by the torturę of thirst than by armed force.” The stronghold has partly survived until now, although the cape cliff, built of rocks vulnerable to decay, have been seriously eroded by the sea. At least sińce the lóthc. it was cailed the Stronghold of Jaromir (Jaromarsburg). In the 19thc. one of the neighbouring fields was cailed Danenlager, i.e. the camp of the Danes (Haas, 1925, p. 40, 43).

According to the Danish chronicler, “in the centre of the town there was a sąuare in which a wooden tempie of ingenious construction was situated.