Wendish Crusade authorized

1146

Bernard of Clairvaux and Pope Eugenius III authorized northern European crusaders to attack the pagan Slavs east of the Elbe rather than travel to the Holy Land. The campaign, fought by Saxons and Danes, marked the beginning of the Christianization and Germanization of the southern Baltic coast. The crusade produced few lasting military results, but it established a precedent for armed missionary expansion into pagan northeastern Europe.