On Vineta he writes (High German Chronicle, ed. Meden, lib. ii. pp. 32-35.):—
"Not long after this Schwenotto threw off Christianity, and set himself against his father Harald, king in Denmark, and drove him from the kingdom. So Harald fled to Wollyn, in Pomerania. There the Wends, notwithstanding that he was a Christian, and they still of the ancient faith, received him kindly, and, together with the other Wends and Pomeranians, fitted out ships and an armament, and brought him with force back into his kingdom, and fought the whole day with Schweno, so that it was uncertain who had or had not won there. Then the next day they arose and made a smiting,[10] and in the fray Harald was shot by a Dane, and perhaps by his son's command. Then brought the Wollyners him to their ships, and carried him away to their city that there they might doctor (artzten) him. But he died of the wound, and was buried there, after he had reigned about fifty years, about the thousandth year after the birth of Christ. So writeth Saxo. But Helmold writes, that he came to Vineta: these holp him into his kingdom again, and when he was shot in the skirmish, they brought him back to their town, where he died[11] and was buried. And that I myself believe; for though Wollyn was a mighty state at that time, still Vineta was much mightier; and it is therefore to be concluded that he fled to Vineta, rather than to Wollyn, and that Vineta was on that account afterwards destroyed: and as we are come to Vineta, we will say what Helmold writes thereof, which is this:—
"Vineta has been a powerful city, with a good harbour for the surrounding nations; and after so much has been told of the city which is totally (schyr = sheerly) incredible, I will relate this much. It is said to have been as great a city as any which Europe contained at that time, and it was promiscuously inhabited by Greeks, Slavonians, Wends, and other nations. The Saxons, also, upon condition of not openly practising Christianity, were permitted to inhabit with them; for all the citizens were idolaters down to the final destruction and fall of the city. Yet in customs, manners, and hospitality there is not a more worthy nation, or so worthy a one, to be found. The city was full of all sorts of merchandise (kaufwahr) from all countries, and had everything which was curious, luxurious (lustig = lustful), and necessary; and a king of Denmark destroyed them a great fleet of war. The ruins and recollection of the town remain even to this day, and the island on which it lay is flowed round by three streams, of which one is of a green colour, the other greyish, and the third dashes and rushes by reason of storm and wind. And so far Helmold, who wrote about 400 years ago.
"And it is true that the remains exist at the present day: for when one desires to go from Wolgast over the Pene, in the country of Usedom, and comes by a village called Damerow, which is by [about] two miles[12] from Wolgast, so sees one about a long quarter way into the sea (for the ocean has encroached upon the land so much since then), great stones and foundations. So have I with others rowed thither, and have carefully looked at it. But no brickwork is there now; for it is so many hundred years since the destruction of the city, that it is impossible that it can have remained so long in the stormy sea. Yet the great foundation-stones are there still, and lie in a row, as they are usually disposed under a house, one by the other; and in some places others upon them. Among these stones are some so great, in three or four places, that they reach ell high above the water; so that it is conjectured that their churches or assembly-houses stood there. But the other stones, as they still lie in the order in which they lay under the buildings (geben), show also manifestly how the streets went through the length and breadth (in die lenge und übers quer) of the city. And the fishermen of the place told us that still whole paving-stones of the streets lay there, and were covered with moss[13] (übermoset), so that they could not be seen; yet if one pricked therein with a sharp-pointed pole or lance, they were easily to be felt. And the stones lay somehow after that manner: and as we rowed backward and forward over the foundations, and remarked the fashion of the streets, saw we that the town was built lengthways from east to west. But the sea deepens the farther we go, so that we could not perceive the greatness of the city fully; but what we could see, made us think that it was very probably of about the size of Lübeck: for it was about a short quarter[14] long, and the breadth broader than the city Lübeck. By this one may guess what was the size of the part we could not see. And according to my way of thinking, when this town was destroyed, Wisbu in Gottland was restored."
[10] I have in the translation adopted the phrase of Holy Writ, "made a smiting."
[11] This shows that the MSS. of Helmold were corrupted at a very early period. I have seen one uncorrupted. A list of them would be a thing desirable.
[12] German, answering to about eight English.
[13] I have translated übermoset as above, though nothing at the bottom could be covered with moss. I suspect the true lection to be übermodert, as moder exists in the present German, answering to our word "mother."
[14] This expression, as well as a previous one, alludes to the distance. "Of a mile" is, in both cases, to be understood.
Wisby, en passant, may be described as a merchant town of great importance in the mediæval period, and whence we have derived our navigation laws. It has now about 4000 inhabitants, and has many ruined buildings and sculptured marble about it.