The Lutici (known by various spelling variants) are a federation of West Slavic Polabian tribes, who between the 10th and 12th centuries live in what is now northeastern Germany.
Four tribes make up the core of the federation: the Redarians (Redari, Redarii), Circipanians (Circipani), Kessinians (Kessini, Kycini, Chizzini) and Tollensians (Tholenzi).
At least in part, the Lutici are a continuation of the Veleti.
In contrast to the former and the neighboring peoples, the Lutici are not led by a Christian monarch or duke, rather power wai asserted through consensus formed in central assemblies of the social elites, and the Lutici worship nature and several deities.
The political and religious center is Rethra (also referred to by several other names, e.g.
Riedegost or Radgosc).The Lutici are first recorded by written sources in the context of the uprising of 983, by which they annilihate the rule of the Holy Roman Empire in the Billung and Northern Marches.
Hostilities continue until 997.
Thereafter, tensions with the empire ease, and in 1003, the Lutici enter an alliance with the emperor against Duke Boleslaw I of Poland.
Once Boleslaw's successor Mieszko is defeated in 1033, the alliance breaks apart, and a German-Lutician war breaks out that lasts until 1035, when the Lutici become tributaries of the empire again, but otherwise retain their independence.
A civil war between the core tribes starts the decline of the Lutici in 1056/57.
The neighboring Obodrites intervene and subdue the northwestern faction of the Lutici.In 1066, the Lutici succeed in stirring up a revolt against the Obodrite elites, in the course of which John, the bishop of Mecklenburg, is captured and sacrificed at Rethra.
As a consequence, the bishop of Halberstadt and the emperor sack and destroyed Rethra in subsequent campaigns, and its role as the leading pagan cult site is taken over by the Swantewit temple at Arkona.
Another civil war in the 1070s leads to a further decline of the Lutician federation, who then are unable to resist conquests and looting by their neighbors in the following decades.During the first half of the 12th century, the settlement area of the Lutici is partitioned between Obodrite principalities, the later Duchy of Mecklenburg (west), the re-constituted Northern March, which becomes the Margraviate of Brandenburg (south), and the Duchy of Pomerania (east).
The Lutici are converted to Christianity, and in the 13th century are assimilated by German settlers and became part of the German people during the Ostsiedlung.
