Sorbs (tribe)

The Sorbs or Sorabi or Surbi were a medieval Early Slavic tribe, who settled between Saale and Elbe and to their east, a region encompassing much of present-day Saxony and Thuringia. They were part of a larger group called Polabian Slavs.

Their history has been transmitted mainly via Frankish medieval chronicles, beginning with the Chronicle of Fredegar. Said chronicle reports that in 631 under their first named ruler, Dervan, the Sorbs relinquished fealty to the Frankish king and joined a wider Slavic tribal polity led by Samo.

The Sorbs were consequently mentioned by 8th–10th century chroniclers mainly in relation to border conflicts with neighboring populations. The tribe first accepted the suzerainty of the Carolingian Empire under Tunglo in 826. By the middle of the 9th century, an imperial frontier district known as the Sorbian March had been established by the Carolingians.

Despite prolonged resistance, Sorbian territories were gradually integrated into the administrative system of the Holy Roman Empire. An expansionary process which occurred through the further establishment and expansion of additional marches and which had been concluded fully by the 12th century. The region subject to this process—and much of its population—was Germanized during the Ostsiedlung. Populations which maintained their use of local Slavic languages came to constitute the contemporary Sorbs of Lusatia.