Rani (Slavic tribe)

The Rani or Rujani (German: Ranen, Rujanen) were a West Slavic tribe based on the island of Rugia (Rügen) and the southwestern mainland across the Strelasund in what is today northeastern Germany.

The Rani tribe emerged after the Slavic settlement of the region in the 9th century, ranging among the most powerful of several small Slav tribes dwelling between the Elbe and lower Vistula rivers before the 13th century. They were one of the last to cling to their Slavic paganism, with the influence of their religious center at Arkona reaching far beyond the tribal borders.

In 1168, the Rani were defeated by Danish king Valdemar I and his adviser Absalon, Bishop of Roskilde, resulting in the conversion of the region to Christianity. In the course of the 13th century in Pomerania, the tribe was assimilated by German and Danish settlers during the Ostsiedlung, resulting in a gradual Germanisation of the Rani. The Principality of Rugia remained Danish until 1325.

In the late migration period, the areas which had previously been settled by Germanic tribes became settled by Slavs. In the case of Rugia and the adjacent mainland, where the Rugii were recorded before the migration period, Slavs first appeared in the 9th century. In the case of Rugia, continuous settlement from the pre-Slavic to the Slavic era is suggested based on pollen analyses and name transitions, so a Rugian remnant seems to have been assimilated. The tribal name of the former inhabitants, the Rugii, might be the root of both the medieval name of Rugia and the tribal name of the Slavic R(uj)ani, though this theory is not generally accepted.

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