Bucu or Buku is a hill island

Island

An island or isle is any piece of sub-continental land that is surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, cays or keys. An island in a river or lake may be called an eyot , or holm...

 surrounded by the Trave

Trave

The Trave is a river in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is approximately 124 kilometres long, running from its source near the village of Gießelrade in Ostholstein to Travemünde where it flows into the Baltic Sea. It passes through Bad Segeberg, Bad Oldesloe, and Lübeck, where it is linked to the...

 and Wakenitz

Wakenitz

The Wakenitz is a river in southeastern Schleswig-Holstein whose source is the Ratzeburger See in Ratzeburg.The Wakenitz is about 14.5 kilometers long and drains into the Trave in Lübeck. The majority of its eastern bank forms the border between Schleswig-Holstein and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania...

 Rivers in Lübeck

Lübeck

The Hanseatic City of Lübeck is the second-largest city in Schleswig-Holstein, in northern Germany, and one of the major ports of Germany. It was for several centuries the "capital" of the Hanseatic League and, because of its Brick Gothic architectural heritage, is listed by UNESCO as a World...

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

. It is also the name of a medieval Slavic

Polabian Slavs

Polabian Slavs - is a collective term applied to a number of Lechites tribes who lived along the Elbe river, between the Baltic Sea to the north, the Saale and the Limes Saxoniae to the west, the Ore Mountains and the Western Sudetes to the south, and Poland to the east. They have also been known...

 castle

Castle

A castle is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the word castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble...

, now ruined, on the island. Count Adolf II of Holstein

Adolf II of Holstein

Adolf II was the Count of Schauenburg and Holstein from 1130 until his death, though he was briefly out of Holstein from 1137 until 1142. He succeeded his father Adolf I under the regency of his mother, Hildewa....

 founded Lübeck on the island in 1143. The Burgkloster, or fortified monastery, of Lübeck is located atop the ruins of Bucu. "Bucu" is also the name of a hill.

History

Fortifications probably existed at Bucu by the end of the 7th century or the beginning of the 8th century. When the Christian

Christianity

Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...

 Obotrite

Obotrites

The Obotrites , also commonly known as the Obodrites, Abotrites, or Abodrites, were a confederation of medieval West Slavic tribes within the territory of modern Mecklenburg and Holstein in northern Germany . For decades they were allies of Charlemagne in his wars against Germanic Saxons and Slavic...

 prince Gottschalk was killed at Lenzen

Lenzen

Lenzen is a small town in the district of Prignitz, in Brandenburg, Germany. It is part of the Amt Lenzen-Elbtalaue.-Overview:Lenzen is situated near the Elbe, approx. 20 km northwest of Wittenberge. It was the scene of an early victory by the Germans over the Wends in 929...

 in 1066, the pagan Kruto

Kruto

Kruto , son of Grin or Grinus, was a prince of Wagria. James Westfall Thompson believed his family belonged to the Rani of Rugia....

 took control of Wagria and made it his base of power. Kruto neglected the developing settlement of Liubice

Liubice

Liubice, also known by the German name Alt-Lübeck , was a medieval West Slavic settlement near the site of modern Lübeck, Germany. Liubice was located at the confluence of the Schwartau with the Trave across from Teerhof Island, approximately four kilometres north of Lübeck's island old town...

 and instead developed Bucu between the Trave and the Wakenitz

Wakenitz

The Wakenitz is a river in southeastern Schleswig-Holstein whose source is the Ratzeburger See in Ratzeburg.The Wakenitz is about 14.5 kilometers long and drains into the Trave in Lübeck. The majority of its eastern bank forms the border between Schleswig-Holstein and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania...

; Gottschalk's son Henry

Henry (Obotrite prince)

Henry was an Obotrite prince or king from the Nakonid dynasty; he was regarded by contemporaries as "King of the Slavs"...

 made Liubice the Obotrite capital after killing Kruto in 1093, however. With the death of Henry in 1127 and the Rani

Rani (Slavic tribe)

The Rani or Rujani were a West Slavic tribe based on the island of Rugia and the southwestern mainland across the Strelasund in what is today northeastern Germany....

 sack of Liubice the following year, Bucu began to assume greater importance as merchants moved to the fortified hill. Count Adolf II of Holstein

Adolf II of Holstein

Adolf II was the Count of Schauenburg and Holstein from 1130 until his death, though he was briefly out of Holstein from 1137 until 1142. He succeeded his father Adolf I under the regency of his mother, Hildewa....

 founded Lübeck in 1143 near the castle, which offered protection to the new harbour settlement.

Excavation

Bucu was excavated by archaeologists in the 1970s. Recovery excavations at the Kleine Gröpelgrube unearthed a nearby settlement, the suburbium, in 1997. The exposed findings indicate that the region east of the castle was inhabited by Slavs from the 8th or 9th century until the middle of the 12th century.

In a southern section of the current Große Burgstraße, a 3.5 m wide and 2.5 m deep trench protected the settlement. The northern border was presumably north of the current Königstraße. To the west the settlement bordered the castle directly, while to the east it reached the Wakenitz

Wakenitz

The Wakenitz is a river in southeastern Schleswig-Holstein whose source is the Ratzeburger See in Ratzeburg.The Wakenitz is about 14.5 kilometers long and drains into the Trave in Lübeck. The majority of its eastern bank forms the border between Schleswig-Holstein and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania...

. The settlement area was probably about 6 ha. Discoveries in the interior include mines, mining houses, hearths, and a great number of ceramic objects. The remnants of a potter's workshop were found in the Kleine Gröpelgrube. A Slavic pottery tradition could have existed at the location until the arrival of Saxons

Saxons

The Saxons were a confederation of Germanic tribes originating on the North German plain. The Saxons earliest known area of settlement is Northern Albingia, an area approximately that of modern Holstein...

in the 12th century. The Kleine Gröpelgrube was first mentioned in 1297 as parva platea lutifigulorum, or the small street of the loam potters.