Nako, Nakon, Nakko, or Nacco (954 – c. 966) was an Obotrite leader who, along with his brother Stoignew, led the forces of a 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...

 confederacy

Confederation

A confederation in modern political terms is a permanent union of political units for common action in relation to other units. Usually created by treaty but often later adopting a common constitution, confederations tend to be established for dealing with critical issues such as defense, foreign...

 in a revolt against the Germans

Kingdom of Germany

The Kingdom of Germany developed out of the eastern half of the former Carolingian Empire....

, especially Herman Billung, Duke of Saxony.

In 955 Nako and Stoignew were defeated at the Battle of Recknitz

Battle of Recknitz

The Battle of Recknitz river]]") was fought on 16 October 955 between the forces of Otto I of Germany allied with the Rani tribe on one side, and the Obotrite federation under Nako and his brother Stoinegin with their allied and tributary Slav neighbours on the other in the region of present-day...

 by Otto I of Germany. While Stoignew was beheaded, Nako probably accepted Christianity

Christianity

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

, because there followed roughly thirty years of peace, during which, according to Adam of Bremen

Adam of Bremen

Adam of Bremen was a German medieval chronicler. He lived and worked in the second half of the eleventh century. He is most famous for his chronicle Gesta Hammaburgensis Ecclesiae Pontificum .-Background:Little is known of his life other than hints from his own chronicles...

, the Slavs were Christian. Nako and his successors, the Nakonids

Nakonids

The Nakonids were the leading noble family of the Slavic peoples of the Elbe River from ca. 960 until 1129. They were themselves of Abodrite origin and engineered the formation of a Slavic principality in the region. They went extinct in the male line in the early 12th century...

, resided in a "ringwall" of fortresses: Mecklenburg

Mecklenburg Castle

Mecklenburg Castle was a medieval castle and a residential capital of the Nakonid and Nikloting dynasties of the Obotrites. It was located just south of the modern village Dorf Mecklenburg, seven kilometres south of the Bay of Wismar in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. The only remnants of the...

, Starigard, 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 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...

 (Lunkini). When the Sephardic geographer Abraham ben Jacob

Abraham ben Jacob

Abraham ben Jacob, better known under his Arabic name of Ibrâhîm ibn Ya`qûb was a 10th century Hispano-Arabic, plausibly Sephardi Jewish, traveller, probably a merchant, whose brief may have included diplomacy and espionage...

 travelled through the territory, he referred to Mecklenburg, Nako's principal palace, as "Nako's castle."

He was succeeded by his sons Mstivoj

Mstivoj

Mstivoj was an Obodrite prince from 965 or 967 until his death. He inherited his position along with his brother Mstidrag from their father Nako in an unknown year.-Name:...

 and Mstidrag, but they abandoned Christianity and revolted against the Germans again.