Pribislav was a 12th century prince

Prince

Prince is a general term for a ruler, monarch or member of a monarch's or former monarch's family, and is a hereditary title in the nobility of some European states. The feminine equivalent is a princess...

 of the West Slavic Obotrites

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...

 with his power base in Wagria.

Pribislav was the son of Budivoj

Budivoj

Budivoj, Buthue, or Butue was the eldest son of Gottschalk, an Abodrite prince, by a mistress. He allied with the Dukes of Saxony in order to recover the power and position of his father, lost since Gottschalk's death to the pagan Kruto.-Meaning of the name:Budivoj or Budziwoj is an old Slavic...

. After the murder of Canute Lavard

Canute Lavard

Canute Lavard was a Danish prince. Later he was the first Duke of Schleswig and the first border prince who was both a Danish and a German vassal, a position leafing towards the historical double position of Southern Jutland...

 in 1131, the Obotrite lands were partitioned between Pribislav and Niklot

Niklot

Niklot or Nyklot was a pagan chief or prince of the Slavic Obotrites and an ancestor of the House of Mecklenburg. From 1130 or 1131 until his death he was chief of the Obotrite confederacy, the Kissini, and the Circipani. At the same time he was Lord of Schwerin, Quetzin, and Malchow...

, with the former receiving Wagria and Polabia and the latter Mecklenburg

Mecklenburg

Mecklenburg is a historical region in northern Germany comprising the western and larger part of the federal-state Mecklenburg-Vorpommern...

 until the Peene

Peene

The Peene is a river in Germany. The Westpeene, Kleine Peene and Ostpeene flow into the Kummerower See, and from there as Peene proper to Anklam and into the Oder Lagoon....

 River; Pribislav received the title regulus, or lesser king and resided in 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...

. A follower of Slavic paganism

Slavic mythology

Slavic mythology is the mythological aspect of the polytheistic religion that was practised by the Slavs before Christianisation.The religion possesses many common traits with other religions descended from the Proto-Indo-European religion....

, Pribislav was described by Emperor Lothair III

Lothair III, Holy Roman Emperor

Lothair III of Supplinburg , was Duke of Saxony , King of Germany , and Holy Roman Emperor from 1133 to 1137. The son of Count Gebhard of Supplinburg, his reign was troubled by the constant intriguing of Frederick I, Duke of Swabia and Duke Conrad of Franconia...

, whom he was dependent upon, as an enemy of 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...

 and an idolator

Idolator

Idolator is the third album by the Japanese, melodic death metal band, Blood Stain Child. Idolator combines melodic death metal similar to the more recent In Flames albums with electronic and trance influences, particularly on "Nuclear Trance". "Embrace Me", has a piano section both at the...

.

After the death of Lothair in 1137, Lothair's son-in-law Henry the Proud and Margrave Albert the Bear fought over the Duchy of Saxony

Duchy of Saxony

The medieval Duchy of Saxony was a late Early Middle Ages "Carolingian stem duchy" covering the greater part of Northern Germany. It covered the area of the modern German states of Bremen, Hamburg, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, and Saxony-Anhalt and most of Schleswig-Holstein...

. Pribislav took advantage of the struggle to rebel against the authority of the Holy Roman Empire

Holy Roman Empire

The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...

 by destroying the new castle of Segeburg and invading Holstein

Holstein

Holstein is the region between the rivers Elbe and Eider. It is part of Schleswig-Holstein, the northernmost state of Germany....

 in Summer 1138. Saxons from Holstein and Stormarn

Stormarn

Stormarn is a district in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is bounded by the districts of Segeberg and Ostholstein, the city of Lübeck, the district of Lauenburg, and the city-state of Hamburg.-History:...

 under the command of Henry of Badewide

Henry of Badewide

Henry of Badewide was a Saxon Count of Botwide and Count of Ratzeburg .Henry came from a knightly family from Lüneburg. He took his name from Bode near Ebstorf...

 led a massive counterattack the following winter. Another Holsatian campaign in Summer 1139 devastated the Slavic inhabitants of Wagria and placed the territory under German control.

The Slavs under Pribislav's rule were reduced to living in the northeastern corner of Wagria. The prince complained to the Bishop of Oldenburg

Oldenburg (Holstein)

Oldenburg in Holstein is a town at the southwestern shore of the Baltic Sea. The nearest city is Lübeck. The town belongs to the region of Holstein, today in the state Schleswig-Holstein of Germany....

 that the taxation and oppression of the Saxon lords were essentially driving the Wagrians to the Baltic Sea

Baltic Sea

The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...

. The Slavs retained their old religious practices, such as worship of the god Prove, near Oldenburg. On Tuesdays Pribislav held court with pagan priests and representatives of the Slavic population. 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....

ultimately won over Pribislav through gifts, and Pribislav converted to Christianity in 1156.