VENDI. - Slavic populations who inhabited vast regions between the Elbe and the Oder, bounded to the north by the Baltic Sea and to the south by Moravia.
Their evangelization was rather an undertaking of a political character, desired by the German sovereigns of the 10th century, who aimed to subject the turbulent tribes to themselves by means of Christianity. The method employed consisted in creating bishoprics, which would become missionary centres and would have Magdeburgo as their metropolis. The evangelization of the pagans, combined with German colonization, encountered obstacles arising from racial questions. The meagre results obtained under Ottone I (936–73) were destroyed by the uprising of the V. under Ottone II (973–86). There were only very few conversions to Christianity in the 11th century, and only in the northern part of the territory. The faith flourished later through the work of Moravian missionaries.