What is "gottschalk"

Saint Gottschalk (or Godescalc) (died 6 June 1066) was a prince of the Obotrite confederacy from 1043 to 1066. He established a Slavic kingdom on the Elbe (in the area of present-day northeastern Germany) in the mid-11th century. His object in life seems to have been to collect the scattered tribes of the Slavs into one kingdom, and to make that kingdom Christian.

"A pious and god-fearing man", Gottschalk effected the Christianisation of the Slavic tribes of the Elbe. He organised missions of German priests and founded monasteries at Oldenburg, Mecklenburg, Ratzeburg, Lübeck, and Lenzen, erecting the first three into dioceses. He himself often accompanied the missionaries on their work and augmented their message with his own explanations and instructions. In all this, he was supported by the efforts of Adalbert, Archbishop of Hamburg. However, the Obotrite nobility and peasantry largely remained pagan.

Gottschalk or Godescalc ( Old High German) is a male German name that can be translated literally as servant of God. Latin forms include Godeschalcus and Godescalcus.

Given name:

• Godescalc of Benevento, 8th-century Lombard duke
• Godescalc , Carolingian scribe; author of the Godescalc Evangelistary
• Godescalc of Le Puy, 10th-century bishop, first documented pilgrim of the Via Podiensis
• Gottschalk of Orbais, a 9th-century theologian, poet, and unwilling monk, best known as a hero of the Jansenists and for his conflict with Hincmar
• Gottschalk, Bishop of Freising, Bishop of Freising, beneficiary of the 996 Ostarrîchi document
• Gottschalk (Slavic prince), 11th-century Slavic Prince of the Wends (Saint Gottschalk)
• a 12th-century Holstein peasant, protagonist of the Visio Godeschalci

Surname:

• Carl W. Gottschalk (1922–1997) American professor and kidney researcher
• John Gottschalk (born 1943) Newspaper Publisher
• Joseph Gottschalk (1950–2003) American cycling exhibitionist
• Louis Moreau Gottschalk (1829–1869) American composer and pianist
• Louis F. Gottschalk (1864–1934) American composer
• Louis A. Gottschalk (1916–2008) American psychiatrist
• Thomas Gottschalk, German entertainer and actor (born 1950)
• Alfred Gottschalk (biochemist), German biochemist
• Alfred Gottschalk (rabbi)
• Timo Gottschalk, German rally navigator