Around the turn of the first millennium, the inhabitants of Rügen were from the East Germanic tribe of the Rugii, who, from the 7th century, were followed by the Rani, a West Slavic tribe. In the 11th and 12th centuries, a Slavic castle with a rampart and settlement existed here as a royal residence. The well-preserved "burgwall" was seen by historical writers of the 19th and 20th centuries as that of the legendary prince's residence of Charenza. Recent interdisciplinary research in the years 2004 and 2005, however, has shown that the "burgwall" at Venz (between Gingst and Trent on the shores of the Neuendorfer Wiek) is much more likely to have been the aristocratic seat and temple castle of "Charenza". The latter was surrendered without a fight on 16 June 1168 - one day after the conquest of the Jaromarsburg on Cape Arkona - to the King of Denmark Valdemar I and his army commander, Absalon of Roskilde, after earlier negotiations.