Principality of Rügen

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The Principality of Rügen in the 13th century

The principality of Rügen existed as a domain between 1168 and 1325. During this period the principality was a Danish fief . In addition to the island of Rügen, it included the mainland area to the southwest of Rügen as far as the Recknitz . The southern border was formed by Trebel and Ryck . In the times of its greatest expansion it extended to the Peene . This area corresponded to Swedish Western Pomerania in the period from 1720 to 1818. And the core area of ​​the high medieval principality is very similar to the district of Western Pomerania-Rügen, which was formed in 2011 .

history

The territory was rügische since the 6th century by the Slavic tribe of Ranen populated. They have been described in more detail in written sources since the 10th century. Helmold von Bosau reports that the Ranen were ruled by a king who, however, was respected among the priests. In 1066, a tribal chief named Kruto or Krito was mentioned, a Grines or Grimmus was mentioned before 1100. Together with a Ratislaus / Ratislaw / Ratze (named 1138) they are said to come from the sex of a Witzlaw or Wizlaw (mentioned around 955).

Around 1111, a campaign by the Ranen against the Naconids ended in a heavy defeat. In 1114 a Rügen prince was forced to pay tribute and to be held hostage after Lothar von Supplinburg had subjugated an ally of the Ranen, the Wenden prince Dumar. The Abodrite prince Heinrich , whose son had been slain by the Ranen, undertook a campaign in the winter of 1123/24 over the icy waters of the Bodden on the island of Rügen and forced the Ranen to pay a large sum. When the agreed amount was not paid in full, Heinrich undertook another campaign together with Lothar von Supplinburg the following winter. However, the thaw forced them to withdraw early.

In 1136 the Danish King Erik II Emune conquered the temple castle at Cape Arkona . The assumption of Christianity promised by the subjugated Ranen was not carried out after the Danes had left. In the period between 1159 and 1166, the Ranen had to alternate between recognizing the sovereignty of the Danes and Saxons, who undertook various military campaigns on the Baltic coast. In 1163 Heinrich the Lion subjugated the tribes of Kessiner and Zirzipanen neighboring the Ranen and probably also the island of Rügen, because a Rani embassy appeared at the dedication of the cathedral in Lübeck in 1163 . Hostages were also taken.

1168 Prince rügischen had after the capture of the castle and temples at Arkonaplatz and Charenza by Waldemar I of Denmark finally the Danish suzerainty recognize. In addition to surrendering the temple treasures to the Danes and handing over the lands in the temple's possession to the Christian Church, the Rügen princes were obliged to serve in the army in case of war, to pay annual taxes, to take hostages and to accept Christianity. Tezlaw († 1170), referred to as king by Saxo Grammaticus from 1164 onwards , was now called Prince of Rügen.

Jaromar I.

His brother and successor Prince Jaromar I († 1218) accepted the Danish sovereignty and promoted the adoption of Christianity. As early as 1169 the Pope placed the island of Rügen under the Roskilde diocese . The diocese of Schwerin , in the sphere of influence of Heinrich the Lion and involved in the Rügen campaign through Bishop Berno , was assigned responsibility for the mainland area of ​​the principality up to the Ryck in 1178. Donations of lands from the areas around Pütte and Barth to the Dargun Monastery, founded by Danish monks in 1172 by the Pomeranian Prince Casimir I, show that the Pomeranian territory at that time extended far into the mainland area of ​​the Rügen over the area around Lake Borgwallsee to Barth.

In 1177, Rügen troops supported the Danes' campaigns to Wollin , Usedom and Gützkow , and in 1178 to Wusterhusen and Wolgast . Jaromar I resided on the Rugard near Bergen from 1180 . When the Danish King Knut VI. 1182 refused to pay the feudal tribute to the emperor Friedrich Barbarossa , the Pomeranian Duke Bogislaw I should have intended, Knut VI. to force it. To do this, he first wanted to conquer Rügen. However, in 1184 the Pomeranian fleet in the Greifswalder Bodden was defeated by the Danish-Rügen fleet. The Danes then set fire to the areas around Wolgast, Usedom and Wollin. In the following year they again devastated the landscapes at the mouth of the Peene and at Cammin and destroyed Groswin Castle near Stolpe .

Eventually Bogislaw I was forced to submit to the Danish fiefdom. Two years after Bogislaw I died in 1187, the Danish king appointed the Rügen prince Jaromar I to be the guardian of Bogislaw's underage sons. Jaromar I was able to significantly expand his domain on this occasion, as shown by donations to the Bergen monastery on Rügen , founded in 1193 , which included lands from the areas around Barth and Tribsees as well as Gützkow and Ziethen . Knut VI. awarded in the border dispute between the widow Bogislaw I and Jaromar I the lands of Miserez (near Jarmen ) and Loitz to Gützkow Castle, which is in Rügischer hands. Jaromar received Tribsees and Wusterhusen as a fief. When the Hilda Monastery at the mouth of the Ryck was founded in 1199, Jaromar I generously donated lands from areas on both sides of the Ryck. The sons of Bogislaw I, who had come of age, confirmed these donations in 1216 and 1219 after they came back into Gützkow's possession. By 1240, the Ryck was the border between the Principality of Rügen and the Duchy of Pomerania.

Wizlaw I.

After Jaromars I death in 1218 his son Barnuta succeeded him. However, he resigned in 1221 and left the rule to his brother Wizlaw I , who had already participated in a campaign by Waldemar II against Estonia in 1219 . When Waldemar II lost control of the Danish possessions on the southern Baltic coast after the defeat in the Battle of Bornhöved , only the Principality of Rügen remained under Danish fiefdom.

The first new settlements were created north of the Ryck through the Eldena Monastery. The first German settlers also settled in the area around Tribsees around 1221. In the next few years these came to the area around Richtenberg . Wizlaw I. promoted this development by enabling Cistercian monks from the Lower Rhine to found the Neuenkamp monastery in this area in 1231 . The result was an increased influx of German settlers into the 300 Hufen forest area in the southern part of the mainland area of ​​Rügen, which had been donated to the monastery with the order of clearing and reclamation. Two branches of the Princely House, the Lords of Gristow and the von Putbus family, also promoted the settlement of Germans in their lands near Reinberg and Brandshagen. During this time, Stralsund was granted city rights in 1234 , which developed into an important economic center. At Loitz, Detlef von Gadebusch , who had come into the country during an advance by the Mecklenburgers against the Pomerania, tried to establish a subordinate rule similar to the Jaczos von Salzwedel with the county of Gützkow in Pomerania. Probably from 1244 it was also under the Duchy of Pomerania . At that time there was no significant German settlement on the island of Rügen.

Jaromar II

Jaromar II became co-regent of his father Wizlaw I from 1246, who died in 1250. In his first years in office he tried to maintain peaceful relations with his Pomeranian neighbors, especially the Counts of Gützkow. He promoted trade in particular with Lübeck and abolished the beach law. The destruction of Stralsund in 1249 by a force commissioned by the Lübeckers led to a four-year privateer war against Lübeck ships until the Lübeckers finally gave in to the payment of compensation.

The ownership of the monasteries was considerably expanded under Jaromar II. In 1252 he sold the Land Reddevitz, now called Mönchgut , to the Eldena monastery on Rügen and promoted the establishment of new urban monasteries in Stralsund. He granted Barth town charter in 1255 and Damgarten in 1258.

In 1259 he intervened in the dispute between the Danish King Christoph I and the Archbishops of Lund and landed on Zealand with a Rügische army . He conquered Copenhagen , defeated a peasant army set up by the queen widow Margarete Sambiria and devastated large parts of Zealand, Skåne and Lolland . In 1260 he landed on Bornholm and destroyed Lilleborg fortress there . In the same year he was killed by a woman who stabbed him to death in revenge.

Wizlaw II.

Wizlaw II , who came to government after the violent death of his father at the age of around 20, sought to improve relations with Lübeck and Stralsund by renewing the trade agreements. At the urging of the people of Stralsund, he had the town of Schadegard, founded in the immediate vicinity of Stralsund , resign in 1269. Due to claims by his mother, he came into the possession of the state of Schlawe in 1270 and founded the city of Rügenwalde there . As early as 1277 he sold the land and town to the Margraves of Brandenburg . After the descendants of Detlef von Gadebusch died out, it came into the possession of the state of Loitz in 1273.

In 1283 he allied himself with several northern German cities and other princes in the Rostock Landfrieden . The enfeoffment of Wizlaw II by the German King Rudolf in 1283 probably only referred to the mainland part. The regular participation of Wizlaw II in Danish court days and notarizations speak for the continuation of the Danish-Rügischen feudal relationship.

Grimmen received city rights from him in 1285. The Neuenkamp monastery founded a daughter monastery on Hiddensee in 1296 . With the granting of the trade monopoly on the island of Rügen and the right to catch herring near Wittow , which was previously reserved for the Lübeck residents , he promoted Stralsund, but at the same time hindered the general development of trade and industry.

Wizlaw III. and Sambor III.

After Wizlaw II died on a visit to Norway , his sons Wizlaw III. and Sambor III. 1302 together princes of Rügen. Sambor died however in 1304. Wizlaw III. had received a courtly and knightly upbringing at the instigation of his mother's relatives and is considered a minstrel . Since his first marriage had remained childless, his liege lord, the Danish king Erik Menved , concluded with Wizlaw III in 1310. an inheritance contract, whereby the branch lines of the Princely House Putbus and Gristow waived a possible successor in favor of the Danish crown.

Erik Menved tried to enforce his supremacy over the emerging trading cities in the southern Baltic region. As a vassal Erik Menveds tried Wizlaw III. to restrict Stralsund's privileges and Luebian law. The failure of the negotiations finally led to the siege of Stralsund in 1316 by an army under the leadership of Duke Erich I of Saxony-Lauenburg. A nightly failure of the Stralsunders ended with a victory over the siege army. The duke was taken prisoner. Wizlaw III, who had taken part in the sea-side siege of the city, had to flee. In 1317 peace was concluded between the city and its sovereign. Wizlaw III, whose financial situation had worsened due to the war, granted Stralsund numerous privileges, pledged the princely duties and jurisdiction and sold his coin to the city.

Transition to Pomerania

With the death of Erik Menved in 1319, the inheritance contract became invalid. Therefore, Wizlaw III. 1321 a hereditary brotherhood agreement with Wartislaw IV of Pomerania-Wolgast, his nephew and the dukes Otto I and Barnim III. from Pomerania-Stettin. As Wizlaw III. In 1325, a few months after his only son Jaromar died, the main line of the Ruegian dynasty had died out. Wartislaw IV. Had already in 1315 from the brother Erik Menveds, the later Danish King Christoph II. , The transfer of the Rügischen fief. Disputes over the throne in Denmark and the sudden death of Wartislaw in August 1326 led to Mecklenburg's claims to the principality under Heinrich II , which ultimately culminated in the War of the Rügen Succession . After two wars, the last parts of the principality finally came to the Duchy of Pomerania in 1355.

The territory of the principality belonged to the Duchy of Pomerania-Wolgast until 1365 . When the estate was divided between 1365 and 1372, the Duchy of Pommern-Barth was formed from the mainland area. The island of Rügen remained part of Pommern-Wolgast until 1440, then also belonged to the Barther partial duchy, until the whole of Pomerania was united under Bogislaw X. in 1478 after the Barther line had died out .

coat of arms

Coat of arms of Rügen: growing lion over stepped gable

The coat of arms of the Principality of Rügen shows a soaring two-tailed black lion above a stepped gable. It essentially corresponds to the coat of arms of the former Rügen district . In the nine-field Pomeranian coat of arms, it is in the middle field. The Rügen lion can still be found in the coats of arms of the cities and communities of Bergen on Rügen , Binz and Prohn .

List of princes

Ranen

Pomeranian dukes (griffins)

literature

  • Karl Gustav Fabricius : Documents on the history of the Principality of Rügen under the indigenous princes, with explanatory texts (4 volumes), 1841 to 1869
    • Volume 1, Stralsund 1841 ( e-copy )
    • Volume 2, Berlin 1959, ( e-copy )
    • Volume 3, Stettin 1853 ( e-copy )
    • Volume 4, Berlin 1859–1869 ( e-copy )
  • Joachim Wächter : The Principality of Rügen. An overview. In: Haik Thomas Porada (ed.): Contributions to the history of Western Pomerania. The Demminer Colloquia 1985–1994. Thomas Helms, Schwerin 1997, ISBN 3-931185-11-7 , pp. 299-313.
  • Ingrid Schmidt: The dynasty of the Rügen princes. Hinstorff, Rostock 2009, ISBN 978-3-356-01335-1 .
  • Detlev Schwennicke: European family tables . New episode. Volume 8: Western, Central, and Northern European Families. Stargardt, Marburg 1980, plates 5.
  • Peter Ziemann: Ranen, Rügen and Meer. The history of a sunken, Slavic tribe Edition Pommern, Elmenhorst / Vorpommern 2015, ISBN 978-3-939680-25-3
  • The provincial law of the Duchy of New Western Pomerania and the Principality of Rügen
    • Volume 3, Greifswald 1837 ( e-copy )

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