Lion City

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Löwenstadt describes an unsuccessful founding of the city by Henry the Lion as a counter-foundation to Lübeck in 1158.

The opportunity for a counter-foundation seemed favorable, as the long-distance traders in Lübeck had suffered for a number of years under Henry the Lion's trade ban and in the autumn of 1157 a city fire had caused considerable damage in Lübeck.

After the Brunswick Duke Heinrich initially unsuccessfully urged his feudal man , Count Adolf II. Von Holstein, to leave the successful founding of Lübeck to him, in 1158 Heinrich took the means of a counter-foundation above Lübeck, at a place on the east bank of the Wakenitz , a tributary of the Trave . Heinrich had a new city founded on the territory of Count von Ratzeburg , Heinrich von Bathide , and named it "Lion City" as a sign of his power.

Despite the willingness of the Lübeckers to relocate, the re-establishment of the Löwenstadt failed. The Wakenitz proved unsuitable for larger seagoing ships. Therefore, the new city could not take on the intended port and long-distance trade function and Heinrich did not pursue his project further because he succeeded in the same year in persuading Adolf II to leave Lübeck, presumably against payment of a considerable sum was raised by the Lübeck long-distance traders.

Description in the Chronica Slavorum

The events of that time are described by the chronicler Helmold von Bosau in his " Chronica Slavorum " (Slavonic Chronicle) as follows:

De edificatione Lewenstat. Capitulum LXXXVI
In diebus illis Lubicensis civitas consumpta est incendio […] Tunc edificavit dux civitatem novam super flumem Wochenice non longe a Lubeke in terra Racesburg cepitque edificare et communire. Et appelavit civitatem de suo nomine Lewenstad, quod dicitur Leonis civitas. ...
86. About the building of the Lion City
Around that time the city of Lübeck was consumed by a conflagration […] The Duke built a new city on the other side of the Wakenitz, not far from Lübeck, in the Ratzeburg region, and began to build and fortify it. And he called it after his name "Lion City", that is, City of the Lion. ...
(quoted from Heinz Stoob , op. cit., p. 302 f.)

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  • Helmold von Bosau : Slavic Chronicle (Chronica Slavorum). Retransmitted and explained by Heinz Stoob. Selected sources on German history in the Middle Ages. Volume 19, 7th edition (unchanged reprint of the 6th compared to the 5th by one night, expanded edition 2002). Darmstadt 2008, ISBN 978-3-534-21974-2 .

Web links

Wikisource: The Lion City (saga)  - Sources and full texts