Ratibor (Pomeranian)

Ratibor (Polish Racibor Białogardzki ; * 1212 ; † June 6, 1272 ) was 1233–1262 Duke of Pomerania in Belgard . He came from the Samborid dynasty .

Life and political career

Ratibor was the youngest of the four sons of Mestwin I and received the north-west of Pomerania with the main town of Belgard as a residence, which lies between the current cities of Lauenburg and Leba . Belgard was the seat of a castellan and thus the fortified center of an administrative and dominion area. The expansion policy of his brother Swantopolk II did not stop at him and the other brother, Sambor II . In 1237, Ratibor, led by Sambor, attacked the Stolper Land , which was part of Swantopolk's rule . Swantopolk responded in 1238 with an army campaign against Belgard, took the city, burned the castle and added the territory of Ratibor to his dominion by taking the vassal oath of his subjugated brother . In 1243 Ratibor and Sambor in Inowrocław concluded an alliance directed against Swantopolk with Duke Casimir I of Kuyavia and the Teutonic Order . Swantopolk, informed of his brother's plans, regarded Ratibor's alliance as treason and had him arrested.

After his release in 1248 he got his province back. He then joined the Teutonic Order of Knights in 1262 and bequeathed his rulership rights in Pomerania in a will.