Sophia of Pomerania († 1497)

Cornelius Krommeny: Sophia von Pommern-Stolp, 1598

Sophia of Pomerania (* around 1435, † around August 24, 1497 in Stolp ), also Sofia , was a Duchess of Pomerania from the Greifenhaus . She was the only child of Duke Bogislaw IX to reach adulthood . von Pommern-Stolp, heiress of her uncle Erichs I von Pommern-Stolp, the temporary king of Denmark (until 1439), Norway (until 1441) and Sweden (until 1442), and wife of Duke Erich II of Pommern-Wolgast.

Life

Sophia was the daughter of Duke Bogislaw IX, who ruled in the partial duchy of Pomerania-Stolp . and his wife Maria of Mazovia . She had no brothers; her only sister Alexandra died, probably still as a girl, in 1454. After the death of her father Bogislaw IX. in 1446 this was followed by his cousin Erich I in the government of Pomerania-Stolp. Erich I. had an eventful life behind him; he had been king of the northern kingdoms until he was deposed there in 1439.

Erich I. had no children of his own. He married Sophia in 1451 to her distant relative Duke Erich II , the eldest son of Duke Wartislaw IX, who ruled in Pomerania-Wolgast . When Erich I died in 1459, Sophia inherited his personal possessions, above all "his immense treasures of gold and silver jewels and precious stones, which the later chronicler Kantzow reports from his own experience". Her husband Erich II took possession of the land of Pomerania-Stolp.

The relationship between Sophias and her husband Erich II is described in historiography as not good. According to the article in the Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (1877) “she hurt her husband with her thirst for domination, in which she, as Erich I's heir, regarded herself as the real mistress of Pomerania” that she “separated from her husband in the inherited castle to Rügenwalde in Western Pomerania in forbidden contact with her court master Hans von Massow [lived], in hatred of the husband neglecting his own children ”. The alleged neglect of their children includes the legendary figure of Hans Lange , who is said to have stood by her son Bogislaw X. in his youth.

Duchess Sophia outlived her husband, who died in 1474, by more than two decades. She died in Stolp in 1497 and was buried in the Dominican monastery there.

The historian Klaus Conrad described Duchess Sophia as "one of the more important women from the Greifenhaus, whose image has, however, been darkened by the slander of her son Bogislaw X."

progeny

From Duchess Sophia's marriage to Duke Erich II it emerged:

1. Bogislaw X. (* 1454; † 1523)
2. Casimir (around 1455 - † 1474)
3. Wartislaw (* after 1465; † 1475)
4. Barnim (* after 1465; † 1474)
5. Elisabeth († 1516), prioress at Verchen Monastery
6. Sophie (* around 1460; † 1504), ∞ Duke Magnus II of Mecklenburg (* 1441; † 1503)
7. Margaretha († 1526), ​​∞ Duke Balthasar of Mecklenburg (* 1451; † 1507)
8. Katharina († 1526), ​​∞ Duke Heinrich I of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel (* 1463; † 1514)
9. Maria († 1512), abbess of Wollin

See also

• Tribe list of griffins

literature

• Martin Wehrmann : The Duchess Sophia of Pomerania and her son Bogislaw X. In: Baltic studies . New series, vol. 5. Léon Saunier, Stettin 1901, pp. 131–176 ( digitized version ).
• Martin Wehrmann : Genealogy of the Pomeranian ducal house. Publications of the regional historical research center for Pomerania, series 1, vol. 5. Leon Saunier, Stettin 1937, p. 97 ( digitized version ).

Footnotes

1. ↑ This notation from Adolf Hofmeister : Genealogical research on the history of the Pomeranian ducal house. Greifswald Treatises on the History of the Middle Ages, Volume 11. Universitätsverlag Ratsbuchhandlung L. Bamberg, Greifswald 1938, p. 182.
2. ↑ Gottfried von Bülow :  Erich II, Duke of Pommern-Wolgast . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 6, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1877, p. 208.
3. ↑ Gottfried von Bülow :  Erich II, Duke of Pommern-Wolgast . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 6, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1877, p. 211.
4. ↑ Klaus Conrad: Ducal weakness and urban power in the second half of the 14th and 15th centuries. In: Werner Buchholz (ed.): German history in Eastern Europe. Pomerania . Siedler Verlag, Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-88680-272-8 , p. 185.