Dukes of Pomerania

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

(Redirected from Duke of Pomerania)
Jump to: navigation, search

Medieval regional rulers in various parts of Pomerania were generally known as Herzog (German) or książę (Polish), which in their case can generally be translated as duke.

At its greatest extent it comprised all of the coast of the Baltic Sea from Rügen to Danzig (Gdańsk). Thus it is a geographical and historical region in northern Poland and Germany, on the south coast of the Baltic Sea on both sides of the Oder River and extends to the Vistula river in the east and the Recknitz River in the west. However, the name Pomerania often referred only to Western and Middle Pomerania, areas which for much of the time were under one ducal dynasty, whereas so-called Eastern Pomerania is often known as Pomerelia, and it later became much absorbed into the Ordenstaat of Prussia.

During the early Middle Ages Pomeranians were presumably ruled by indigenous rulers, probably divided into several petty principalities. In the second half of the 10th century, Pomerania seems to have been, at least for a short period, part of the budding state of Poland, or under its overlordship, but the bishopric of Kołobrzeg established in 1000 was destroyed ca. 1005. Casimir I the Restorer was victorious in the battle against the Masovians and Pomeranians in 1047, Pomeranians had to pay tribute. It seems that the Polish king Boleslaus II (1058-1080) lost control of Pomerania once again.

The first written record of any local Pomeranian ruler is the 1046 mention of Siemosyl of Pomerania at an imperial meeting. The Chronicle of the Polish dukes written in 1113 by the so called Gallus Anonymus mentions several dukes of Pomerania: Swantibor, Gniewomir, and an unnamed duke besieged in Kołobrzeg.

In three military campaigns of 1116, 1119, 1121 most of Pomerania was conquered by the Polish monarch Boleslaus III (Bolesław Krzywousty), and divided into four parts: Eastern Pomerania with Gdańsk was put under direct Polish control and the duke had nominated his governors. This area is frequently known as Pomerelia. Middle Pomerania with Słupsk (the latter Stolp) and Sławno (the latter Schlawe) was made a Polish fief under a Pomeranian duke Ratibor I. Western Pomerania with Kammin, Kołobrzeg (the latter Kolberg) and Białogard (the latter Belgard) was made a Polish fief ruled by duke Wartislaw I. Stettin and Wollin were semi-independent city-republics, being directly subject to the overlordship of the kings of Poland, and not to any local Pomeranian ruler.

Polish governors in Pomerelia gradually gained more and more power and evolved into semi-independent dukes, who ruled the duchy until 1294. At various times they were vassals of Poland and Denmark. The duchy was temporarily partitioned into the principalities of Gdańsk/Danzig, Białogard/Belgard, Świecie/Schwetz, and Lubieszewo-Tczew.

Wartislaw I of Western Pomerania was founder and ancestor of the House of Pomerania dynasty of Slavonic dukes with Griffin coat of arms who ruled the duchy, with its extended territories, until 1637 when the ducal dynasty went extinct in the male line. They became vassals of Saxony (1164), and the Holy Roman Empire (1181). The duchy was temporarily partitioned into the petty principalities of Stettin, Wolgast, Barth, Rügenwalde (Darłowo), Demmin, Stolp (Słupsk) and Stargard.

Descendants of Ratibor I ruled the Middle Pomeranian duchy until 1238. The area was an object of competition between the Dukes of Western Pomerania, Pomerelia, Rügen and Brandenburg. Upon the extinction of Ratibor's dynasty, most of the territory was inherited by the dukes of Western Pomerania, who thus gained yet more recognition for their being dukes of all Pomerania. For four centuries, they used the title Duke of Pomerania, and the territories they ruled became established as Pomerania to outsiders, Pomerelia being perceived as a separate duchy with its own name.

The island of Rügen was conquered by Denmark in 1168 (as was the whole Duchy of Pomerania in 1186) and the local ruler founded and became the ancestor of a dynasty of lords (princes, dukes, often without recognized higher title just lords) of Rügen, vassals of Danish kings. In 1325 the Principality of Rügen fell to Pomerania.

Contents

After 1202 Pomeranian Duchy is divided into several duchies, most important being Wolgast and Stettin (Szczecin) duchies, united into one Pomeranian state from time to time.

1168-1325 feudal fief of Denmark under local rulers:

From 1325 Duchy of Wolgast-Rügen or Rügen-Barth:

from 1474 part of Wolgast

from 1478 part of Duchy of Pomerania


  • Gerard Labuda (ed.), "Historia Pomorza", vol. 1-4, Poznan-Torun 1969-2003
  • Edmund Kopicki, "Tabele dynastyczne", "Wykazy panujacych", in: "Katalog podstawowych monet i banknotow Polski oraz ziem z historycznie z Polska zwiazanych", vol. IX, part I
  • Zugmunt Boras, "Ksiazeta Pomorza Zachdniego", Poznan 1969, 1978, 1996
  • Casimir Kozlowski, George Podralski, "Poczet Ksiazat Pomorza Zachdniego", KAW, Szczecin 1985
  • L. Badkowski, W.Samp. "Poczet ksiazat Pomorza Gdanskiego", Gdansk 1974
  • B. Sliwinski, "Poczet ksiazaat gdanskich", Gdansk 1997
  • Wojciech Myslenicki, "Pomorscy sprzymierzenscy Jagiellonczylow", Wyd. Poznanskie, Poznan 1979
  • J. Spors, "Podzialy administracyjne Pomorza Gdanskiego i Slawiensko-Slupksiego od XII do poczatkow XIV w", Slupsk 1983
  • K. Slaski, "Podzialy terytorialne Pomorza w XII-XII w.", Poznan 1960
  • Edward Rymar, Krewni i powinowaci ksiazat pomorskich w zrodłach sredniowiecznych (XII-początek XVI w.), Materialy Zachodniopomorskie, vol. XXXI
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dukes_of_Pomerania"
Advanced Search
Included Web Search Engines


Safe Search

close

Top Matching Results

Occasionally Search.com will highlight specialized results that are based on the context of your query. Examples of specialized results include specific links to news, images, or video.

Top Matching Results may highlight information from other Search.com pages, content from the CNET Network of sites, or third party content. The listings are based purely on relevance. Search.com does not receive payment for listings in this section but our partners that provide this data may get paid for listing these products.

Sponsored Links

This section contains paid listings which have been purchased by companies that want to have their sites appear for specific search terms and related content. These listings are administered, sorted and maintained by a third party and are not endorsed by Search.com.

Search Results

Search.com sends your search query to several search engines at one time and integrates the results into one list which has been sorted by relevance using Search.com's proprietary algorithm. You can customize the list of search engines included in your metasearch from the preferences.

The search engines that are used in your metasearch may allow companies to pay to have their Web sites included within the results. To view the Paid Inclusion policy for a specific search engine, please visit their Web site. Search.com does not accept payment or share revenue with any search engine partner for listings in this section.