Map of Kingdom of Poland
(1333–1370).
Duchy of Słups visible north of the Kingdom of Poland
(Księstwo Słupskie - violet, north of the Kingdom and west
of the green Teutonic Order territories.
Pomerania-Stolp ( , ) was one of the
partitions of the Duchy of
Pomerania ( ). It was created from another
Teilherzogtum of the
Duchy of Pomerania, Pomerania-Wolgast, to
satisfy
Bogislaw V, Duke
of Pomerania in 1368, and existed until 1459, when it was
inherited by
Eric II of
Pomerania-Wolgast. In 1474, it was merged to the partition of
Bogislaw X, Duke of
Pomerania, who four years later became the sole duke of
Pomerania.
Background
The
Duchy of Pomerania was
partitioned several times to satisfy the claims of the male members
of the ruling
House of Pomerania
dynasty. The partitions were named after the ducal residences:
Pomerania-Barth,
-Demmin, -Rügenwalde, -Stettin, -Stolp, and -Wolgast. None of
the partitions had a hereditary character, the members of the
House of Pomerania inherited the
duchy in common. The duchy thus continued to exist as a whole
despite its division.
Creation: Partition of 1368/72
After the death of
Barnim
IV of Pomerania-Wolgast in 1366, an armed conflict arose when
Barnim's brother
Bogislaw
V refused to share his power with Barnim's sons,
Wartislaw VI and
Bogislaw VI, and his other
brother,
Wartislaw V,
who in turn allied with Mecklenburg to enforce their claims.
On May 25,
1368, a compromise was negotiated in Anklam
, which was
made a formal treaty on June 8, 1372 in Stargard, and resulted in a partition of
Pomerania-Wolgast.
Bogislaw V received most of the
Farther Pomeranian parts.
Excepted was the land
of Neustettin
, which was to be ruled by his brother Wartislaw V,
and was integrated into Bogislaw's part-duchy only after his death
in 1390. This eastern partition became known as
Pomerania-Stolp.
History
The situation of the descendants of Bogislaw V, who ruled
Pomerania-Stolp, differed somewhat from the situation of their
western counterparts. The area was more sparsely settled and
dominated by powerful noble families, so not much income could be
derived by the dukes. On the other hand, the Stolpian branch of the
House of Pomerania had relatives among the royal houses of Denmark
and Poland.
Casimir IV and Elisabeth, the
children of Bogislaw V and his first wife Elisabeth, the daughter
of Casimir III of Poland,
where both raised at the Polish court in Kraków
.
Elisabeth would become Holy Roman
Empress after her marriage with
Charles IV, and Casimir was
adopted by and designated heir of his grandfather. Yet, his
ambitions were thwarted when
Ludwig of
Hungary overruled the testament of Casimir of Poland in 1370,
Casimir of Pomerania-Stolp only for a short time took the land of
Dobrin as a fief.
Treaty of Pyzdry
During the
Polish-Teutonic
wars, the Pomeranian dukes changed sides between Poland and the
knights very frequently.
Wartislaw VII
and
Barnim V allied with the Teutonic
Order.
In
1390 however, after Jogaila (Władysław
Jagiełło) had promised to hand part of the heritage of Casimir IV,
Wartislaw VII's stepbrother, over to Wartislaw, the latter
concluded an alliance with Poland and received the Polish
castellany of Naklo (Nakel) and probably some
adjacent areas as a fief in return, declaring himself a vassal of
Jagiełło III in Pyzdry
.
Scholars offer somewhat different interpretations of the
treaty of Pyzdry. According to scholars
such as
Juliusz Bardach,
Władysław Czapliński,
Fenrych (1961),
Marceli Kosman,
Tadeusz Ładogórski,
Andrzej Nowakowski,
Michał Sczaniecki and
Kazimierz Ślaski, Wartislaw's oath was
for all territory held by him and meant that Pomerania-Stolp itself
become a Polish fief. Other descriptions of the treaty included an
oath of vassalage of Wartislaw VII to Jagiello without specifying a
territory: Gòrski (1947), Labuda (1948),; Mitkowski (1946) and
Zientara (1969) wrote the oath was for the territory Waritislaw
received as fiefs from Jagiełło (especially Naklo/Nakel); Mielcarz
(1976) said the oath was binding only Wartislaw himself, as a
person, to Jagiello; and Gumowski (1951) said the document shows
Wartislaw giving a general solemn promise of service. Czacharowski
(2001) says it was an alliance and refers to Naklo being held as a
Polish fief.
With respect to the discourse in Polish historiography, Branig and
Buchholz (1997)
say that however the treaty is interpreted, it did not have any
significance for the future. The vassalage was shortlived;
Wartislaw's brothers Barnim V and
Bogislaw
VIII however took on a friendly attitude towards the Teutonic
Order, and Naklo returned to the Polish Crown after Wartislaw's
death.
After early 1390s
Eric II of Pomerania-Stolp,
grand-grandchild of Danish king
Valdemar IV in contrast became king
of the
Kalmar Union in 1397. Eric
however failed in his most ambitious plan, to make
Bogislaw IX Of
Pomerania-Stolp king of both the Kalmar Union and the
Polish-Lithuanian
Commonwealth. Eric had to leave Denmark in 1449 and ruled
Pomerania-Rügenwalde, a small partition of Pomerania-Stolp, until
his death in 1459.
Pomerania-Stolp was a crucial point in the knights' land supply
route.
Bogislaw
VIII of Pomerania-Stolp allied with both the Teutonic Knights
and Poland, but supported the latter after the war had started in
1409 by blocking his lands for the knights' troops and allowing his
nobles to kidnap those who were travelling his lands.
For his aid, he was
granted the Lauenburg (now Lębork
) and Bütow
(now Bytów
) areas
(Lauenburg and Bütow
Land) and others, but those were lost in the First Peace of Thorn in
1411.
Gain of Lauenburg and Bütow Land (1455-1467)
Eric II of
Pomerania-(Wolgast)-Stolp allied with the Polish king
Casimir IV in his
Thirteen Years' War against the
Teutonic Knights. On January 3, 1455, he in
turn was granted the
Lauenburg and Bütow Land at
the Pomerelian frontier.
When Lauenburg
was retaken by the knights in 1459, the Polish king
was upset and ravaged the Stolp
area.
Eric reconciled with the king on August 21, 1466, and bought the
town from the knights on October 11, six days before the
Second Peace of Thorn, that was signed
by Eric in 1467.
Bogislaw X becomes sole ruler of the duchy of Pomerania
(1478)
Pomerania-Wolgast was reunited following the death of both Barnim
VII and Barnim VIII in 1451. Both dukes died of the
Black Death. The same disease caused the death
of
Joachim of
Pomerania-Stettin (also in 1451), Ertmar and Swantibor, children of
Wartislaw X, and
Otto III of
Pomerania-Stettin (all in 1464). Thus, the line of
Pomerania-Stettin had died out.
The extinction of the House of Pomerania-Stettin triggered a
conflict about inheritance with the
Margraviate of Brandenburg. In
the
Treaty of Soldin of 1466, a
compromise was negotiated: Wartislaw X and
Eric II, the dukes of Pomerania,
took over Pomerania-Stettin as a Brandenburgian fief. This was
disputed already during the same year by the emperor, who
intervened against the Brandenburgian overlordship of Pomerania.
This led
to a series of further warfare and truces, that were ended by the
Treaty of Prenzlau of 1472,
basically confirming the ruling of the Soldin treaty, but settling
on a border north of Gartz
resembling Brandenburg's recent gains. This
treaty was accepted by the emperor.
In 1474, Eric II died of the
Black
death, and his son
Bogislaw X inherited
Pomerania-Stolp. Bogislaw's brothers had died the same year. After
the death of his uncle Wartislaw X in 1478, he became the first
sole ruler in the Duchy of Pomerania since almost 200 years.
Eric II had left Pomerania in tense conflicts with Brandenburg and
Mecklenburg. Bogislaw managed to resolve
these conflicts by both diplomatic and military means. He married
his sister, Sophia, to
Magnus, Duke of
Mecklenburg-Schwerin, and his other sister, Magarete, was
married to Magnus' brother Balthasar. Bogislaw himself married
Magarete, daughter of Brandenburg's
Prince-elector Frederick II.
Also, in 1478,
Bogislaw regained areas lost to Brandenburg by his father, most
notably the town of Gartz
and other
small towns and castles north of the Brandenburgian Uckermark. During the confirmation of the
Peace of Prenzlau in 1479, the
border was finally settled north of
Strasburg and Bogislaw had to take his
possessions as a fief from Brandenburg.
Dukes
See also
References
- Kyra Inachim, Die Geschichte Pommerns, Hinstorff Rostock, 2008,
p.30, ISBN 978-3-356-01044-2
- Norbert Buske, Pommern, Helms Schwerin 1997, p.21, ISBN
3-931185-07-9
- Gerhard Krause, Siegfried M Schwertner, Horst Balz, Gerhard
Müller, Theologische Realenzyklopadie: Studienausgabe Teil
II, 2nd edition, Walter de Gruyter, 1999, p.40, ISBN
3110162954
- Hartmut Boockmann, Die Anfänge der ständischen Vertretungen
in Preussen und seinen Nachbarländern, Oldenbourg
Wissenschaftsverlag, 1992, p.131, ISBN 3486558404
- Hartmut Boockmann, Die Anfänge der ständischen Vertretungen
in Preussen und seinen Nachbarländern, Oldenbourg
Wissenschaftsverlag, 1992, p.132, ISBN 3486558404
- Werner Buchholz, Pommern, Siedler, 1999,
pp.143,146,147, ISBN 3886802728
- Werner Buchholz, Pommern, Siedler, 1999, p.157, ISBN
3886802728
- Michał Sczaniecki, Kazimierz Ślaski, Dzieje Pomorza
słupskiego i innych terenów województwa koszalińskiego w
wypisach, Wydawn Poznańskie, 1961, p.55-65
- Juliusz Bardach, Historia państwa i prawa Polski, Volume
1, Państwowe Wydawn. Naukowe, 1964, p.589
- Władysław Czapliński, Tadeusz Ładogórski, Atlas historyczny
polski, Państwowe Przedsiębiorstwo Wydawnictw
Kartograficznych, 1970, p.12
- Marceli Kosman, Na tropach bohaterów Krzyżaków,
Książka i Wiedza, 1995, ISBN 830512746X, p.27
- Andrzej Nowakowski, Księstwo słupskie lennem polskim w
X1V-XV wieku. Przegląd Zachodnio-pomorski. 1988 R. 3 z. 4 (dr.
1990) s. 7-28, mapa. Zsfg. s. 300.
- Werner Buchholz, Pommern, Siedler, 1999, p.154-158,
ISBN 3886802728
- Werner Buchholz, Pommern, Siedler, 1999,
pp.168,170,173 ISBN 3886802728
- Werner Buchholz, Pommern, Siedler, 1999, p.158, ISBN
3886802728
- Werner Buchholz, Pommern, Siedler, 1999, p.186, ISBN
3886802728
- Werner Buchholz, Pommern, Siedler, 1999, p.181, ISBN
3886802728
- Werner Buchholz, Pommern, Siedler, 1999, p.183, ISBN
3886802728
- Werner Buchholz, Pommern, Siedler, 1999, pp.186,189,
ISBN 3886802728
- Bogislaw X in Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie [1]
- Werner Buchholz, Pommern, Siedler, 1999, p.189, ISBN
3886802728
- Werner Buchholz, Pommern, Siedler, 1999, p.190, ISBN
3886802728
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