Pomerania

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Pommern redirects here. For alternative meanings of Pommern see Pommern (disambiguation)
Duchy of Pomerania, ruled by the slavic dynasty of Griffits (Polish: Gryfici, German: Greifen), was a semi-independent principality in the 17th century. Note also the variant coats of arms on this map by Eilhardus Lubinus.
Duchy of Pomerania, ruled by the slavic dynasty of Griffits (Polish: Gryfici, German: Greifen), was a semi-independent principality in the 17th century. Note also the variant coats of arms on this map by Eilhardus Lubinus.
Coat of arms of the Duchy of Pomerania
Coat of arms of the Duchy of Pomerania

Pomerania is a collective term used to refer to the three regions of Hither Pomerania, Farther Pomerania, and Pomerelia[1]. It is located on the south coast of the Baltic Sea and today divided between Germany (western part) and Poland (eastern part) by the Oder-Neisse line.

While its boundaries have varied, and are somewhat differently interpreted [2], it can be said to stretch roughly from Stralsund in the west to Gdańsk (German: Danzig) in the east, centred on the Oder delta around Szczecin (German: Stettin).

The Polish part of Pomerania is currently divided into 3 voivodeships: the West Pomeranian Voivodeship (Zachodniopomorskie, ZP), Pomeranian Voivodeship (Pomorskie, PM) and the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship (Kujawsko-Pomorskie, KP). The German part of Pomerania is part of the Federal State (Bundesland) of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern).

Contents

[edit] History

Main article: History of Pomerania
Areas ruled by Ottokar II of Bohemia (dark); located on the Baltic Sea Pomerania, main part as Duchy of Pomerania, with Pomerelia east of it in the Duchy of Masovia (1270s)
Areas ruled by Ottokar II of Bohemia (dark); located on the Baltic Sea Pomerania, main part as Duchy of Pomerania, with Pomerelia east of it in the Duchy of Masovia (1270s)

The history of the region is rich and varied, probably due to its having been fragmented into several independent duchies through the centuries.

[edit] Origin and meaning of the name

10-field Pomeranian coat of arms in the 15th–17th centuries
10-field Pomeranian coat of arms in the 15th–17th centuries

Pomerania (Polish: Pomorze, German: Pommern, Kashubian: Pòmòrze or Pòmòrskô, Latin: Pomerania, Pomorania) takes its name from the Latin "longum mare," and means "country by/next to/along the sea." The Polish name, "Pomorze," is literally "Seacoast" (here, the Baltic seacoast).

There is a probable first mention of Pomerania as the Latin "longum mare" ("along the sea") in a monastery document or note from around 1080, the Dagome iudex, shortened copy of an earlier document supposedly referring to the year 992. The document speaks of Oda von Haldensleben and her husband "Dagome," assumed to be the Polish ruler Mieszko I, and refers to territory gifted by "Dagome" to the Pope. An imperial document of 1046 makes an actual first mention of "Pomerania" in reference to "Zemuzil dux Bomeranorum" (Siemomysl, Duke of the Pomeranians). From then on, "Pomerania" appears repeatedly in the chronicles of Adam of Bremen (ca. 1070) and Gallus Anonymous (ca. 1113).

[edit] Subdivisions of Pomerania

In the German tradition Pomerania is often divided into:

  1. Vorpommern (Hither Pomerania, on the left bank of the Oder river)
  2. Hinterpommern (Further Pomerania, on its right bank).
  3. The easternmost part, known in German as Pommerellen (Pomerelia), bordering and overlapping with West Prussia.

Polish terminology divides Pomerania into:

  1. Pomorze Zachodnie, Pomorze Szczecińskie, or Pomorze Nadodrzańskie (Western Pomerania, the entire area of the former Duchy and Province of Pomerania)
  2. Pomorze Wschodnie or Pomorze Gdańskie (Pomerelia).

The former covers roughly the territories referred to in German as Vorpommern and Hinterpommern, the latter corresponds to Pommerellen (Pomerelia). Under Polish administration a number of several different voivodeships all using the name Pomerania have been established.

Kashubian geographic terminology with regard to Pomerania is similar to Polish, and distinguishes between Zôpadnô Pòmòrskô (Western Pomerania) and Pòrénkòwô Pòmòrskô (Eastern Pomerania).

[edit] Demographics

Polish Voivodeship/
German Kreis		 Capitals Registration
plates		 Area
w km²		 Population
Polish 31 December 1999
German 2001		 Territorial code
Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship Bydgoszcz¹
Toruń²		 C 17,969.72 2,100,771 04
Pomeranian Voivodeship Gdańsk G 18,292.88 2,192,268 22
West Pomeranian Voivodeship Szczecin Z 22,901.48 1,732,838 32
(¹) - the site of the Voivod office. (²) - the site of the Voivod council
Polish Pomerania total     59,164.08 6,025,877  
Nordvorpommern Grimmen NPV 2,168 117,722  
Ostvorpommern Anklam OVP 1,910 113,623  
Rügen Bergen auf Rügen RÜG 974 74,400  
Uecker-Randow Pasewalk UER 1,624 83,459  
Demmin (district) Demmin DM 1,921 93,700  
Greifswald   HGW 52.2 52,984  
Stralsund   HST est. 52.2 60,000  
German Pomerania total     8,701 595,888  

The biggest cities are (with population figures for 1999):

in Polish Pomerania

and Kołobrzeg, Szczecinek and Świnoujście

in German Pomerania

[edit] Geography

Pomerania is the area along the Baltic Sea between the Vistula, Noteć, Warta and Recknitz rivers. The islands of Rügen, Usedom and Wolin lie along the Pomeranian coast, while the Hel peninsula and the Vistula peninsula jut out into the Baltic.

The Baltic forms the Bay of Pomerania, Lagoon of Szczecin, Gdańsk Bay with Bay of Puck, and Vistula Bay along the coast. Lakes Lebsko, Jamno and Gardno were formerly bays but have been cut off from the sea.

[edit] Prehistoric times

In prehistoric times Pomerania was settled by a number of East Germanic tribes including migrants from Scandinavia, called the Rugians. Later, around 500 AD, Rugians moved on to Central Europe and by the 7th century they were replaced by Slavic tribes.

The Pomeranians are first recorded at an imperial meeting in the year 1040 AD.

The territory of northern Germania, as it was recorded 20,000 years ago, was covered with ice, which did not start to recede until the late period of the Old Stone Age or Paleolithic some 10,000 years BC, when the Scandinavian glacier receded to the north. Various archeological cultures developed in the Mesolithic, Neolithic, Bronze Age and Iron Age.

[edit] History of Pomerania

Main article: History of Pomerania
Historic Pomerania (outlined in yellow) on the background of modern country borders. The map outlines the pre-1946 German Province of Pomerania; Kashubia, known as Eastern Pomerania or Pomerelia, is not included.
Historic Pomerania (outlined in yellow) on the background of modern country borders. The map outlines the pre-1946 German Province of Pomerania; Kashubia, known as Eastern Pomerania or Pomerelia, is not included.

[edit] Prehistoric Pomerania

Before 500 AD Pomerania was dominated by East Germanic tribes including several branches of Goths tribes, who gradually came from Scandinavia since about 200 BC, and the centre of what is now modern Poland. Goths and Rugians are recorded by Roman historians in the areas of Pomerania in 98 AD.

See also: East Germanic tribes, Lusatian culture, Pomeranian culture, Wielbark Culture, Goths, and Rugians

[edit] Pomerania as part of Poland and Germany

Pomerania was conquered by the Polish duke Mieszko I in the second half of the 10th century (see beginnings of Poland map, in center, white, with some surrounding territories already conquered). During the big pagan uprising in Poland in 1038, it became again independent, returning for a short time to the kings of Bohemia and Poland. In 1138 it became a part of the Polish seniorat (see Map of Poland before the fragmentation period), which the western part left in 1181 to join in an alliance with the German noblemen. From 1181 until 1806, "Pommern" (in Polish terminology, "Western Pomerania") was a territory of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. The eastern part, which was directly part of Kingdom of Poland, was disputed by Brandenburg and conquered by the Teutonic Knights in 1309, becoming part of the Teutonic Order state. It was then annexed by the Kingdom of Poland in 1466 as a province with considerable autonomy. This part of Pomerelia and Prussia was centuries later referred to as "Royal Prussia". In 1569 during the unification of all lands of Polish kingdom and creation of Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth much autonomy was lost without the consent of the Prussian government.

[edit] Duchy of Pomerania in 15th century

Throughout the late mediaeval period Pomerania was claimed by Mecklenburg, Brandenburg and Poland, and occasionally by the Teutonic Knights. In 1420 the Wendish nobles of Brandenburg were supported by the Wends of Pomerania in an uprising against the Margrave of Brandenburg, Frederick I of the Hohenzollerns, but were decisively defeated at Angermünde. Frederick believed the key to the complicated politics of his region was forging close ties with Poland, which could now control the Teutonic Order and was thus in a position to confirm Brandenburg’s claims to Pomerania. He arranged for his second son, Frederick, to become engaged to the daughter of King Vladislav of Poland.

This enraged Sigismund of Bohemia, who now threw his support behind the Dukes of Pomerania, granting them the Uckermark. In 1425 conflict began, with Brandenburg against Pomerania, Mecklenburg, the Teutonic Order and even Poland. Frederick’s plans had gone badly wrong. In the war that followed, Frederick was able to keep the Uckermark, but Hohenzollern pretensions to rule Pomerania were thwarted.

Since 1200 a steady influx of German settlers and agricultural pioneers had been arriving in previously Germanic but then mainly Slavic Pomerania.

[edit] The 16th–17th centuries

For more details on this topic, see Swedish Pomerania.

Disputes with Brandenburg continued. These were partially agreed at the Conference of Juterbog (1527) between Joachim I of Brandenburg and the Duke of Pomerania. As the Reformation gathered pace, Pomerania also went Lutheran Protestant, but the process was slower than in Brandenburg.

In 1637 the last of the Wendish Dukes of Pomerania, Boguslaw XIV, died without direct male successor. During the Thirty Years' War, Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden occupied Pomerania. In the negotiations between France, Brandenburg and Sweden following the Northern War the Brandenburgish diplomats Joachim Friedrich von Blumenthal and his son Christoph Caspar obtained the rights of succession for Brandenburg, though the argument with Sweden, especially over Hither Pomerania, continued to the end of the 17th century and beyond, until the Treaty of Stockholm in 1720.

[edit] The 18th–19th centuries

Prussian noblemen began to acquire estates in Pomerania, while Pomeranian noblemen were integrated into Prussian society. Thus originally Wendish noble families such as the von Lettows, von Strelows, von Peglows, von Zitzewitzes and von Krockows intermarried with German families from Brandenburg such as the von Blumenthals, who possessed great estates at Quackenburg, Varzin, Dubberzin, Schlönwitz and elsewhere. By the nineteenth century Pomerania was mostly Germanised, and was a popular place of retirement for the well-to-do such as Bismarck, who bought Varzin.

[edit] The 20th century

Many leading officers and highly decorated German soldiers were from Pomerania, where Prussian militarism had exercised its influence for centuries. However, some networks of aristocratic estates and the loyalties they generated resulted in anti-Nazi conspiracy. Dietrich Bonhoeffer ran his illegal Lutheran Confessing Church seminary at the Pomeranian hamlet of Groß Schlönwitz, near Schlawe, in 1938. After the defeat of Germany in 1945, most of Pomerania became Polish, and the entire German population of the Pomeranian territories assigned to Polish rule fled, was expelled or lost their lives. Some Germans were retained by Soviet authorities to do forced labour in the Soviet exclaves for a number of years after 1945.[8]

[edit] Modern 20th century divisions of Pomerania

The eastern part of Pomerania, Pomorze, is a geographical and historical region in Poland that encompasses three Polish voivodeships: the West Pomeranian Voivodeship (Zachodniopomorskie), Pomeranian Voivodeship (Pomorskie) and the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship (Kujawsko-Pomorskie). The most western part of Pomerania (Vorpommern, in Polish Zapomorze) is part of the German state (Bundesland) of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern).

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ Pomerelia overlaps with and is also sometimes called West Prussia.
  2. ^ For instance whether Pomerelia is to be included.
  3. ^ http://www.genemaas.net/Pommern.htm
  4. ^ The dipute between the Teutonic Order and the Polish kings was settled in negotiations in 1343. This easternmost part of Pomerania remained under the rule of the Teutonic Knights as a fief of the Polish Crown. Polish kings held the title of Duke of Pomerania within the Holy Roman Empire's fief of entire Pomerania.
  5. ^ Not recognized by the Emperor and the Pope.
  6. ^ In 1654 Farther Pomerania was conquered by Brandenburg-Prussia from the Swedes. In 1720 Hither Pomerania became also a part of the then Kingdom of Prussia. With the Partitions of Poland 1772-1795 Pomerelia was incorporated into Prussia as the Province of West Prussia.
  7. ^ In the Prussian provinces of Pomerania and West Prussia. The Kingdom of Prussia was a member state of the German Confederation (1815-1866), the North German Confederation (1867-1871), and the German Empire (since 1871).
  8. ^ Vegelahn Familiengeschichte

[edit] See also

[edit] Further reading

[edit] Publications in English

  • Byrnes, James F., Speaking Frankly, New York, 1947.
  • Keesing's Research Report, Germany and Eastern Europe since 1945, New York, 1973, Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 72-7729. ISBN 0-684-13190-0
  • de Zayas, Alfred M, Nemesis at Potsdam, Routledge, (1st edition 1977), Revised edition 1979, ISBN 0-7100-0458-3
  • Boehlke, LeRoy, Pomerania - Its People and Its History, Pommerscher Verein Freistadt, Germantown, WI, U.S.A., 1983.
  • von Krockow, Christian, Hour of the Women, UK edition 1992, Faber & Faber, ISBN 0-571-14320-2
  • Herrick, Linda, & Wendy Uncapher, Pomerania - Atlantic Bridge to Germany, Origins, Janesville, WI, U.S.A., 2005.

[edit] Publications in Polish

  • Gerard Labuda (ed.), Historia Pomorza, vol. I (to 1466), parts 1-2, Poznań 1969
  • Gerard Labuda (ed.), Historia Pomorza, vol. II (1466–1815), parts 1-2, Poznań 1976
  • Gerard Labuda (ed.), Historia Pomorza, vol. III (1815–1850), parts 1-3, Poznań
  • Gerard Labuda (ed.), Historia Pomorza, vol. IV (1850–1918), part 1, Toruń 2003
  • Marian Biskup (ed.), Śląsk i Pomorze w historii stosunków polsko-niemieckich w średniowieczu. XII Konferencja Wspólnej Komisji Podręcznikowej PRL-RFN Historyków 5–10 VI 1979 Olsztyn, Instytut Zachdni, Poznań 1987
  • Antoni Czubiński, Zbigniew Kulak (ed.), Śląsk i Pomorze w stosunkach polsko-niemieckich od XVI do XVII w. XIV Konferencja Wspólnej Komisji Podręcznikowej PRL-RFN Historyków, 9–14 VI 1981 r. Zamość, Instytut Zachodni, Poznań 1987
  • Szkice do dziejów Pomorza, vol. 1-3, Warszawa 1958-61
  • B. Wachowiak, Rozwój gospodarczo-społeczny Pomorza Zachodniego od połowy XV do początku XVII wieku, Studia i Materiały do dziejów Wielkopolski i Pomorza, 1958, z. 1
  • J. Wiśniewski, Początki układu kapitalistycznego na Pomorzu Zachodnim w XVIII wieku, Studia i Materiały do dziejów Wielkopolski i Pomorza, 1958, z. 1
  • A. Wielopolski, Gospodarka Pomorza Zachodniego w latach 1800–1918, Szczecin 1959
  • W. Odyniec, Dzieje Prus Królewskich (1454–1772). Zarys monograficzny, Warszawa 1972
  • Dzieje Pomorza Nadwiślańskiego od VII wieku do 1945 roku, Gdańsk 1978
  • Zygmunt Boras, "Książęta Pomorza Zachodniego", Poznań 1969, 1978, 1996
  • Zygmunt Boras, "Stosunki polsko-pomorskie w XVI w", Poznań 1965
  • Zygmunt Boras, "Związki Śląska i Pomorza Zachdoniego z Polską w XVI wieku", Poznań 1981
  • Kazimierz Kozłowski, Jerzy Podralski, "Poczet Książąt Pomorza Zachodniego", KAW, Szczecin 1985
  • Lech Bądkowski, W. Samp. "Poczet książąt Pomorza Gdańskiego", Gdańsk 1974
  • B. Śliwiński, "Poczet książąt gdańskich", Gdańsk 1997
  • Wojciech Myślenicki, "Pomorscy sprzymierzenscy Jagiellończyków", Wydawnictwo Poznańskie, Poznań 1979
  • Józef Spors, "Podziały administracyjne Pomorza Gdańskiego i Sławieńsko-Słupskiego od XII do początków XIV w", Słupsk 1983
  • Kazimierz Ślaski, "Podziały terytorialne Pomorza w XII-XII w.", Poznań 1960
  • Benon Miśkiewicz, "Z dziejów wojennych Pomorza Zachodniego. Cedynia 972-Siekierki 1945", Wydawnictwo Poznańskie, Poznań 1972

[edit] Publications in German

  • M. Wehrmann, Geschichte von Pommern, vol. 1-2, Gotha 1919-21
  • M. Spahn, Verfassungs- und Wirtschaftsgeschichte des Herzogtums Pommern von 1476 bis 1625, Leipzig 1896
  • B. Schumacher, Geschichte Ost- und Westpreussens, Würzburg 1959

[edit] External links

[edit] Internet directories

[edit] Culture and history

[edit] Maps of Pomerania

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