Bogislaw X, Duke of Pomerania

Bogislaw X

Bogislaw X, Duke of Pomerania
Born (1454-06-03)3 June 1454
Rügenwalde (now Darłowo)
Died 5 October 1523(1523-10-05) (aged 69)
Stettin (now Szczecin)
Noble family Griffins
Spouse(s) Margaret of Brandenburg
Anna of Poland
Father Eric II, Duke of Pomerania-Wolgast
Mother Sophia of Pomerania-Stolp

Bogislaw X of Pomerania, the Great, (3 June 1454 5 October 1523) was Duke of Pomerania from 1474 until his death in 1523.

Biography

Bogislaw was born in Rügenwalde (now Darłowo, Poland) into the House of Pomerania (Griffins). His father was Eric II, Duke of Pomerania-Wolgast, his mother was the duchess Sophia of Pomerania, both distant relatives of the House of Pomerania. Bogislaw was first married to Margaret of Brandenburg and later to Anna Jagiellon, daughter of Casimir IV Jagiellon, King of Poland. With his second wife he had eight children, including Sophia of Pomerania, who became queen of Denmark. He inherited all of the previously partitioned Duchy of Pomerania and became her sole ruler in 1478. He was succeeded by his sons George I and Barnim XI.

Bogusław X and Anna Jagiellonian Monument near Ducal Castle, Szczecin

Before Bogislaw's reign, the Duchy of Pomerania had for a long time been divided into several splinter duchies, ruled by relatives of the Griffin house. In 1464, Pomerania-Stettin's duke Otto III died without an heir, Bogislaw's father Eric II and his uncle, Wartislaw X, both ruling different portions of Pomerania-Wolgast, managed to succeed in a conflict about Pomerania-Stettin inheritance with the Margraviate of Brandenburg. In 1474, with his father's death, Bogislaw inherited his splinter duchy, becoming Duke of Pomerania. In 1478 with his uncle's death, he inherited his splinter duchy, too, becoming the first sole ruler in the Duchy of Pomerania since about 200 years.

His father, 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 II, Duke of Mecklenburg, and his other sister, Margarete, was married to Magnus's brother Balthasar. Bogislaw himself married Margarete, 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. He confirmed the 1472 Peace of Prenzlau in 1479, leaving Strasburg with Brandenburg and Bogislaw had to take his possessions as a fief from Brandenburg. In the same year, his wife died before they had children.

When Bogislaw married Anna of Poland in 1491, all of Pomerania's neighbors were tied to the House of Pomerania by marriage. Bogislaw made use of these favourable conditions in 1493, and strengthened Pomerania's position towards Brandenburg in the Treaty of Pyritz, which declared Pomerania not a fief of Brandenburg, but a fief of the Holy Roman Emperor.

In 1496–98, Bogislaw travelled to Jerusalem as a pilgrim. He died in Stettin.

Children

by Anna Jagiellon:

illegitimate:

Ancestors

See also

Sources

Bogislaw X, Duke of Pomerania
Born: 3 June 1454 Died: 5 October 1523
Preceded by
Wartislaw X of Pomerania-Barth
Duke of Pomerania
1474–1523
Succeeded by
George I and
Barnim IX
Preceded by
Eric II of Pomerania-Wolgast
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