Pribislav of Mecklenburg

Pribislav ( _de. Pribislaw; died 30 December 1178) was an Obotrite prince and the first Prince of Mecklenburg (1167-1178).

Pribislav was one of three sons of the Obotrite chieftain Niklot, who was killed in 1160 during a joint campaign by Duke Henry the Lion of Saxony and King Valdemar the Great of Denmark. The territory of the Obotrites was largely partitioned between Saxon lords, but Pribislav continued to fight against Henry from the fortification at Werle on the River Warnow near Rostock, [Tschan, (HCS LXXXVIII), p. 232] the only territory remaining to Pribislav and his brother Vertislav.

Niklot's sons engineered a widespread revolt against Saxon rule in 1163. While Vertislav and much of the Slavic nobility were imprisoned by Henry during the siege of Werle, Pribislav destroyed many of the former Obotrite castles including Mecklenburg where all the male Fleming defenders were slaughtered. [Tschan, (HCS XCVIII), p. 255] After Pribislav recaptured Malchow and Quetzin, Henry the Lion suppressed the revolt with much bloodshed. Vertislav was publicly hanged at Malchow. Supported by a Danish fleet, the Saxon army defeated the Slavs in the bloody Battle of Verchen in 1164. Pribislav fled to Pomerania afterward, but later led raids into the counties of Schwerin and Ratzeburg.

The Cistercian missionary Berno of Amelungsborn convinced Pribislav to side with the Christians against the pagan Slavs. In conflict with the Saxon nobility and seeking an ally, Henry restored Pribislav to power in 1167 as the Prince of Mecklenburg, Kessin, and Rostock; the County of Schwerin remained in German control. Pribislav's restoration to power established an originally Slavic dynasty in Mecklenburg that lasted until 1918. In comparison, the lands of the Polabians and Wagrians to the west had been taken over by Saxon lords.

The date of Pribislav's conversion to Christianity is disputed; it has been dated to before the death of Niklot in 1160 [Christiansen, p. 61] or to the prince's restoration to power in 1167. [Herrmann, p. 356] Allied with the Saxon duke, Pribislav fought against the pagan Rani of Rügen. Pribislav founded the monastery of Doberan in 1171 and endowed the Bishopric of Schwerin. He participated in a pilgrimage to Jerusalem with Henry the following year. The prince also negotiated a marriage between his son Henry Borwin I and a daughter of Henry's.

Pribislav died from a wound received at a tournament in Lüneburg. His body was placed in a church in Doberan in 1219.

Footnotes

References

*cite book|last=Christiansen|first=Erik|title=The Northern Crusades|year=1997|publisher=Penguin Books|location=London|pages=287|isbn=0-14-026653-4
*cite book|last=Herrmann|first=Joachim|authorlink=|title=Die Slawen in Deutschland|year=1970|publisher=Akademie-Verlag GmbH|location=Berlin|pages=530|isbn=
*cite book|last=Tschan|first=Francis Joseph|title=The Chronicle of the Slavs by Helmold, Priest of Bosau|year=1935|publisher=Columbia University Press|location=New York|pages=321|isbn=

External Links

* [http://www.lexikus.de/index.php?page=buch&thema=8&buch=31 About the Grave of Pribislav of Mecklenburg] (in German)