Schlawe and Stolp

Who he is

Name

not pinned: Swantopolk, son of Ratibor I (alive in 1205), and 'Boguslaus' of Schlawe with his sister Dobroslawa (charter of 23 April 1200); later Ratibor II (died before 1227)

Title

princes (Swantopolk is styled duke of Pomerania in 1180) of Schlawe and Stolp

Since

not pinned

Born

not pinned

Family

Descendants of Ratibor I (died 1155 or 1156), brother of Wartislaw I, and of Pribislawa, possibly a daughter of Bolesław III of Poland. His sons include Swantopolk (named 1175, 1180, 1205), Wartislaw (named 1186-87) and Bogislaw; a Bogislaw 'III' of Schlawe married an unnamed daughter of Mieszko III (so an uncle by marriage of the young dukes); Ratibor II (died before 1227) and his sister Margaret, later wife of Count Henry I of Schwerin, are the last of the line. A Dobroslawa of Schlawe married either Duke Bolesław of Kuyavia (died 1195) and then Grzymisław of Świecie, or Wartislaw of Gützkow: the genealogies disagree.

Confidence

low

de.wikipedia Ratiboriden; fmg.ac Pomerania

Overlord

the Danish king (Stolp counted Danish from 1186 to 1227, de.wikipedia Słupsk); their tie to the Stettin dukes is not pinned

What it holds

• Schlawe castle (Zlauinia, named about 1186) and its land on the Wipper with Rügenwalde (Darłowo)
• Stolp castle and castellany on the Stolpe
• the coast between the Grabow and the Lupow

How it was acquired

Ratibor I's portion (before 1156).

Allies and rivals

Kin of the Stettin dukes and, by marriage, of Mieszko III. Neighbours: Pomerelia (Sambor I at Danzig) to the east.

How things stand that morning

Held by the Ratibor line under Danish overlordship. The frontier with Pomerelia lies east of Stolp, in the forests toward the Leba and Lauenburg (Lębork), which are Pomerelian (outside).

Wealth

The Wipper and Stolpe harbours, castle dues.

Military

Castles of Schlawe and Stolp.

Threats

• Pomerelia on the east
• the end of the line (it dies out before 1227)

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

In 1200

1. 23 April 1200'Boguslaus' and his sister Dobroslawa of Schlawe give villages to the Knights of St John (fmg.ac): the start of the Hospitallers in Schlawe.Depends on: the donors' lives and peace Stopped by: war or death

Later, on the likely course

1. 1205 (after this year)Swantopolk gives Ziraua and Zukow to the bishop of Kammin.
2. before 1227 (after this year)Ratibor II dies, the last of the line; Schlawe and Stolp go to Pomerelia (1227 or 1235-36).

Places of note

• Stolp castle: castellany named in Swantopolk's charter of 1180

Where the sources disagree

• fmg.ac doubts that the 'Boguslaus' of 23 April 1200 is Duke Bogislaw II (he lacks the ducal title); German genealogies make him Bogislaw III of Schlawe. Ratibor II's parentage is disputed (son of Bogislaw III after Wehrmann, half-brother or cousin after Benl).

Evidence: A handful of charters (1180, 1200, 1205) and muddled genealogies; the evidence is very thin east of Kolberg.

On the map: The eastern frontier with Pomerelia and the southern forests (Bütow, Rummelsburg) are not pinned.

Primary sources for Pomerania

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

• Chronicle of the Slavs, by Arnold of Lübeck, Arnold of Lübeck (about 1209 to 1210). Arnold continues Helmold and writes from Lübeck, close to Danish, Welf and Baltic affairs. Read online
• Chronicle of the Slavs, by Helmold of Bosau, Helmold of Bosau (about 1167 to 1172). Background only. Read online
• The Danish annals of Lund, Ryd and other houses (12th and 13th centuries; Lund continued to 1307, Ryd to 1288). Short dated entries from Lund, the archbishop's seat, and from Ryd in Schleswig. Read online
• Deeds of the Danes, Saxo Grammaticus (about 1185 to 1208). Saxo was writing at Lund in 1200 under Absalon, who died in March 1201, and his last books are an insider's history of Valdemar I and Knud VI to 1185: the Wendish wars, the taking of Rügen, the submission of Pomerania in 1185, the Danish fleet, Absalon's power and the Danish quarrel with the Empire. Read online
• Short history of the kings of Denmark; The Law of the Retainers, Sven Aggesen (about 1185 to 1188). A short Latin history of the Danish kings to Knud VI's Pomeranian victory of 1185, with the Lex castrensis, Sven's version of the law of the royal household. Read online
• The saga of the descendants of Knut (the kings of Denmark) (about 1250 to 1260). An Icelandic kings' saga of Denmark that draws on Saxo and Danish tradition and ends in 1187 with Knud VI and Absalon's Wendish wars. Read online
• Pomeranian charter book, volume 1, 786 to 1253 (documents of 786 to 1253, edited 1868). All known charters for Pomerania and Rügen to 1253. Read online
• The Danish diplomatarium: charters and letters concerning Denmark, with Danish translation (documents of 789 to 1448; the online edition is continuing). Twenty-seven documents are dated to 1200: Innocent III's letters of February and March 1200 to Philip Augustus and Queen Ingeborg and his order for the interdict on France, Otto IV's letter to the pope expecting King Knud VI to move into Saxony, the reports of the legate Octavian and the French bishops on the lifting of the interdict in September, the pope's letters to Knud VI asking him to send advocates for his sister, Knud VI's ordinance on manslaughter for Skåne of 28 December 1200, and private gifts to Roskilde and Næstved. Read online