The land of the Ucker (terra Ukera, the Ukrani of old) is Pomeranian in 1200 and stays so until the treaty of Landin in 1250; the Ascanian Uckermark is later and must not be back-projected.
Its centre is the castle and market of Prenzlau, first named in 1187 and described in 1188 as a castle place with a market, an inn, a church and one of three Pomeranian mints. Toward the end of the 12th century the dukes called in settlers from Lower Saxony, who founded new villages here, among the first German village settlers on Pomeranian ground. Bogislaw I founded the Premonstratensian abbey of Gramzow (a Church map record).
Pasewalk on the Uecker and Ueckermünde at its mouth are ducal castles.
Who he is
- Name
- Bogislaw II (and Casimir II: which brother held it is not pinned)
- Title
- dukes of Pomerania
- Since
- 1187
- Born
- about 1177
- Family
- see Pomerania
- Confidence
- medium
de.wikipedia Prenzlau; de.wikipedia Herzogtum Pommern (the Uckermark passes to Brandenburg only in 1250)
Overlord
Canute VI of Denmark
What it holds
- Prenzlau castle, market and mint
- Pasewalk castle on the Uecker
- Ueckermünde castle at the mouth of the Uecker
- the new villages of the Lower Saxon settlers (late 12th century)
- advocacy of Gramzow abbey (not checked)
How it was acquired
Pomeranian since the 12th century.
Allies and rivals
Rivals: the margraves of Brandenburg on the south, across the forests toward the Barnim and the Havel.
How things stand that morning
Pomeranian on 1 January 1200. The frontier with Brandenburg runs through the forests south of Prenzlau and the Welse; Templin and Angermünde are on the edge (not pinned); the margrave's push into the Uckermark comes in the 1230s-1250. Whether the Brandenburg war of 1198-99 touched the Uckermark is not pinned.
Wealth
The Prenzlau market and mint; the new villages; the Uecker crossing at Pasewalk.
Military
Castles of Prenzlau, Pasewalk, Ueckermünde.
Threats
- Brandenburg on the south
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.
- 1234 (after this year)Barnim I makes Prenzlau a free town under German law.
Places of note
- Gramzow abbey: Premonstratensian abbey founded by Bogislaw I (Church map record)
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: Prenzlau's 1187-88 records are good; the extent of the land and its castellans in 1200 are not pinned.
On the map: The southern edge toward the Barnim and the Welse is not pinned; Templin and Angermünde are anchored without being drawn.
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
Sources and studies
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.