A Slav salt town at the mouth of the Persante, exploiting the salt springs since the 9th century and selling salt to Poland by about 1000, when it was briefly a bishop's see.
Otto of Bamberg preached here in 1124 and consecrated St Mary's in 1125; a collegiate chapter followed. The dukes have granted salt pans to churches since the 12th century. In 1200 a ducal castle, salt works and Slav settlement; the German town is founded in the mid-13th century.
Who holds it
- Name
- Bogislaw II and Casimir II
- Title
- dukes of Pomerania
- Since
- 1187
- Born
- about 1177 and about 1180
- Family
- see Pomerania
- Confidence
- medium
see sources
Lord in 1200
The dukes and their castellan of Kolberg (Kasimir, son of Wartislaw Swantiboriz, holds the office at some date; 1200 not pinned).
How things stand that morning
Ducal castle and salt town.
Charter
None; Lübeck law in 1255 (Wartislaw III and Bishop Hermann).
Council
None: no town commune in 1200.
Communities
Slav salt workers; the canons of St Mary's.
Militia
Part of the castle levy.
Walls and castle
Ducal castle; Slav ramparts.
Trade and crafts
Salt boiling (salt pans and boiling huts), the salt trade inland, fishing.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: de.wikipedia Kołobrzeg; castellan from fmg.ac and de.wikipedia Wartislaw Swantiboriz.
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.