Principality of Pomerelia

Who rules

Name

Sambor I

Title

prince of the Pomeranians (princeps Pomoranorum), seated at Gdańsk. The Samborides style themselves princeps (prince), not dux (duke), which the Polish dukes keep for themselves.

Since

1177/1179, when he followed his father Sobiesław I (German lists give 1187)

Born

about 1150

Family

Son of Sobiesław I (died 1177/1179, or 1187 in German lists), the first of the house the Poles call the Sobiesławice and the Germans the Samboriden; his mother is not named. Married; his wife is not named. Two sons who died young: German genealogies call them Sobiesław (II) and Świętopełk (I) and have them die under their uncle's guardianship after 1207, so whether either is born by 1 January 1200 is not pinned. Younger brother: Mestwin I (born about 1160), his eventual heir (see Mestwin I).

Confidence

high

en.wikipedia and de.wikipedia on Sambor I, Mestwin I and the Samboriden; Kadłubek's chronicle as reported there. Polish Wikipedia and the Gdańsk encyclopedia (Gedanopedia) could not be reached for this run.

Overlord

Formally the Polish senior duke at Kraków. Wincenty Kadłubek says Casimir II recognised Sambor as his father's successor (between 1177 and 1180), and Polish accounts call Sambor a Polish vassal. On 1 January 1200 the senior duke, by the reconstruction the krakow record follows, is Mieszko III the Old, back in Kraków on the Kraków lords' terms after being driven out in 1199 (on the other reading, Leszek the White's guardians hold Kraków).

Whether Sambor recognises Mieszko that winter is not pinned: no homage, tribute or service is recorded between 1194 and 1200, and the princes' charters name no overlord (Voigt doubted any dependence). Denmark is not yet overlord: Danish lordship over Pomerelia begins only with Valdemar II's expedition of 1210, a generation after western Pomerania's submission in 1185.

What the realm holds

• Gdańsk: the princes' castle and port at the mouth of the Vistula, with its castle district (Sambor's own seat; see Sambor I)
• The coast north of Gdańsk: Oksywie, the Puck bay and the Hel spit (Oksywie is given to Żukowo about 1209; Puck is first recorded only in 1277; Sambor's, so far as known)
• Białogarda on the Łeba and the forest country toward Lębork, Łeba and Bytów: the western march against the Ratibor line's Słupsk (held by the princes; which brother is not pinned)
• The Kashubian and Tuchola forests round Kościerzyna, Chojnice, Człuchów and Tuchola: thinly settled; their castle organisation in 1200 is not pinned
• Świecie and Lubiszewo with Tczew: held by Grzymisław (see Grzymisław)
• Starogard: given to the Knights of St John on 11 November 1198 (see Hospitallers of Starogard)
• The Vistula delta (Żuławy) between the Vistula and the Nogat: marsh and river islands, thinly peopled, on the Prussian edge (claimed; the princes' castle of Zantyr at the fork is attested only in the 13th century)

How it was acquired

Bolesław III of Poland conquered Pomerelia in 1112-1116 and ruled it through governors. Sobiesław I governed from Gdańsk from about 1155 and was later treated as a prince; his son Sambor followed him in 1177/1179 with Casimir II's recognition (Kadłubek). Whether the house was installed from Poland (a family from the Sieradz land, on the evidence of shared names such as Świętopełk, Warcisław and Mściwój) or was native nobility is disputed; it is certainly not Piast in the male line.

Allies and rivals

Polish side: Kuyavia, on the Brda and the Vistula south of Świecie, was ceded by Mieszko III to Casimir II's sons in 1198 (see the masovia record); Greater Poland under Mieszko III holds Nakło on the Noteć (wlk). Mestwin's wife Zwinisława is called a daughter of Mieszko III in some accounts (ru.wikipedia), which would make the senior duke at Kraków that morning Mestwin's father-in-law; one modern account says Mestwin helped Mieszko III take Gniezno in 1181, another gives that help to Bogislaw I of Pomerania. West: the Ratibor line at Słupsk and Sławno (Mestwin's wife Zwinisława was once thought a daughter of Ratibor I).

Further west, the dukes of Pomerania at Szczecin, Danish vassals; the marriage of Mestwin's daughter Mirosława to Bogislaw II is later. East: the Prussians, Pomesanians above all, across the Vistula. North: the Danish crown of Canute VI, master of the southern Baltic coast west of the Ratibor line.

The realm that morning

On the morning of 1 January 1200 Sambor I rules Gdańsk and the north; Grzymisław rules the south (Świecie, Lubiszewo, Tczew); the Knights of St John hold Starogard; Mestwin's share is not pinned. The princes acknowledge the Polish senior duke in name only, and no Danish lordship yet reaches them. No Prussian raid on Pomerelia is dated to that winter. Ground across the borders: west of the Łeba forests, the Ratibor line's Stolp castellany (Pomerania map, Schlawe and Stolp); south-west, Greater Poland's Nakło land on the Noteć (wlk); south, Kuyavia and across the Vistula the Chełmno land, both held for Casimir II's sons (maz); east of the Vistula and the Nogat, the Prussians (pmr provinces).

Wealth

The Vistula trade and the port of Gdańsk: salt and cloth come in, furs, wax, honey and amber go out, and land routes run inland toward Starogard. Tolls are taken in kind at each prince's castle (money tolls only from about 1240). Fisheries on the coast, the Puck bay and the delta. The bishop of Kujawy takes the tithe of grain and ships at Gdańsk. No Pomerelian coinage is known for 1200 (not pinned).

Military

The prince's retinue and the castle-district levies, based on the castles of Gdańsk, Białogarda and (under Grzymisław) Świecie and Lubiszewo. No numbers in the sources. No war of Sambor's is recorded in the 1190s.

Threats

• Prussian raids across the Vistula; the first dated blow on Pomerelia is the burning of Oliwa and Żukowo in 1224 (1226 in one account)
• The Danish crown: Valdemar II takes Gdańsk and Mestwin's fealty in 1210
• Polish dukes asserting lordship from Kuyavia (Brda and Vistula) and from Greater Poland (Nakło)
• The fate of the southern districts when Grzymisław dies (not pinned)
• Sambor has no son who survives him: the succession goes to Mestwin

Court and officers

No palatine, chancellor or castellan of Sambor is named for 1200 in the sources reached. de.wikipedia (Pommerellen) names Gnezota, Martin, Zulis and Stropha as Pomerelian nobles beside Grzymisław; their offices are not given there. Castellans of Gdańsk and the other castles appear in the charters only from the 13th century.

Church

Diocese of Kujawy (Włocławek), province of Gniezno: Archbishop Henryk Kietlicz since 1199 (Church map; campaign notes Part 6 I, where Włocławek is marked thin). The Cistercians of Oliwa (Sambor's foundation, from Kołbacz, 1186), the church of St Nicholas at Gdańsk (about 1190), the Knights of St John at Starogard (1198) and a church of St Mary at Świecie consecrated in 1198. Abbeys and bishops are Church map records.

Belts note

No raiding belt is drawn on Pomerelia's borders. No Prussian raid on Pomerelia is recorded before 1215; on the Noteć and the Brda the Polish neighbours are at peace with the princes (wlk, maz); the Ratibor line to the west is kin and at peace so far as known.

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. During 1200 (not pinned)Grzymisław, last attested on 11 November 1198, dies or loses his land; Świecie and Lubiszewo come to the house of Sobiesław at some date before the 1220s, when Mestwin's sons hold them.Depends on: Grzymisław dying without an heir of his own Stopped by: an heir of Grzymisław, or a Kuyavian or Masovian seizure of Świecie
2. About 1200 (not pinned)Sambor I builds a fortress at Tczew (en.wikipedia, Tczew).Depends on: Sambor holding the Tczew ground on the Vistula Stopped by: Tczew staying with Grzymisław or his heirs
3. During 1200Mieszko III the Old holds Kraków on the Kraków lords' terms while Leszek the White's party waits (see the krakow record); whoever holds Kraków is Pomerelia's nominal overlord. Mieszko III dies on 13 March 1202.Depends on: the Polish dukes Stopped by: nothing in Pomerelia
4. 23 April 1200 (next door)The Ratibor line at Sławno gives villages to the Knights of St John (Pomerania map, Schlawe and Stolp), as Grzymisław did at Starogard in 1198.Depends on: the donors' lives Stopped by: war or death in the Ratibor line

Later, on the likely course

1. 1206 onward (after this year)Abbot Gottfried of Łekno preaches in Prussia (1206-1207); in 1209 Innocent III commissions Christian, a monk of Kołbacz then of Oliwa, for the Prussian mission; Christian is consecrated bishop of Prussia in 1215.Depends on: papal and Cistercian initiative Stopped by: war in Prussia
2. 7 February 1207 (after this year; about 1205 in other accounts)Sambor I dies (Oliwa necrology); Mestwin I succeeds and is 'by God's grace prince in Gdańsk' by about 24 June 1209.Depends on: Sambor's natural death Stopped by: a change in Sambor's circumstances in play
3. 1210 (after this year)Valdemar II of Denmark takes Gdańsk on an expedition into Prussia; Mestwin swears fealty at Gdańsk and is free of it again in 1211.Depends on: Danish expansion along the Baltic Stopped by: a Danish defeat or distraction

Places of note

• Gdańsk castle: The princes' castle on a raised island in the Motława marshes near the Vistula mouth: earth ramparts reinforced with timber.
• Oliwa abbey: Cistercian abbey founded by Sambor; monks from Kołbacz, dedicated 1186. Church map record.
• Białogarda castle: Castle on the Łeba facing the Ratibor line; seat of Mestwin's son Racibor from 1233. In 1200 a princes' castle, holder not pinned.
• Lubiszewo castle: Grzymisław's castle near Tczew; later Sambor II's seat.
• Świecie castle: Grzymisław's castle at the mouth of the Wda (Schwarzwasser) on the Vistula.
• Starogard (Starigrod): Castle on the Wierzyca where the merchants' road crosses; given to the Hospitallers on 11 November 1198.

Where the sources disagree

• Sambor's death: 7 February 1207 (Oliwa necrology, de.wikipedia) against about 1205 (en.wikipedia lists). Either way he is alive on 1 January 1200.
• Oliwa's foundation: a charter dated 1178 survives only in a later, doubted form (Christian of Oliva's Wikipedia page still says 'founded in 1178'); the monks from Kołbacz and the dedication date from 1186 (2 July 1186 per en.wikipedia, Oliwa Cathedral). en.wikipedia's History of Gdańsk gives 1168, apparently a slip. de.wikipedia (Kloster Oliva) ascribes the foundation of 1185/1186 to Sobiesław I and has the first Kołbacz monks arrive about 1175; this record follows en.wikipedia and de.wikipedia (Sambor I) in making Sambor the founder.
• The help given to Mieszko III in 1181: en.wikipedia (Casimir II) names Mestwin I; en.wikipedia (Mieszko III) names Bogislaw I of Pomerania.
• The assignment lists Tczew, Świecie and Lubiszewo among the brothers' castle districts; the evidence of the 1198 Starogard charter puts them under Grzymisław in 1198. They are held by Mestwin's sons from 1220; when they came to the house of Sobiesław is not pinned.
• campaign notes (Part 6 I) make Bishop Pełka co-regent for Leszek with Helen and the palatine; the krakow record (mlp) has Mieszko III holding Kraków that morning on the Kraków lords' terms. Pomerelia's nominal overlord follows whichever reading the campaign rules; nothing in Pomerelia depends on it that winter.
• The assignment asks whether Denmark was overlord that winter: it was not. de.wikipedia (Pommerellen) dates Danish lordship from 1210, 25 years after western Pomerania's; Swantopolk II's article puts a Danish taking of Gdańsk in 1221 as well.

Evidence: The princes are known from a handful of charters (several forged or reworked; Perlbach's index marks a Grimislaus document as false), Kadłubek and the Oliwa necrology. Officers of 1200 are not named. Polish Wikipedia and Gedanopedia could not be reached; the Polish literature (Śliwiński, Labuda) was not checked directly.

On the map: The outer border is a forest frontier drawn along modern places: the western edge follows the Pomerania map's anchors (Lębork, Łeba, Bytów and Człuchów outside Pomerania), the southern edge is approximate. Inside, the lords' records carve out Sambor's north, Grzymisław's south and the Hospitallers' Starogard; the rest (the forests and the west) is the princes' ground without a known holder.

Primary sources for this realm

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 Poles, by Master Vincent (Wincenty Kadłubek), Wincenty Kadłubek (about 1190 to 1208). Book 4 is a contemporary's account of the fight for the senior throne of Kraków. Read online
• The annals of the Kraków chapter and the other Polish annals (kept from the 11th century; the Kraków chapter annals continued to 1266). Short dated entries that fix the chronology Kadłubek blurs: the deaths of dukes and bishops, Mieszko the Old's captures of Kraków, Prussian raids on Masovia, church consecrations. 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