Principality of Rügen

The Principality of Rügen; da, Fyrstendømmet Rygien; pl, Księstwo rugijskie; la, Rugia was a Danish principality, formerly a duchy, consisting of the island of Rügen and the adjacent mainland from 1168 until 1325. It was governed by a local dynasty of princes of the ''Wizlawiden'' (''House of Wizlaw'') dynasty. For at least part of this period, Rügen was subject to the Holy Roman Empire.

Danish conquest and conversion

The Danes conquered the Rani stronghold of Arkona in 1168.
The rulers of the Rani became vassals of the Danish king, and the Slavic population was gradually Christianized.

In the 12th century, the Duchy of Rügen not only functioned as a bridgehead for Danish expansions into ''Vendland'', but also Rani forces successfully participated in Danish raids into Circipania and areas conquered by Pomerania's Wartislaw I in the 1120s. After Pomerania became part of the Holy Roman Empire in 1181, it sent out a navy in 1184 to subdue Rügen for the empire, too.
A Danish and Rani counterattack destroyed the Pomeranian navy in the Bay of Greifswald, granting Danish access to all of the Wendish Baltic coast and making Denmark the predominant power until 1227. In the Battle of Bornhöved in 1227, the Danes again lost all Wendish lands except for Rügen.

After the Danish conquest, the princes moved their capital from Charenza to nearby Rugard (now incorporated in Bergen auf Rügen).
While the island of Rügen was incorporated into the Danish Archdiocese of Roskilde, the mainland portion was incorporated into the Saxon Bishopric of Schwerin as a compensation for the Duchy of Saxony's aid in the conquest.

Rugia as Danish vassal

Tetzlav was mentioned by Saxo Grammaticus already in 1164 as a king. After the Danish conquest, he became a prince, and in 1170 was succeeded by his brother, Jaromar I (d. 1218).

After Jaromar, the succession of Slavic princes under Danish vassalage was as follows:
* 1218–1221 Barnuta (oldest son of Jaromar I, ancestor of the House of Gristow)
* 24 November 1221 – 1249 Wizlaw I (Barnuta's brother)
* 1249–1260 Jaromar II (son of Wizlaw I)
* 1260–1302 Wizlaw II (son of Jaromar II)
* 1303–1304 Sambor and Wizlaw III (sons of Wizlaw II, Sambor died in 1304)
* 1304–1325 Wizlaw IIIWerner Buchholz, ''Pommern'', Siedler, 1999, pp.100–101,

Population movements

When Rügen became a Danish principality, not only religion changed. In the course of the Ostsiedlung, large numbers of German settlers had been encouraged to come to Rügen by the Rani prince Jaromar I and his successors. In the early 13th century, the mainland section of the duchy, which in large parts consisted of woodland, was settled by Germans, who established new villages and towns through large scale deforestation campaigns as well as settling in existing Rani dwellings. The first German settlements are recorded in the Ryck valley and the Tribsees area in the Trebel valley. The German settlement on the islands of Rügen started only in the 14th century, when the mainland was already densely German settled. In the following centuries, Rani and German population mixed and shared a common fate. As the Rani language, culture and administration was transformed into German in the 13th century, the Rani ceased to exist as a distinguishable ethnic group.
Danes and Danish property are recorded also.

Foundation of abbeys

The Dargun Abbey, founded 1272 by the Pomeranian dukes, was also sponsored by the Rugian dukes with land.
Ostsiedlung was enhanced by abbeys founded on behalf of the princes of Rügen:
*1193 Bergen Abbey
*1199 Hilda abbey (later ''Eldena'', erected by Danish monks from Esrom Abbey that had been in Dargun Abbey before)
*1231 Neuenkamp Abbey (erected by monks from Lower Saxon Altenkamp)
*1296 Hiddensee Abbey

The abbeys were granted vast lands, in part turned over from the former temple estates. Wittow had been Arkona's temple isle before the Danish conquest, and the other temples, e.g. in Charenza, also had rich possessions.

Towns were either built within a clearance or near an older Rani burgh and granted Lübeck law when grown to a respective size. The date Lübeck law was granted is given in the following list as it is usually seen as the town's anniversary, even if the town itself was projected and built earlier:

*1234 Stralsund
*1255 Barth
*1258 Damgarten
*1270 Rügenwalde
*1285 Grimmen

One exception is the town of Greifswald: While projected and built while within the Principality of Rügen, the area was claimed by the Griffin Duchy of Pomerania before it was granted market rights in 1241 by the Rugian and Pomeranian dukes in common and granted Lübeck law not by the Rugians, but by the Pomeranian duke alone.

The other exception is the town of Schadegast: Founded close to Stralsund, the town had to be levelled on behalf of the Stralsund burghers in 1269.

Military expeditions

After the 1168 Danish conquest, the Rugian dukes became a valuable ally to the Danes who participated in many Danish expeditions:

*1177 Rugian troops participate in Danish raids of Usedom, Wollin and the County of Gützkow
*1178 Rugian troops participate in a Danish raid of the terra Wusterhusen and Wolgast
*1184 Battle of the Bay of Greifswald: The Rugian navy encounters the Pomeranian navy on its way to conquer Rügen and entirely defeats it. This made way for the Danes to again loot Usedom and Wolgast.
*1185 Rugian troops participate in Danish raids of the Peene river estituary and Cammin
*1219 Rugian troops participate in Danish conquest of Estonia
*1259 Rugian troops raid Seeland aiding Christopher I of Denmark in a civil war with the archbishops of Lund, the Rugians sacked Copenhagen, raided Skane and Lolland
*1260 Rugian troops take Lilleborg fortress (Bornholm)

Territorial changes

In 1235, Wizlaw I gained half of the terra Wolgast, yet lost it to the Pomeranian dukes before 1250. Wizlaw II did not succeed in inheriting Schlawe-Stolp from his mother, but gained the terra Loitz in 1275

Princes of Rügen

Tetzlav (1168–1170)

In 1168 after the capture of the fortress and temple on Arkona and Charenza by Valdemar I of Denmark the Rügen princes finally had to pay feudal homage to the Danes. In addition to handing over the temple treasure to the Danes and transferring the estates owned by the temple to the Church, the Rügen princes were obliged to render knights' service in case of war, to pay annual taxes, to provide hostages and to adopt Christianity. Tetzlav (died 1170) who was described by Saxo Grammaticus in 1164 as king, was from then on titled the Prince of Rügen.

Jaromar I (1170–1218)

His brother and successor, Prince Jaromar I (died 1218), accepted Danish supremacy and promoted the adoption of Christianity. By 1169, the Pope had placed the island of Rügen within the bishopric of Roskilde. In 1178, the Bishopric of Schwerin, which was in Henry the Lion's domain and was involved in the Rügen campaign under Bishop Berno, was given responsibility for all the mainland territories of Rügen apart from Ryck. Donations of estates by the Pomeranian prince, Casimir I from the areas around Pütte and Barth to Dargun Abbey, founded in 1172 by Danish monks, show that, at that time, Pomerania extended well into Rügen's mainland territories through the region of Borgwallsee to Barth.

In 1177, Rügen troops supported military campaigns by the Danes to Wollin, Usedom and Gützkow, and, in 1178, to Wusterhusen and Wolgast Jaromar I resided from 1180 on the Rugard near Bergen. In 1182, when the Danish king, Knut VI, refused 1182 to pay feudal homage to the emperor Frederick Barbarossa, the Duke of Pomerania, Bogislaw I, is supposed to have contemplated forcing Knut VI to do so. But first he had to conquer Rügen. However, in 1184, the Pomeranian navy was defeated in the Bay of Greifswald

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