Reinbern (-1013/15) was the only bishop of the short-lived Diocese of Kołobrzeg (1000-~1007). Reinbern was born in the

Hassegau The Hassegau was a medieval shire ('' Gau'') in the Eastphalia region of the Duchy of Saxony. It was located in the duchy's southeastern corner; confined by the Saale river to the east and its Unstrut and Wipper tributaries to the south and north ...

area of the medieval

Duchy of Saxony The Duchy of Saxony ( nds, Hartogdom Sassen, german: Herzogtum Sachsen) was originally the area settled by the Saxons in the late Early Middle Ages, when they were subdued by Charlemagne during the Saxon Wars from 772 and incorporated into the C ...

.David Warner, ''Ottonian Germany: The Chronicon of Thietmar of Merseburg'', Manchester University Press, 2001, p.358, , When

Holy Roman Emperor The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans ( la, Imperator Romanorum, german: Kaiser der Römer) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period ( la, Imperat ...

Otto III Otto III (June/July 980 – 23 January 1002) was Holy Roman Emperor from 996 until his death in 1002. A member of the Ottonian dynasty, Otto III was the only son of the Emperor Otto II and his wife Theophanu. Otto III was crowned as King of ...

met with his friend, the Polish duke Boleslaw I in the

Congress of Gniezno The Congress of Gniezno ( pl, Zjazd gnieźnieński, german: Akt von Gnesen or ''Gnesener Übereinkunft'') was an amicable meeting between the Polish Duke Bolesław I the Brave and Emperor Otto III, which took place at Gniezno in Poland on 11 Ma ...

(Gnesen), the Archbishopric of Gniezno was founded. One of Gniezno's subordinated bishoprics was the Diocese of Kołobrzeg.,Michael Borgolte, Benjamin Scheller, ''Polen und Deutschland vor 1000 Jahren: Die Berliner Tagung über den"akt von Gnesen"'', Akademie Verlag, 2002, p.282, , Nora Berend, ''Christianization and the Rise of Christian Monarchy: Scandinavia, Central Europe and Rus' C. 900-1200'', Cambridge University Press, 2007, p.293, , Its purpose was to advance the

Christianization Christianization ( or Christianisation) is to make Christian; to imbue with Christian principles; to become Christian. It can apply to the conversion of an individual, a practice, a place or a whole society. It began in the Roman Empire, conti ...

of the pagan Pomeranians that shortly before had been subdued by the Poles. Reinbern was made bishop. It is documented that he "baptized" the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...

by spilling Holy Oil and

Holy Water Holy water is water that has been blessed by a member of the clergy or a religious figure, or derived from a well or spring considered holy. The use for cleansing prior to a baptism and spiritual cleansing is common in several religions, from ...

into the sea. He also demolished shrines of pagan gods in Pomerania.Michael Müller-Wille, ''Rom und Byzanz im Norden: Mission und Glaubenswechsel im Ostseeraum während des 8.-14. Jahrhunderts: internationale Fachkonferenz der deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft in Verbindung mit der Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur, Mainz: Kiel, 18.-25. 9. 1994'', 1997, p.105, , Yet, after his bishopric was driven out during a pagan uprising, he returned to Boleslaw's court. In 1009, he accompanied Boleslaw to the marriage arranged between Boleslaw's daughter and Sviatopolk,

prince of Turov The Prince of Turov was the ''kniaz'', the ruler or sub-ruler, of the Rus' Principality of Turov, a lordship based on the city of Turov, now Turaŭ in Homiel Voblast, Belarus. Although not mentioned in his ''Testament'' of 1054, the city of Tur ...

(Turaŭ) in the

Kievan Rus' Kievan Rusʹ, also known as Kyivan Rusʹ ( orv, , Rusĭ, or , , ; Old Norse: ''Garðaríki''), was a state in Eastern and Northern Europe from the late 9th to the mid-13th century.John Channon & Robert Hudson, ''Penguin Historical Atlas o ...

,A. P. Vlasto, ''Entry of Slavs Christendom'', CUP Archive, 1970, p. 275, where an internal Kievian crisis involving Boleslaw's daughter led to the arrest of Reinbern by

prince Vladimir Vladimir I Sviatoslavich or Volodymyr I Sviatoslavych ( orv, Володимѣръ Свѧтославичь, ''Volodiměrъ Svętoslavičь'';, ''Uladzimir'', russian: Владимир, ''Vladimir'', uk, Володимир, ''Volodymyr''. Se ...

. Soon afterwards, he died imprisoned in 1012.

References

History of Pomerania 11th-century Polish bishops {{EarlyChurch-bishop-stub