Swedish Pomerania (; ) was a

dominion A dominion was any of several largely self-governance, self-governing countries of the British Empire, once known collectively as the ''British Commonwealth of Nations''. Progressing from colonies, their degrees of self-governing colony, colon ...

under the

Swedish Crown The krona (; plural: ''kronor''; sign: kr; code: SEK) is the currency of Sweden. Both the ISO code "SEK" and currency sign "kr" are in common use for the krona; the former precedes or follows the value, the latter usually follows it but, especi ...

from 1630 to 1815 on what is now the

Baltic Baltic may refer to: Peoples and languages *Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian *Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originatin ...

coast of

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. Following the Polish War and the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine ...

, Sweden held extensive control over the lands on the southern Baltic coast, including

Pomerania Pomerania ( ; ; ; ) is a historical region on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea in Central Europe, split between Poland and Germany. The central and eastern part belongs to the West Pomeranian Voivodeship, West Pomeranian, Pomeranian Voivod ...

and parts of

Livonia Livonia, known in earlier records as Livland, is a historical region on the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea. It is named after the Livonians, who lived on the shores of present-day Latvia. By the end of the 13th century, the name was extende ...

and

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

(''

dominium maris baltici The establishment of a , . ("Baltic Sea dominion") was one of the primary political aims of the Kingdom of Denmark, Danish and Kingdom of Sweden, Swedish kingdoms in the Late Middle Ages, late medieval and Early Modern era, early modern eras. Th ...

''). Sweden, which had been present in Pomerania with a garrison at Stralsund since 1628, gained effective control of the

Duchy of Pomerania The Duchy of Pomerania (; ; Latin: ''Ducatus Pomeraniae'') was a duchy in Pomerania on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea, ruled by dukes of the House of Pomerania (''Griffins''). The country existed in the Middle Ages between years 1121–11 ...

with the Treaty of Stettin in 1630. At the

Peace of Westphalia The Peace of Westphalia (, ) is the collective name for two peace treaties signed in October 1648 in the Westphalian cities of Osnabrück and Münster. They ended the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) and brought peace to the Holy Roman Empire ...

in 1648 and the Treaty of Stettin in 1653, Sweden received

Western Pomerania Historical Western Pomerania, also called Cispomerania, Fore Pomerania, Front Pomerania or Hither Pomerania (; ), is the western extremity of the historic region of Pomerania, located mostly in north-eastern Germany, with a small portion in no ...

(German ''Vorpommern''), with the islands of

Rügen Rügen (; Rani: ''Rȯjana'', ''Rāna''; , ) is Germany's largest island. It is located off the Pomeranian coast in the Baltic Sea and belongs to the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The "gateway" to Rügen island is the Hanseatic ci ...

, Usedom, and Wolin, and a strip of

Farther Pomerania Farther Pomerania, Hinder Pomerania, Rear Pomerania or Eastern Pomerania (; ), is a subregion of the historic region of Pomerania in north-western Poland, mostly within the West Pomeranian Voivodeship, while its easternmost parts are within the Po ...

(''Hinterpommern''). The peace treaties were negotiated while the Swedish queen Christina was a minor, and the

Swedish Empire The Swedish Empire or the Great Power era () was the period in Swedish history spanning much of the 17th and early 18th centuries during which Sweden became a European great power that exercised territorial control over much of the Baltic regi ...

was governed by members of the high aristocracy. As a consequence, Pomerania was not annexed to Sweden like the French war gains, which would have meant abolition of

serfdom Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism and similar systems. It was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude with similarities to and differences from slavery. It developed du ...

, as the Pomeranian peasant and shepherd regulation of 1616 was practised there in its most severe form. Instead, it remained part of the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...

, making the Swedish rulers ''Reichsfürsten'' (imperial princes) and leaving the nobility in full charge of the rural areas and its inhabitants. While the Swedish Pomeranian nobles were subjected to reduction when the late 17th-century kings regained political power, the provisions of the peace of Westphalia continued to prevent the pursuit of the uniformity policy in Pomerania until the Holy Roman Empire was dissolved in 1806. In 1679, Sweden lost most of its Pomeranian possessions east of the

Oder The Oder ( ; Czech and ) is a river in Central Europe. It is Poland's second-longest river and third-longest within its borders after the Vistula and its largest tributary the Warta. The Oder rises in the Czech Republic and flows through wes ...

river in the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, and in 1720, Sweden lost its possessions south of the

Peene The Peene (; ) is a river in Germany. Geography The Westpeene, with the Ostpeene as its longer tributary, and the Kleine Peene/Teterower Peene (with a ''Peene '' without specification (or ''Nordpeene'') as its smaller and shorter affluent) f ...

and east of the Peenestrom rivers in the Treaty of Stockholm. These areas were ceded to Brandenburg-Prussia and were integrated into Brandenburgian Pomerania. Also in 1720, Sweden regained the remainder of its dominion in the

Treaty of Frederiksborg The Treaty of Frederiksborg () was a treaty signed at Frederiksborg Castle, Zealand, on 3 July 1720Heitz (1995), p.244 (14 July 1720 according to the Gregorian calendar), ending the Great Northern War between Denmark–Norway and Sweden. History ...

, which had been lost to

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

in 1715. In 1814, as a result of the

Napoleonic Wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...

, Swedish Pomerania was ceded to Denmark in exchange for

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

in the

Treaty of Kiel The Treaty of Kiel () or Peace of Kiel ( Swedish and or ') was concluded between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the Kingdom of Sweden on one side and the Kingdoms of Denmark and Norway on the other side on 14 January 1814 ...

, and in 1815, as a result of the

Congress of Vienna The Congress of Vienna of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon, Napol ...

, transferred to

. States and territories disestablished in 1815

Geography

The largest cities in Swedish Pomerania were

Stralsund Stralsund (; Swedish language, Swedish: ''Strålsund''), officially the Hanseatic League, Hanseatic City of Stralsund (German language, German: ''Hansestadt Stralsund''), is the fifth-largest city in the northeastern German federal state of Mecklen ...

Greifswald Greifswald (), officially the University and Hanseatic City of Greifswald (, Low German: ''Griepswoold'') is the fourth-largest city in the German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania after Rostock, Schwerin and Neubrandenburg. In 2021 it surpa ...

and, until 1720,

Stettin Szczecin ( , , ; ; ; or ) is the capital and largest city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland. Located near the Baltic Sea and the German border, it is a major seaport, the largest city of northwestern Poland, and se ...

(now Szczecin).

is today Germany's largest island.

Acquisition during the Thirty Years' War

Pomerania became involved in the

during the 1620s, and with the town of

under siege by imperial troops, its ruler Bogislaw XIV, Duke of Stettin, concluded a treaty with King

Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden Gustavus Adolphus (9 December ld Style and New Style dates, N.S 19 December15946 November ld Style and New Style dates, N.S 16 November1632), also known in English as Gustav II Adolf or Gustav II Adolph, was King of Sweden from 1611 t ...

in June 1628. On 10 July 1630, the treaty was extended into an 'eternal' pact in the Treaty of Stettin (1630). By the end of that year, the Swedes had completed the military occupation of Pomerania. After this point, Gustavus Adolphus was the effective ruler of the country, and even though the rights of succession to Pomerania, held by George William, Elector of Brandenburg due to the Treaty of Grimnitz, were recognised, the Swedish king still demanded that the

Margraviate of Brandenburg The Margraviate of Brandenburg () was a major principality of the Holy Roman Empire from 1157 to 1806 that, having electoral status although being quite poor, grew rapidly in importance after inheriting the Duchy of Prussia in 1618 and then came ...

break with Emperor Ferdinand II. In 1634,

the Estates The Estates, also known as the States (, , , Hungarian: Rendek), was the assembly of the representatives of the estates of the realm, the divisions of society in feudal times, called together for purposes of deliberation, legislation or taxatio ...

of Pomerania assigned the interim government to an eight-member directorate, which lasted until Brandenburg ordered the directorate disbanded in 1638 by right of Imperial investiture. Swedish Pomerania

As a consequence, Pomerania lapsed into a state of anarchy, thereby forcing the Swedes to act. From 1641, the administration was led by a council ("Concilium status") from Stettin (Szczecin), until the peace treaty in 1648 settled rights to the province in Swedish favour. At the peace negotiations in

Osnabrück Osnabrück (; ; archaic English: ''Osnaburg'') is a city in Lower Saxony in western Germany. It is situated on the river Hase in a valley penned between the Wiehen Hills and the northern tip of the Teutoburg Forest. With a population of 168 ...

, Brandenburg-Prussia received

(''Hinterpommern''), the part of the former

east of the

River except Stettin. A strip of land east of the

Oder River The Oder ( ; Czech and ) is a river in Central Europe. It is Poland's second-longest river and third-longest within its borders after the Vistula and its largest tributary the Warta. The Oder rises in the Czech Republic and flows through west ...

containing the districts of Damm and Gollnow and the island of Wolin and

(''Vorpommern'') with the islands of

and Usedom, was ceded to the Swedes as a

fief A fief (; ) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form of feudal alle ...

from Emperor Ferdinand III. The recess of Stettin in 1653 settled the border with Brandenburg in a manner favourable to Sweden. The border against

Mecklenburg Mecklenburg (; ) is a historical region in northern Germany comprising the western and larger part of the federal-state Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The largest cities of the region are Rostock, Schwerin, Neubrandenburg, Wismar and Güstrow. ...

, along the Trebel and the Recknitz, followed a settlement of 1591.

Constitution and administration

The

nobility Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally appointed by and ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. T ...

of Pomerania was firmly established and held extensive privileges, as opposed to the other end of the social spectrum, which was populated by a class of numerous

serfs Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism and similar systems. It was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude with similarities to and differences from slavery. It developed dur ...

. Even by the end of the 18th century, the serfs made up two-thirds of the population of the countryside. The estates owned by the nobility were divided into districts and the royal domains, which covered about a quarter of the country, were divided into ''amts''. One fourth of the "knightly" estates (''Rittergut'') in Swedish Pomerania were held by Swedish nobles. The ducal estates (''Domäne''), initially distributed among Swedish nobles (two thirds) and officials, became in 1654 administered by the former Swedish queen Christina. Swedish and Pomeranian nobility intermarried and became ethnically indistinguishable in the course of the 18th century. The position of Pomerania in the Swedish Realm came to depend on the talks that were opened between the Estates of Pomerania and the

Government of Sweden The Government of the Kingdom of Sweden () is the Cabinet (government), national cabinet of Sweden, and the country's Executive (government), executive authority. The Government consists of the Prime Minister of Sweden, Prime Minister and their ...

. The talks showed few results until the

Instrument of Government The Instrument of Government was the first constitution of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland and was also the first codified and written constitution in England. It was drafted by Major-General John Lambert in 1653. Anteced ...

of 17 July 1663 (promulgated by the recess of 10 April 1669) could be presented, and only in 1664 did the Pomeranian Estates salute the Swedish Monarch as their new ruler. The Royal Government of Pomerania (''die königliche Landesregierung'') was composed of the

Governor-General Governor-general (plural governors-general), or governor general (plural governors general), is the title of an official, most prominently associated with the British Empire. In the context of the governors-general and former British colonies, ...

, who always was a Swedish Privy Councillor, as chairman and five Councillors of the Royal Government, among them the President of the Appellate Court, the Chancellor and the Castle Captain of Stettin, over inspector of the Royal Amts. When circumstances demanded,

the estates The Estates, also known as the States (, , , Hungarian: Rendek), was the assembly of the representatives of the estates of the realm, the divisions of society in feudal times, called together for purposes of deliberation, legislation or taxatio ...

, nobility, burgesses, and — until the 1690s — the clergy could be summoned for meetings of a local parliament called the ''

Landtag A ''Landtag'' (State Diet) is generally the legislative assembly or parliament of a federated state or other subnational self-governing entity in German-speaking nations. It is usually a unicameral assembly exercising legislative competence ...

''. The nobility was represented by one deputy per district, and these deputies were in turn mandated by their respective district convents of nobles. The estate of the burgesses consisted of one deputy per politically franchised city, particularly Stralsund. The ''Landtag'' were presided over by a marshal (''Erb-landmarschall''). A third element of the meeting of the Estates were the five, initially ten, ''Landtag'' councillors who were appointed by the Royal Government of Pomerania following their nomination by the Estates. The Landtag councillors formed the ''Land Council'', which mediated with the Swedish Government and oversaw the constitution. The Estates, which had exercised great authority under the Pomeranian dukes, were unable to exert any significant influence on Sweden, even though the Constitution of 1663 had provided them with a veto in as far as Pomerania was affected. Their rights of petition were however not limited, and by the privileges of King

Frederick I of Sweden Frederick I (; 28 April 1676 – 5 April 1751) was List of Swedish monarchs, King of Sweden from 1720 until his death, having been prince consort of Sweden from 1718 to 1720, and was also Landgrave of Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel, Hesse-Kassel fr ...

in 1720 they also had an explicit right to participate in legislation and taxation. The towns of

and

Anklam Anklam (), formerly known as Tanglim and Wendenburg, is a town in the Western Pomerania region of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in north-eastern Germany. It is situated on the banks of the Peene river, just 8 km from its mouth in the , the western ...

were granted autonomous jurisdiction.Werner Buchholz, Pommern, Siedler, 1999, p.253,

Legal system

The legal system in Pomerania had been in a state of great confusion, owing to the lack of a consistent legislation or even the most basic collection of laws; instead it consisted of a disparate collection of legal principles. The Swedish rule brought, if nothing else, at least the rule of law into the court system. Starting in 1655, cases could be appealed from the first instance courts to the appellate court in

(located in Wolgast from 1665 to 1680), where sentences were issued under the appellate law of 1672, a work conducted by David Mevius. Cases under

canon law Canon law (from , , a 'straight measuring rod, ruler') is a set of ordinances and regulations made by ecclesiastical jurisdiction, ecclesiastical authority (church leadership) for the government of a Christian organization or church and its membe ...

were directed to a consistorium in Greifswald. From the appellate court cases could be appealed to the supreme court for the Swedish dominions in Germany, the High Tribunal in Wismar, which had opened in 1653.

Second Northern and Scanian Wars

From 1657 to 1659 during the

Second Northern War The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of ...

, Polish, Austrian, and Brandenburger troops ravaged the country. The territory was occupied by

and Brandenburg from 1675 to 1679 during the

Scanian War The Scanian War (; ; ; ) was a part of the Northern Wars involving the union of Denmark–Norway, Electorate of Brandenburg, Brandenburg and Swedish Empire, Sweden. It was fought from 1675 to 1679 mainly on Scanian soil, in the former Danish ...

, whereby Denmark claimed Rügen and Brandenburg the rest of Pomerania. Both campaigns were in vain for the winners when Swedish Pomerania was restored to Sweden in the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye in 1679, except for Gollnow and the strip of land on the east side of the Oder, which were held by Brandenburg as a pawn in exchange for reparations, until these were paid in 1693. Because Pomerania had been hit hard by the Thirty Years' War already and found it hard to recover during the following years, the Swedish government in 1669 and 1689 issued decrees (''Freiheitspatente'') freeing anyone of taxes who built or rebuilt a house. These decrees were in force, though frequently modified, until 1824.

Territorial changes during the Great Northern War

The first years of the

Great Northern War In the Great Northern War (1700–1721) a coalition led by the Tsardom of Russia successfully contested the supremacy of the Swedish Empire in Northern Europe, Northern, Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe. The initial leaders of the ant ...

did not affect Pomerania. Even when Danish, Russian, and Polish forces had crossed the borders in 1714, the

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (, ) was a German state that existed from 1701 to 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Rev. ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1946. It played a signif ...

first appeared as a hesitant mediator before turning into an aggressor. King

Charles XII of Sweden Charles XII, sometimes Carl XII () or Carolus Rex (17 June 1682 – 30 November 1718 Old Style and New Style dates, O.S.), was King of Sweden from 1697 to 1718. He belonged to the House of Palatinate-Zweibrücken, a branch line of the House of ...

in the Battle of Stralsund led the defence of Pomerania for an entire year, November 1714 to December 1715, before fleeing to

Lund Lund (, ;"Lund"
(US) and ) is a city in the provinces of Sweden, province of Scania, southern Swed ...

. The Danes seized Rügen and

north of the

River (the former Danish Principality of Rugia that later would become known as New Western Pomerania or ''Neuvorpommern''), while the Western Pomeranian areas south of the river (later termed Old Western Pomerania or ''Altvorpommern'') were taken by Prussia. Beginning in April 1716 Danish Pomerania was governed by a governmental commission seated in

, consisting of five members. In contrast to the Swedish administration, the commission exerted both judiciary and executive power. Denmark thereby drew from the experiences in Danish-occupied

Bremen-Verden Bremen-Verden, formally the Duchies of Bremen and Verden (; ), were two territories and immediate fiefs of the Holy Roman Empire, which emerged and gained imperial immediacy in 1180. By their original constitution they were prince-bishoprics of th ...

(1712–1715), the setting of the Danish chancellery, and the contemporary Danish absolutism under king Frederik IV of Denmark-Norway. The commission consisted of landdrost von Platen, later von Kötzschau, counsellors Heinrich Bernhard von Kämpferbeck, J. B. Hohenmühle and Peter von Thienen, and chancellor secretary August J. von John. In 1720, von Kämpferbeck died and was replaced by Andreas Boye. By the

, 3 June 1720, Denmark was obliged to hand back control over the occupied territory to Sweden, but in the Treaty of Stockholm, on 21 January the same year, Prussia had been allowed to retain its conquest, including Stettin. By this, Sweden ceded the parts east of the

River that had been won in 1648 as well as Western Pomerania south of the Peene and the islands of Wolin and Usedom to Brandenburg-Prussia. Denmark returned its Pomeranian territories to Swedish administration on 17 January 1721. The administrative records from the Danish period were transferred to

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

and are available at the

Danish National Archives The Danish National Archives () is the national archive system of Denmark. Its primary purpose is to collect, preserve and archive historically valuable records from central authorities, such as ministries, agencies and national organisations and ...

(rigsarkivet).

Seven Years' War

A feeble Swedish attempt to regain the lost territories in the Pomeranian campaigns of the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War, 1756 to 1763, was a Great Power conflict fought primarily in Europe, with significant subsidiary campaigns in North America and South Asia. The protagonists were Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of Prus ...

(1757–1762, " Pomeranian War") failed. Swedish troops struggled to co-ordinate with their French and Russian allies, and what had begun as a Swedish invasion of Prussian Pomerania soon led to the Prussians occupying much of Swedish Pomerania and threatening Stralsund. When Russia made peace with Prussia in 1762, Sweden also dropped out of the war with a return to the

status quo ante bellum The term is a Latin phrase meaning 'the situation as it existed before the war'. The term was originally used in treaties to refer to the withdrawal of enemy troops and the restoration of prewar leadership. When used as such, it means that no ...

. Sweden's disappointing performance in the war further hurt its international prestige.

Integration in the eleventh hour

By royal proclamation on 26 June 1806, the Constitution of Pomerania was declared to have been suspended and abolished. The Swedish Instruments of Government of 1772, the Act of Union and Security of 1789, and the Law of 1734 were declared to have taken precedence and were to be implemented following 1 September 1808. The reason for perpetrating this royally sanctioned

coup d'état A coup d'état (; ; ), or simply a coup , is typically an illegal and overt attempt by a military organization or other government elites to unseat an incumbent leadership. A self-coup is said to take place when a leader, having come to powe ...

was that the estates, despite a royal prohibition, had taken to the courts to appeal against royal statutes, specifically the statute of 30 April 1806 regarding the raising of a Pomeranian army. In the new order, King

Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden Gustav IV Adolf or Gustav IV Adolph (1 November 1778 – 7 February 1837) was List of Swedish monarchs, King of Sweden from 1792 until he Coup of 1809, was deposed in a coup in 1809. He was also the last Swedish monarch to be the ruler of Fin ...

attempted to introduce a government divided into departments. Swedish church law was introduced. The country was divided into four hundreds ('' Härad'') containing parishes (''

Socken Socken ( or ) is the name used for a part of a counties of Sweden, county in Sweden. In Denmark, similar areas are known as , in Norway or and in Finland or . A is a rural area formed around a church, typically in the Middle Ages. A socken ...

'') complying with the Swedish model of administration. The Estates of Pomerania could only be called regarding questions that specifically concerned Pomerania and Rügen. The new order of the Landtag was modelled on the Swedish

Riksdag of the Estates Riksdag of the Estates (; informally ) was the name used for the Estates of Sweden when they were assembled. Until its dissolution in 1866, the institution was the highest authority in Sweden next to the King. It was a Diet made up of the Fou ...

and a meeting according to the new order also took place in August 1806, which declared its loyalty to the king and hailed him as their ruler. In the wake of this revolution, a number of social reforms were implemented and planned; the most important was the abolishment of serfdom by a royal statute on 4 July 1806. Also in 1806,

started constructing another major port city in Pomerania, Gustavia. Yet already in 1807, French forces occupied the site.

Loss during the Napoleonic Wars

The entry into the Third Coalition in 1805, in which Sweden unsuccessfully fought its first war against Napoleon, subsequently led to the occupation of Swedish Pomerania by French troops, beginning in 1807. Under the Treaty of Paris, signed in 1810, the territory was returned to Sweden. In 1812, when French troops yet again marched into Pomerania, the

Swedish Army The Swedish Army () is the army, land force of the Swedish Armed Forces of the Kingdom of Sweden. Beginning with its service in 1521, the Swedish Army has been active for more than 500 years. History Svea Life Guards dates back to the year 1 ...

joined the Sixth Coalition and assisted against Napoleon in the

Battle of Leipzig The Battle of Leipzig, also known as the Battle of the Nations, was fought from 16 to 19 October 1813 at Leipzig, Saxony. The Coalition armies of Austria, Prussia, Sweden, and Russia, led by Tsar Alexander I, Karl von Schwarzenberg, and G ...

in 1813, together with troops from Russia, Prussia, and Austria. Sweden also attacked

and, by the

on 14 January 1814, Sweden ceded Pomerania to Denmark in exchange for

. The fate of Swedish Pomerania was settled during the

through the treaties between Prussia and Denmark on 4 June and with Sweden on 7 June 1815. In this manoeuvre Prussia gained Swedish Pomerania in exchange for

Saxe-Lauenburg The Duchy of Saxe-Lauenburg (, ), was a ''reichsfrei'' duchy that existed from 1296 to 1803 and again from 1814 to 1876 in the extreme southeast region of what is now Schleswig-Holstein. Its territorial centre was in the modern district of Herz ...

, becoming Danish, with Prussia having bartered previously Hanoverian Saxe-Lauenburg only 14 years earlier in exchange for

East Frisia East Frisia () or East Friesland (; ; ; ) is a historic region in the northwest of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is primarily located on the western half of the East Frisia (peninsula), East Frisian peninsula, to the east of West Frisia and to the ...

ceded to

Hanover Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...

again. Denmark also received 2.6 million

Thaler A thaler or taler ( ; , previously spelled ) is one of the large silver coins minted in the states and territories of the Holy Roman Empire and the Habsburg monarchy during the Early Modern period. A ''thaler'' size silver coin has a diameter o ...

s from Prussia. 3.5 million Thalers were awarded to Sweden in war damages. "Swedish Pomerania" was incorporated into Prussia as New Western Pomerania (''Neuvorpommern'') within the Prussian Province of Pomerania.

Population

The population of Swedish Pomerania was 82,827 in 1764, (58,682 rural, 24,145 urban; 40% of the rural population were ''leibeigen''

serf Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism and similar systems. It was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude with similarities to and differences from slavery. It developed du ...

s);Jan M Piskorski, Pommern im Wandel der Zeiten, 1999, p.191, 89,000 in 1766, 113,000 in 1802, with about a quarter living on the island of Rügen, and had reached 118,112 in 1805 (79,087 rural, 39,025 urban; 46,190 of the rural population were ''leibeigen''

s).

List of governors-general

Source:

Notable people

Anton Graff Johann Joachim Spalding 1800

* Johann Franz Buddeus (1667–1729) a German Lutheran theologian and philosopher; born at Anklam * Johann Philipp Palthen (1672–1710) a Western Pomeranian historian and philologist; born in Wolgast *

Philip Johan von Strahlenberg Philip Johan von Strahlenberg (1676–1747) was a Swedish Officer (armed forces), officer and geographer of German origin who made important contributions to the cartography of Russia. Life Strahlenberg was born in Stralsund, which then belonged ...

(1676–1747) a Swedish officer and geographer, contributed to the cartography of Russia; born in Stralsund, * Johann Joachim Spalding (1714–1804) a German Protestant theologian and philosopher of Scottish ancestry; a native of Tribsees * Aaron Isaac (1730–1817) a Jewish seal engraver and merchant in haberdashery; came from Pommery * Balthasar Anton Dunker (1746–1807) a German landscape painter and etcher, born at Saal, near Stralsund. *

Carl Wilhelm Scheele Carl Wilhelm Scheele (, ; 9 December 1742 – 21 May 1786) was a Swedish Pomerania, German-Swedish pharmaceutical chemist. Scheele discovered oxygen (although Joseph Priestley published his findings first), and identified the elements molybd ...

(1742–1786) a Swedish Pomeranian and German pharmaceutical chemist; born in Stralsund * Christian Ehrenfried Weigel (1748–1831) a German scientist, professor of Chemistry, Pharmacy, Botany, and Mineralogy at the University of Greifswald; born in Stralsund, died in Griefswald * Thomas Thorild (1759–1808) a Swedish poet, critic, feminist and philosopher; died at Greifswald * Ernst Moritz Arndt (1769–1860) a German nationalist historian, writer and poet; born at Gross Schoritz, now a part of Garz on the island of Rügen *

Caspar David Friedrich Caspar David Friedrich (; 5 September 1774 – 7 May 1840) was a German Romanticism, German Romantic Landscape painting, landscape painter, generally considered the most important German artist of his generation, whose often symbolic, and anti ...

(1774–1840) a German Romantic landscape painter; born in Greifswald * Philipp Otto Runge (1777–1810) a Romantic German painter and draughtsman; born in Wolgast * Johann Gottfried Ludwig Kosegarten (1792–1860) a German orientalist born in Altenkirchen on the island of Rugen, died in Greifswald * Georg Friedrich Schömann (1793–1879) a German classical scholar of Swedish heritage; born in Stralsund * Arnold Ruge (1802–1880) German philosopher and political writer; born in Bergen auf Rügen * Johann Karl Rodbertus (1805–1875) a German economist and socialist of the scientific or conservative school; came from Greifswald * Adolf Friedrich Stenzler (1807–1887) a German Indologist; born in Wolgast * Joachim Daniel Andreas Müller (1812–1857) a Swedish gardener and writer; born in Stralsund *

Max von Sydow Max von Sydow (; born Carl Adolf von Sydow; 10 April 1929 – 8 March 2020) was a Swedish and French actor. He had a 70-year career in European and American cinema, television, and theatre, appearing in more than 150 films and several television ...

(1929–2020) a Swedish Actor of Pomeranian lineage

Nobility

* Count Carl Gustav Rehnskiöld (1651–1722) a Swedish Field Marshal; born in Stralsund * Christof Beetz (1670–1746 in Stralsund) Platz-Major and Stabs-Major of the military garrison in Stralsund * Kurt Christoph, Graf von Schwerin (1684–1757) a Prussian Generalfeldmarschall; born in Löwitz * Georg Detlev von Flemming (1699–1771) a General in Polish-Saxon service; was born in Iven * Gustaf David Hamilton (1699–1788) a Swedish count and soldier; commander of Swedish Pommeranian forces during the Seven Years' War * Hans Karl von Winterfeldt (1707–1757) a Prussian general; born at Vanselow Castle, now in Siedenbrünzow *

John Mackenzie, Lord MacLeod John Mackenzie, Lord MacLeod (17272 April 1789) was a Scottish Jacobite politician and soldier of fortune. Life Born at Castle Leod near Strathpeffer, Scotland, he was the eldest son of George Mackenzie, 3rd Earl of Cromartie and Isabel Gor ...

(1727–1789) a Scottish Jacobite, soldier of fortune and mercenary * Curt Bogislaus Ludvig Kristoffer von Stedingk (1746–1837) a Swedish army officer and diplomat * Bernhard Ditlef von Staffeldt (1753–1818) officer, born in Kenz * Count Baltzar Bogislaus von Platen (1766–1829) a Swedish naval officer and statesman; born on the island of Rügen * Friedrich August von Klinkowström (1778–1835) a German artist, author and teacher from an old Pomeranian noble family; born in Ludwigsburg * Wilhelm Malte I, Prince of Putbus (1783–1854) a German prince, acted as a Swedish governor in Swedish Pomerania; born in Putbus, Rügen

References

Footnotes

Sources

* Andreas Önnerfors: ''Svenska Pommern: kulturmöten och identifikation 1720-1815''. Lund, 2003
Dissertation written in Swedish available as a PDF file

External links

Foundation for the Swedish Cultural Heritage in Pomerania
* at NapoleonSeries.org

at NapoleonSeries.org

at library.ucla.edu {{coord, 54, 05, N, 13, 23, E, type:country_source:kolossus-cawiki, display=title 1630 establishments in Europe 1815 disestablishments in Europe States and territories established in 1630

Pomerania Former states and territories of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania States of the Holy Roman Empire 1630 establishments in the Holy Roman Empire