Pomerelia
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Pomerelia (German: Pommerellen) is a historical region in northern Poland. Pomerelia was situated in eastern Pomerania on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea, centered on the city of Gdańsk at the mouth of the Vistula. It is now located in the Polish geographic region of Gdańsk Pomerania.
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[edit] Early history
The territory is situated entirely in the eastern part of what Greek and Roman historians called "Magna Germania", a cultural rather than ethnographic concept. When the territory began to be called Pomerania in the 11th century, Pomerelia, along with the rest of Pomerania was inhabited by West Slavic tribes and was under the rule of Duchy of Polans.
[edit] Duchy of Pomerelia
In 1136, following the death of Duke Bolesław III, Poland was fragmented into several semi-independent principalities. Governors in Pomerelia gradually gained more power, evolving into semi-independent dukes, in contrast with other Polish territories that were governed by Piast descendants of Bolesław III. Gdańsk (Danzig) was the capital of an entire dynasty of the Dukes of Pomerania, the most famous being Mściwój I (1207–1220), Świętopełk II (1215–1266), and Mściwój II (1271–1294).
Polish dukes regained suzerainty later in the 12th century, while Christianity was introduced by Emperor Lothar and Otto von Bamberg. In 1181 Pomerania came under the direct control of the Holy Roman Empire. It was under Danish suzerainty from 1210-1227, after which it became independent again.
[edit] End of independence
After the death of Mściwój II in 1294, his co-ruler Przemysł II of Poland claimed Pomerelia basing it on the treaty of Kępno from 1282 (in which Mestwin declared Przemysł II his sole successor).
Disputing this claim, the Margraviate of Brandenburg invaded the territory in 1308, leading Władysław I the Elbow-high to request assistance from the Teutonic Knights, which evicted the Brandenburgers. After Władysław refused to pay the substantial fee to the Teutonic Knights, the province was annexed and incorporated in into the monastic state of the Teutonic Knights in 1309 (Teutonic takeover of Danzig). After the Second Peace of Toruń in 1466, parts of the region became part of the Polish province of Royal Prussia.
As part of Polish province of Royal Prussia, Pomerelia was annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia during the 18th century Partitions of Poland, becoming part of the Province of West Prussia. After World War I (1914-1918), the Treaty of Versailles transferred most of the region from Weimar Republic to the new Second Polish Republic, as the so-called Polish Corridor.
[edit] Population
Some of the minority indigenous population of Pomerelia are the West Slavic Kashubians, the Kociewiacy, and the Borowiacy.
[edit] See also
- Gdańsk Pomerania
- History of Pomerania
- History of Gdańsk
- Eastern Pomerania
- Dukes of Pomerania
- Royal Prussia
- West Prussia
- Pomeranian Voivodeship
[edit] External links
- Map of Pomerelia included in Prussia, ca. 1600de:Pomerellen
it:Pomerelia pt:Pomerélia
