Swietopelk II, Duke of Pomerania

Seal of Zwantepolc de Danceke, 1228

Statue in a park in Oliwa

Signet ring

Swietopelk II, also Zwantepolc II or Swantopolk II, (1190/1200 – January 11, 1266), sometimes known as the Great (Polish: Świętopełk II Wielki; Kashubian: Swiãtopôłk II Wiôldżi), was Duke of Pomerelia-Gdańsk from 1215 until his death. He was a son of Mestwin I and a member of the Samborides.

Names

The duke is known under many spellings (Swantepolk, Swantipolk, Svatopluk, Swietopelk, Swatopolk, Sviatopolk, Światopełek, Świętopełk), of which Domin(us) Zwantepolc(us) D(ux) Danceke and Svantopelc Ducis Pomeranie were used on seals.

Biography

In 1216 or 1217 Swietopelk was made a steward over Pomerelia or Eastern Pomerania by Leszek the White of Kraków. He was responsible for Gdańsk castle territory, the largest of the four portions of Pomerelia. In 1218, Swietopelk took advantage a revolt of local knights against Danish rule to acquire Słupsk and Sławno. After his brother Warcislaw died without heirs, Swietopelk took over his Lubiszewo Tczewskie.

Swietopelk's brothers Sambor and Racibor were still young, so he acted as their guardian. As they came of age, the brothers received their share of inheritance: Sambor received Lubiszewo Tczewskie and Racibor received Białogard.

Swietopelk promised Władysław Odonic the throne of Kraków and Silesia in exchange for his support in the ousting of Leszek and Henry I the Bearded of Lower Silesia^{[citation needed]}. On November 23, 1227, on the occasion of an assembly of Piast dukes in Gąsawa, Leszek was killed in an ambush set by Swietopelk II and Władysław, while Henry was severely wounded.

Swietopelk had freed himself of Danish and Polish overlordship.^{[citation needed]} In that year he assumed the title of Duke of Pomerania, with Emperor Frederick II verifying the sovereignty of the Brandenburg margraves John I and his brother Otto III over the Duchy of Pomerelia. Brandenburg already held and continued to hold sovereignty, still reflected in the red Brandenburg eagle of many city arms founded during that time.^{[citation needed]}

In 1238 Swietopelk conquered the Duchy of Sławno, whose territories connected Pomerania to Gdańsk, Nakło, and Bydgoszcz. This guaranteed war with Kujavia. The brothers, over whom Swantopolk was supposed to govern for twenty years, refused to support their overlord after twelve years, and the conflict escalated into a civil war. Sambor and Racibor were driven out from their lands and sought refuge and alliance first with Piast relatives in Greater Poland, later with the Teutonic Knights, a Christian military order waging a crusade against pagan Prussians. There were also economic tensions between the Knights and Swantopolk. This resulted in an alliance with the heathen Prussians. Swantopolk played a key role in the First Prussian Uprising, which started in 1242 after the Teutonic Knights lost the Battle of the Ice.

The alliance between the pagan Prussians and the Christian Swietopelk against a religious order supported by the pope was unexpected. Swietopelk was previously known as a supporter of the Roman Catholic Church and Christian causes. Eventually, the uprising did not succeed and a peace treaty, mediated by a papal legate, was signed on November 24, 1248. Swietopelk had to return lands seized from his brothers, allow Teutonic Knights to pass through his domains, stop charging tolls on ships using the Vistula, and stop any aid to the Prussians. He kept his word and did not assist the Prussians during their Great Uprising (1260–1274).

After governing since 1220 for 46 years, Swietopelk died in 1266, with his sons Mestwin II and Wratislaw II inheriting his lands. In 1269 Brandenburg received the right to grant Pomerelia as a lien.

Family

Marriages

• 1217/1218 Eufrozyna, daughter of Odon, duke of Greater Poland (she was his sister´s sister in law and half-cousin throw Miezsko III)
• before 1252 (?) Ermenegarda of Mecklenburg

Children

• Mestwin II, duke of Świecie (Schwetz) and later Gdańsk (Danzig)
• Wratislaw II, duke of Gdańsk (not Wratislav II of Bohemia, as original link on this page)
• Eufemia, married to Jaromir II, duke of Rugia
• Zwinisława, married to Dobiesław, son of Sad, lord of Tega and Otorów near Wyszogród
• John
• unknown daughter, married to Count von Kevenberg

References

Specific

General

• Urban, William (2000). The Prussian Crusade (2nd ed.). Chicago, Illinois: Lithuanian Research and Studies Center. pp. 185–189. ISBN 0-929700-28-7. 
• Brown Mason, John (1946). The Danzig Dilemma: a Study in Peacemaking by Compromise. Oxford University Press. http://books.google.com/books?id=njEYAAAAIAAJ&dq=Swantopolk+%2Bpomerania&q=Swantopolk&pgis=1#search. 
• (German) Hirsch, Theodor; Max Töppen, Ernst Strehlke (1861). Scriptores Rerum Prussicarum: Die Geschichtsquellen der preussischen Vorzeit. S. Hirzel. pp. 797, 807. http://books.google.com/books?id=YX8OAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA807&dq=Swantopolk+%2Bpomerania#PPA809,M1. 
• http://genealogics.org/getperson.php?personID=I00164520&tree=LEO