The International Context of the Recovery of Lands Round Sławno by Mściwój II in 1283 and the Conclusion of the Brandenburg­­­‑Greater Polish Alliance

Abstract

Taking advantage of the war between the Margraves of Brandenburg and representatives of the federation of Rostock (1283–1284), in the spring­­­‑summer of 1283, Mściwój II, in collusion with Duke Przemysł II of Greater Poland, took the lands around Sławno from the Margraves of Brandenburg. Before the end of 1283, the Brandenburg House of Ascania/Anhalt, being embroiled in in a war in north Germany and in Pomerania, could not respond militarily. In December 1283, Ludgarda of Mecklenburg, the wife of Przemysł II, died in mysterious circumstances. Since just before her death the Duke turned from his policy up to then and entered into an alliance with his previous enemies the Margraves of Brandenburg (fighting in 1283–1284 with, among others, the mother, brothers, and other relatives of his dead wife), it appears that the matter of Ludgarda’s death and Przemysł political turn­­­‑about are linked. In initial peace negotiations in Vierraden (13 August 1284), Przemysł II was counted among the supporters of the Margraves of Brandenburg. Despite an agreement that was supposed to bring an end to the war with Pomerania and Rugia/Rügen and with the other members of the federation of Rostock (including the lords of Sławno and relatives of Ludgarda), the Duke was in need of a marriage­­­‑alliance that would strengthen his position in relation to the abandoned Pomeranian­­­‑Mecklenburg affiliation. It was to the Brandenburg Margraves’ Scandinavian contacts (important in the context of further relations of the House of Ascania/Anhalt with the trading cities of Połabie and Pomerania) that Przemysł II thanked the opportunity to balance the political influence of Ludgarda’s relatives and to enter into a marriage with Ryska, the daughter of Waldemar Birgersson and the ward of Magnus Birgersson Ladulås. This union also strengthened the Scandinavian influence of the Margraves. The Greater Poland-Brandenburg alliance determined the fact that for at least some time the House of Ascania/Anhalt gave up any attempt to recover the lands around Sławno.