Mestwin II, Duke of Pomerania

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Mestwin II (Polish: Mściwój II or Mszczuj II; 1220 – December 25, 1294) was a Duke of Pomerelia from the Samborides dynasty from 1266-1294.

In 1227 Emperor Frederich II re-verified to the Brandenburg Margraves Johann I and his brother Otto III the overlordship over the Duchy of Pomerelia, which in the same year was given as lien to Swantopolk II, who received the title Herzog or duke.

Mestwin was the son of Swantopolk II of Pomerania, who had governed from 1220-1266. Upon his father's death Mestwin II, became Duke of Świecie (Schwetz) in 1266, and Gdańsk (Danzig) in 1271. He united all the lands of Pomerelia (after the death of his relatives, Sambor II, prince of Lubiszewo (Lübschau).

In the 1269 Treaty of Arnswalde, Brandenburg margraves had attained the overlordship over Mestwin's share of Pomerelia. Mestwin's brother Wratislaw II, duke of Gdańsk (Danzig), was chased out of his part duchy by Mestwin and his new ally immediately thereafter. Wartislaw found refuge in the Monastic state of the Teutonic Knights, where he died in 1271. The only remaining male relative of Mestwin, his uncle Sambor II, ruling the southern part of Pomerelia, was chased out alike and also found refuge in the knights' state, where he died in 1276. That way, Mestwin became the sole ruler of all of Pomerelia.

Having no male heirs, Pomerelia would have been inheritated by Brandenburg as a consequence of the Arnswalde treaty. Yet, Mestwin concluded the Treaty of Kępno in 1282. The treaty, confirmed by the estates of the duchy, made Duke Przemysł II his successor in all his possessions. The resulting tensions between Brandenburg and Poland led to the Teutonic takeover of Danzig in 1308.

[edit] References

• John Brown Mason, The Danzig Dilemma; a Study in Peacemaking by Compromise, 1946 [1]
• Theodor Hirsch, Max Töppen, Ernst Gottfried Wilhelm Strehlke: Scriptores rerum Prussicarum: Die Geschichtsquellen der preussischen Vorzeit, [2]
• Marian Gumowski: Handbuch der polnischen Siegelkunde, 1966 [3]