page_title: Pomerania during the High Middle Ages
section_title: Conversion of Pomerania
hierarchical_section_title: Pomerania during the High Middle Ages / Conversion of Pomerania
caption_attribution_description: Mapa Polski za panowania Bolesława III Krzywoustego (1102 - 1138)
context_page_description: Pomerania during the High Middle Ages covers the history of Pomerania in the 12th and 13th centuries.
  The early 12th century Obodrite, Polish, Saxon, and Danish conquests resulted in vassalage and Christianization of the formerly pagan and independent Pomeranian tribes. Local dynasties ruled the Principality of Rügen, the Duchy of Pomerania, the Lands of Schlawe and Stolp, and the duchies in Pomerelia.
  The dukes of Pomerania expanded their realm into Circipania and Uckermark to the southwest, and competed with the Kingdom of Poland and the Margraviate of Brandenburg for territory and formal overlordship over their duchies. Pomerania-Demmin lost most of its territory and was integrated into Pomerania-Stettin in the mid-13th century. When the Ratiborides died out in 1223, competition arose for the Lands of Schlawe and Stolp, which changed hands numerous times.
  Starting in the High Middle Ages, a large influx of German settlers and the introduction of German law, custom, and Low German language began the process of Germanisation.
context_section_description: The first attempt to convert the Pomeranians to Christianity following the acquisition of Pomerania by Boleslaw III of Poland was made in  1122. The Spanish monk Bernard (also Bernhard) travelled to Jumne (Wolin), accompanied only by his chaplain and an interpreter. The Pomeranians however were not impressed by his missionary efforts and finally threw him out of town. Bernard was later made bishop of Lebus.
  After Bernard's misfortune, Boleslaw III asked Otto of Bamberg to convert Pomerania to Christianity, which he accomplished in his first visit in 1124/25. Otto's strategy severely differed from the one Bernard used: While Bernard travelled alone and as a poor and unknown priest, Otto, a wealthy and famous man, was accompanied by 20 clergy of his own diocese, numerous servants, 60 warriors supplied to him by Boleslaw, and carried with him numerous supplies and gifts. After arriving in Pyritz (Pyrzyce), the Pomeranians were assured that Otto's aim was not the gain of wealth at the expense of the Pomeranian people, as he was wealthy already, but only to convert them to Christianity, which would protect the Pomeranians from further punishment by God, as which the devastating Polish conquest was depicted. This approach turned out to be successful, and was backed by parts of the Pomeranian nobility that in part was Christian raised already, like duke Wartislaw, who encouraged and promoted Otto's mission. Many Pomeranians were baptized already in Pyritz and also in the other burghs visited.
  At this first mission, Otto founded at least eleven churches, two of those each in Szczecin and Wolin.
  Otto of Bamberg returned in 1128, this time invited by duke Wartislaw himself, aided by the emperor Holy Roman Emperor Lothair III, to convert the Slavs of Western Pomerania just incorporated into the Pomeranian duchy, and to strengthen the Christian faith of the inhabitants of Szczecin and Wolin, who fell back into heathen practices and idolatry. Otto this time visited primarily Western Pomeranian burghs, had the temples of Gützkow and Wolgast torn down and on their sites erected the predecessors of today's St Nikolai and St Petri churches, respectively, before turning to Kamień Pomorski, Wolin and Szczecin. The nobility assembled to a congress in Usedom, where they accepted Christianity on June 10, 1128. Otto then was titled apostolus gentis Pomeranorum, made a saint by pope Clement III in 1189, and was worshiped in Pomerania even after the Protestant Reformation.
  Holy Roman Emperor Lothair claimed the areas west of the Oder for his empire. Thus the terms of Otto's second mission were not negotiated with Boleslaw III of Poland, but with Lothar and Wartislaw. However Lothair terminated the mission in the fall of 1128, probably because he distrusted Otto's contacts with Boleslaw. Otto visited Gniezno on his way back to Bamberg.
  Adalbert of Pomerania, the later Pomeranian bishop, participated in Otto's mission as an interpreter and assistant.
  Fate of the pagan priesthood
  The priests of the numerous gods worshipped before the conversion were one of the most powerful class in the early medieval society. Their reaction to the Christianization of Pomerania was ambiguous: In 1122, they saved missionary Bernhard's life by declaring him insane, otherwise he would have been killed in Wolin. On the other hand, Otto of Bamberg's mission was a far larger threat to the established pagan tradition, and eventually it succeeded in Christianization of the region. There are reports of  unsuccessful assassination attempts made against Otto of Bamberg by the pagan priesthood. Following Otto's success, some of the pagan priests were crucified, while it is unknown what happened to the others. It has been speculated that they adapted to the new reality.
caption: Poland 1102-1138 (Pomerania as a part of Duchy of Poland)
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