page_title: History of Szczecin
section_title: Capital of the Duchy of Pomerania (12th century–1630)
hierarchical_section_title: History of Szczecin / Capital of the Duchy of Pomerania (12th century–1630)
caption_attribution_description: Polski: Tablica pam. w Szczecinie koło zamku.
context_page_description: The History of Szczecin dates back to the 8th century. Throughout its history the city has been part of Poland, Denmark, Sweden and Germany. From the Late Middle Ages until 1945, the city had a predominantly German population. Today, Szczecin is the largest city and one of the oldest cities in northwestern Poland, located in the historic region of Pomerania.
context_section_description: Szczecin was held by Denmark until 1235, when it fell under the suzerainty of the multi-ethnic Holy Roman Empire. In the second half of the 12th century, a group of German tradesmen (from various parts of the Holy Roman Empire) settled in the city around St. Jacob's Church, which was founded by Beringer, a trader from Bamberg, and consecrated in 1187. For centuries the dukes invited German settlers to colonize their land and to found towns and villages (see Ostsiedlung). Duke Barnim of Pomerania granted a local government charter to a local community in 1237, separating the Germans from the Slavic majority community settled around the St. Nicholas Church (in the neighborhoods of Chyzin, Uber-Wiken, and Unter-Wiken). Barnim granted the city Magdeburg rights in 1243. In 1277 the city purchased the nearby villages, present-day districts, Krzekowo and Osów. In 1278 Szczecin, along with several other cities, was exempted by King Eric V of Denmark from customs duties for a fair organized in Zealand, Denmark. This is the first case of the city's connections with the Hanseatic League. Around that time the major ethnic group of the city had become German, while the Slavic population decreased.
  In 1273 in Szczecin duke of Poznań and future King of Poland Przemysł II married princess Ludgarda, granddaughter of Barnim I, Duke of Pomerania, in order to strengthen the alliance between the two rulers.
  From 1295 to 1464 the city was the capital of a splinter Pomeranian realm known as the Pomerania-Stettin. (Its Dukes were Otto I, Barnim III the Great, Casimir III, Swantibor I, Boguslaw VII, Otto II, Casimir V, Joachim I the Younger, Otto III.) In 1478 it became part (and capital) of the reunited Duchy of Pomerania under duke Bogislaw X, and in 1532 it again became the capital of a splinter eponymous duchy.
  In the 13th and 14th centuries the town became the main Pomeranian centre of trade in grains, salt and herrings, receiving various trading privileges from their dukes (known as emporium rights). It was granted special rights and trading posts in Denmark, and belonged to the Hanseatic trading cities union. In 1390 trade privileges were granted to Stettin by the Polish king Władysław II Jagiełło who established new trade routes from Poland to the Pomeranian ports. In the 14th and 15th centuries, Stettin conducted several trade wars with the neighboring cities of Gartz, Greifenberg (Gryfino) and Stargard over a monopoly on grains export. The grain supplying area was not only Pomerania but also Brandenburg and Greater Poland – trade routes along the Oder and Warta rivers. The 16th century saw the decline of the city's trading position because of the competition of the nobility, as well as church institutions in the grains exports, a customs war with Frankfurt (Oder), and the fall of the herring market. Social and religious riots marked the introduction of the Protestant Reformation in 1534.
  Around 1532 minting of coins in the city was halted, to be resumed in 1580 under duke John Frederick. Then were minted the first thalers of the Duchy of Pomerania.
  In 1570, the Northern Seven Years' War between Denmark and Sweden was ended in the city by the Treaty of Stettin (1570).
  From 1606 to 1618 the city was the residence of Duke Philip II, the greatest patron of the arts among all Pomeranian dukes. He founded a rich collection of ancient and early modern coins at the Ducal Castle. In 1625 the city became again capital of the reunited Duchy of Pomerania under Boguslaw XIV.
  By the 1630s the city and surrounding area that hadn't been already German had become completely Germanized.
caption: Memorial plaque at the site of the former ducal mint, which operated in 1185–1709
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