Pomerania in the Brandenburg Period, 1648/1653–1701/1713

ChatGPT powiedział: On March 10, 1637, Bogislaw XIV, the last Duke of Pomerania from the Griffin dynasty, died. According to succession treaties, including the one concluded in 1529 (Gramenz), the Pomeranian dominion was to pass to the Elector of Brandenburg. However, the Swedes, who had controlled Pomerania since 1630, refused to relinquish the inheritance, intending instead to keep the land as part of their project to build their own Dominium Maris Baltici. During the peace negotiations aimed at ending the Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648) in the Empire, both sides sought to secure the Griffin inheritance for themselves. Ultimately, as a result of the negotiations in Osnabrück in 1648, it was decided to divide Pomerania into two parts: the Swedish part, comprising Western Pomerania with Szczecin and the entire Oder estuary (the islands of Wolin and Usedom, Kamień Pomorski, Goleniów, Dąbie, and Gryfino), and the Brandenburg part, i.e., Eastern Pomerania (from Stargard eastward to Słupsk). On May 4, 1653, the Elector of Brandenburg concluded a border agreement with Sweden (the Szczecin Border Recess), which ended the Hohenzollern ruler’s efforts to claim the Duchy of Pomerania—an inheritance he was entitled to under previous succession treaties with the Griffins. In June, electoral troops entered Pomerania and took possession of the territory assigned to them in the negotiations.

ChatGPT powiedział: Even while negotiations with Sweden were still ongoing, in 1650 the Elector concluded an agreement with Bishop Ernst Bogislaw von Croy, the nephew of Bogislaw XIV, concerning the transfer of the episcopal dominion—the Bishopric of Kamień—which included the lands of Kołobrzeg, Karlino, Koszalin, and Bobolice. The Elector incorporated this territory into the newly formed Pomeranian province, known as the Electoral Duchy of Pomerania and Kamień.

In 1657, under the Treaties of Wehlau and Bydgoszcz, the Elector received the Lębork-Bytów Land as a fief from the Polish king, John II Casimir. This territory had been held by the Pomeranian dukes until 1637 as a hereditary fief. The Lębork-Bytów Land (1,715 km²), although formally a separate administrative entity within the Hohenzollern monarchy, was administratively connected to Brandenburg Pomerania (and, after 1701, to Prussian Pomerania). Furthermore, in 1668, the Drahim Starosty, including the town of Czaplinek (330 km²), was also incorporated into the province. It was pledged as collateral for King John II Casimir’s debts, amounting to 120,000 thalers.

The new province, known as Hinterpommern (Farther Pomerania), incorporated into the Brandenburg state, did not, however, experience peace. Already between 1655 and 1660, the Elector actively participated in another Northern War (the Swedish Deluge), seeking to free himself from the suzerainty of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in Ducal Prussia. Later—after switching allies from the Swedish king to the emperor and the kings of Poland and Denmark—he unsuccessfully tried to gain further territories in Pomerania, especially Szczecin and the mouth of the Oder River. This resulted in numerous marches and raids by Swedish and Polish troops across Brandenburg Pomerania, which, together with the heavy tax burden imposed by the Elector on the new province, further worsened the already poor economic condition of the region.

The capture of the Oder estuary and Szczecin was the primary objective of the Brandenburg (later Prussian) monarchs for several subsequent decades. It was for this reason, among others, that the Great Elector took an active part in the war between France and the Habsburgs and their allies from 1672 to 1679. During this conflict, Pomerania once again became a theater of war between Brandenburg and Swedish forces (1674–1678). Despite military successes—including the capture of Szczecin in December 1677—the Elector did not gain any significant new territories in Western Pomerania (as confirmed by the Peace of Saint-Germain-en-Laye in 1679). This goal was not fully achieved until 1713 (see: Prussian Pomerania in the 18th Century).

By the late 17th century, the Pomeranian province—together with the Lębork-Bytów Land—extended in the west to the Lower Oder River, including Widuchowa and Gryfino, though without Dąbie and Goleniów, which remained in Swedish hands. It also encompassed the eastern shore of the Szczecin Lagoon and the Dziwna River, including Stepnica and Kamień Pomorski. The eastern boundary of the province was formed by the Lębork-Bytów Land, which, although formally outside the province, was in practice closely connected to it administratively. To the south, Brandenburg Pomerania bordered the Neumark (New March) and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth’s Greater Poland and Royal Prussia. In 1655, the province covered approximately 309.5 square miles (17,000 km²), and by the end of the 17th century, it had expanded to an area of 370 square miles.

Demographically and economically, the territory taken over by the Elector was heavily devastated, although as early as the 1640s the Swedish authorities—anticipating the possibility of acquiring the entire duchy—had begun its reconstruction (efforts to repopulate deserted areas, privileges to promote craft and trade development). Nevertheless, by 1653 the land remained economically poor, and the Elector’s involvement in the Swedish Deluge and the Dutch Wars brought further serious demographic and economic losses.

In 1655—according to Zygmunt Szultka—Farther Pomerania had a population of about 135,000 inhabitants. Fifty years later, thanks to the efforts of the electoral authorities (the settlement of new colonists and the stimulation of craft development), the population of Farther Pomerania increased—to around 225,000 by about 1710, according to the same researcher.

The Population of Brandenburg Pomerania in the 17th Century

Year	The Population
1655	135 000
1660	142 000
1670	158 000
1690	175 000/195 000*
1710	225 000*

including the Lębork-Bytów Land

When the Elector assumed control of the land, he already had a plan prepared for organizing the administration. On June 6, 1653, the troops of Frederick William occupied Kołobrzeg, which became the first seat of the provincial authorities. There, the Regency (provincial administration), the Evangelical Consistory, as well as the Domain Chamber and the Court of Appeal were established. In time, a War Commissioner for Pomerania and a Pomeranian War Commissariat were also appointed—offices that reflected the increasingly close integration of Pomerania into the structures of the absolutist Hohenzollern monarchy, as well as the growing militarization of the country.

Already in July, the Elector summoned the Pomeranian estates to a diet in Stargard. After a year of turbulent deliberations, on July 11, 1654, the assembly adopted a resolution—Regimentsform—which served as the “constitution” of the duchy. However, even during the proceedings, the new ruler made it clear that any resolutions contrary to his political vision and the dynastic raison d’état would not be recognized by him, emphasizing that the primary duty of his subjects was to pay taxes. Between 1654 and 1665, based on the tax resolutions of this first diet, the Great Elector extracted from Pomerania the equivalent of 11 “barrels of gold” in additional taxes, primarily to fund the maintenance of the army and participation in the Second Northern War (1655–1660)—the Swedish Deluge.

The Elector’s “absolutist” rule angered the estates, especially the nobility, among whom a significant opposition movement arose. Its influence grew over time, as Frederick William violated not only political but also religious rights—being a Calvinist, he favored candidates of his own confession for administrative positions. To calm his subjects, in 1665 the Elector appointed a Governor of Pomerania, naming Prince Ernst Bogislaw von Croy, a Griffin on his mother’s side. The new provincial administrator proved to be an excellent collaborator of the monarch: he neutralized the anti-electoral opposition and, above all, was an outstanding organizer and politician who thought in terms of the “entire Brandenburg state.” Prince von Croy became one of the monarch’s trusted advisers, and in 1670 he was also entrusted with the governorship of Ducal Prussia.

The provincial diets, composed mainly of representatives of the nobility and delegates from the towns, were held annually up to the early 18th century, although their significance was gradually diminished. Elector Frederick III, who became King Frederick I in 1701, introduced the principle that tax demands presented by the ruler were to be implemented even without the consent of the estates’ assembly. In order to further reduce the importance of this institution, the rulers transferred many of its functions to the Estates’ Department and the Repartition Commission—a body responsible for dividing Pomerania’s tax obligations to the Elector among specific administrative districts and social groups.

Moreover, following the model of his hereditary lands (Brandenburg), the Elector took advantage of the rivalry between the estates—the nobility and the towns. He concluded with the former a compromise between the throne and the noble estate. In exchange for privileges such as a monopoly on royal offices and officer ranks in the army, full authority over the rural population, and exemption of manorial lands from taxation, the Elector compelled the nobility to recognize the monarch’s absolute power and to restrain its own political ambitions. The burgher class, on the other hand—economically and thus politically weakened after the Thirty Years’ War—was quickly subordinated to the monarch’s absolute authority through the actions of electoral officials, particularly the war commissioners.

In social and economic terms, the process of refeudalization in Pomerania during the Brandenburg period—and even more so after the coronation of Elector Frederick III as King in Prussia in 1701—continued to deepen. The dominance of the nobility, represented by large landed estates in rural areas, over the peasantry was solidified by the aforementioned alliance between the throne and the noble estate, the main outcome of which was the expansion of the manorial-serf economy. The rural population was subjected to strict personal, economic, and legal subjugation. Some historians, describing the social relations of the time, have remarked that the monarch’s power “ended at the boundary of the noble estates,” as each landowner was effectively a “king” on his own property. Peasants were bound to the land, and in exchange for holding farms they were required to perform corvée labor, sometimes amounting to as many as seven days a week, as well as to render other services (such as transport duties and road maintenance) and tributes to the manor. Furthermore, the rural population became, through their farms, the main taxpayers supporting the monarch (through levies and contributions) and the primary source of military recruits. The situation of peasants in the ducal domains (state estates), which covered about one-third of the province’s territory, was hardly better. The Elector entrusted their administration to leaseholding officials, who—seeking maximum personal profit and obliged to pay high fees to the monarch—applied to the peasants the same oppressive practices as the nobility did in their private estates.

In Farther Pomerania during the second half of the 17th century, there were 15 ducal towns and 14 private towns, mostly belonging to the nobility (e.g., Łobez, Węgorzyno, Resko, Polanów, Miastko) or to the ducal domains (e.g., Maszewo, Suchań). The most important urban centers included Stargard, Kołobrzeg, Słupsk, followed by Gryfice and Koszalin. As mentioned earlier, the war-ravaged towns were placed under the authority of war commissioners, who were responsible not only for tax collection but also for provisioning the army and arranging billeting. Until the 1690s, they retained their ducal-era municipal systems and were governed by city councils representing the local patriciate. At the end of the century, an electoral commission for towns, established in 1685, began a gradual reform of municipal governance by drafting new organizational regulations—town hall ordinances (Rathausordnungen). This process continued into the 1730s, and the new regulations transformed the former representative bodies of local elites—the city councils—into magistrates, which formally served as municipal administrative organs but were now fully controlled by the provincial administration of the Elector, and from 1710, of the King.

In the second half of the 17th century, Pomeranian towns were primarily small craft centers with limited commercial significance. The more important hubs of craftsmanship and trade were Kołobrzeg, Słupsk, and Stargard. Agriculture also played a major role in urban life, serving as the primary source of livelihood for many townspeople (townsmen-farmers). Among the urban trades, the most common were shoemakers, tailors, bakers, brewers, millers, cloth-makers and weavers, carpenters, joiners, blacksmiths, and construction craftsmen. The emergence of new specialized crafts took place mainly in the three major centers mentioned above. In Stargard, there were foundries, dyers, slipper-makers, tanners, and glassmakers, while in Kołobrzeg there were locksmiths, turners, and also sailors. Unable to capture Szczecin, the Elector supported the development of the port of Kołobrzeg, as well as smaller harbors in Darłowo and Ustka. In addition, electoral officials prepared plans for the construction of navigable canals linking the Parsęta with the Drawa and Gwda rivers, in order to redirect part of the trade from the Neumark and even from Greater Poland to Kołobrzeg. However, these projects were never realized.

Alongside the peasants, the towns also served as important taxpayers for Elector Frederick William and his successors. Until the early 1680s, townspeople paid the monarch a contribution tax (Kontribution)—a property tax levied on urban real estate such as houses, workshops, cellars, and plots. In 1682, this tax was replaced in Pomeranian towns by an excise tax, a change that became one of the impulses for the gradual economic development of certain urban centers. The main foundation for the improvement of urban conditions was the mercantilist policy of the Elector and his successors. One of its elements was the settlement of immigrants. This became possible, among other reasons, through the Edict of Potsdam issued by Elector Frederick William in 1685, in which he invited French Protestant refugees (Huguenots) persecuted by King Louis XIV to settle in Brandenburg and other provinces of the Hohenzollern monarchy. Out of nearly 20,000 French emigrants, several hundred families settled by the end of the 17th century in the towns of Farther Pomerania, forming compact colonies, including in Kołobrzeg and Stargard. These newcomers gave an important stimulus to the development of new professions—such as tobacco cultivation and processing—and to the growth of trade.

The rule of Elector Frederick William, known as the Great Elector, and his successors was also a period in which Calvinism spread throughout Farther Pomerania. Upon assuming control of the region, the Elector guaranteed his Pomeranian subjects the right to remain faithful to the Evangelical-Augsburg (Lutheran) faith. However, raised in the Calvinist tradition, Frederick William—though, like his predecessors and successors, he formally upheld the rights of the Lutheran majority—often appointed Evangelical-Reformed (Calvinist) officials to positions in Pomerania. In many towns, alongside Lutheran parishes, Calvinist congregations also began to appear. This process intensified with the settlement of French Huguenots in Farther Pomerania. Nevertheless, the majority of the province’s population—nobility, burghers, and especially the rural population—remained faithful to the Augsburg Confession.

The economic weakness of Farther Pomerania in the 17th century was also reflected in its culture and education. The Pomeranian University, as well as the Ducal Pedagogium, remained within Swedish Pomerania. In the mid-17th century, grammar schools (gymnasia) were established—during the Thirty Years’ War—in Stargard (from 1630) and Szczecinek (from 1640). These were secondary schools whose graduates could continue their education at the university level. During the reign of Elector Frederick III (from 1701, King Frederick I), initiatives emerged to transform Groening’s Gymnasium in Stargard into a university. Similar plans were considered for the school in Szczecinek, with proposals to relocate it to Koszalin or Kołobrzeg. Between 1715 and 1718, the Szczecinek Gymnasium educated Ewald Georg von Kleist, later dean of the Kamień Cathedral Chapter, but also a pioneering researcher in the field of electricity. In 1745, he discovered the principle of storing electrical charge (the Kleist jar), anticipating by one year Pieter van Musschenbroek’s similar invention—the Leyden jar.

In 1655, the Knight’s Academy in Kołobrzeg was established—an officer school for young noblemen from Pomerania. The institution’s purpose was not only to educate future officers but, above all, to instill in young nobles a sense of loyalty and devotion to the Hohenzollern dynasty. In 1701, the academy was relocated to Berlin, where it became an institution serving young Junkers from across the Prussian monarchy.

In addition, during the Brandenburg period, urban and parish schools operated in the towns and some villages. In the former, children were taught primarily German, sometimes Latin, as well as arithmetic and religious studies. The rural schools, on the other hand, served mainly as centers of religious instruction, though they also provided basic education in reading and writing.

In the second half of the 17th century and the early 18th century, Farther Pomerania gradually underwent a process of integration with the Brandenburg-Prussian monarchy. Throughout this period, the estates—especially the nobility—although they had formally recognized electoral absolutism, repeatedly opposed the decisions of the Brandenburg monarchs. The region nonetheless preserved its distinct identity and attachment to Pomeranian traditions. Significant qualitative changes in this regard occurred only during the era of the classical Prussian monarchy, under Kings Frederick William I and Frederick II (see Prussian Pomerania in the 18th Century).

More:

Historia Pomorza tom II, część III: Pomorze Zachodnie (1648-1815), red. G. Labuda, Poznań 2003.

Pomorze Zachodnie poprzez wieki, red . Jan Maria Piskorski, Szczecin 1999.

Bogdan Wachowiak, Andrzej Kamieński, Dzieje Brandenburgii-Prus. Na progu czasów nowożytnych 1500-1701, Poznań 2001.

Paweł Gut