Prince-Bishopric of Schwerin

Origins

The bishopric was set up by Henry the Lion during the conquest of the Slavic Obotrites, with the Cistercian monk Berno as its first bishop and its seat moved to Schwerin around 1160. After Henry's fall in 1180 the bishops held their estates as imperial princes, a status the dukes of Mecklenburg constantly disputed.

Rule and society

The territory was small, consisting chiefly of lands around Bützow, where the bishops resided, and Warin. It grew through German settlement in former Slavic lands. In the 16th century the see was held by princes of the Mecklenburg house, such as Ulrich of Mecklenburg, and became Lutheran, so the bishopric functioned in practice as a Mecklenburg appanage.

Decline and legacy

The Peace of Westphalia in 1648 secularised it as the Principality of Schwerin and awarded it to the Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin as compensation for Wismar, which went to Sweden. It is now part of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.