Barnim I, Duke of Pomerania

Barnim I, Duke of Pomerania
Barnim I, Duke of Pomerania
Spouse(s)	Marianna Margareta Matilda of Brandenburg
Noble family	House of Griffins
Father	Bogislaw II, Duke of Pomerania
Mother	Miroslawa of Pomerelia
Born	c.  1217/1219
Died	13 November 1278(1278-11-13) Dąbie, Szczecin

Barnim I the Good (c. 1217/1219 – 13 November 1278) from the Griffin dynasty was a Duke of Pomerania (ducis Slauorum et Cassubie) from 1220 until his death.

Son of Duke Bogislaw II and Miroslawa, daughter of Duke Mestwin I of Pomerelia, he succeeded to the Duchy of Pomerania-Stettin upon his father's death in 1220; he had however to share the rule of Pomerania with his cousin Wartislaw III, who resided at Demmin. A minor when his father died, his lands until about 1226 were under regency of his mother Miroslawa from the Pomerelian Samborides dynasty. At first still a Danish fief, the Pomeranian lands fell back to the Holy Roman Empire after the victory of several North-German princes at the 1227 Battle of Bornhöved. Emperor Frederick II of Hohenstufen in 1231 put the Duchy of Pomerania under the suzerainty of the Ascanian margraves of Brandenburg, disregarding the tenure of the Griffin dynasty, and thereby fueling the long-term Brandenburg–Pomeranian conflict.

After his cousin Wartislaw III had formally accepted the Brandenburg overlordship by the 1236 Treaty of Kremmen, Duke Barnim I came to terms with the mighty Ascanian margraves in the 1250 Treaty of Landin: he confessed himself a Brandenburg vassal and had to renounce the Uckermark region, nevertheless he reached the consent, that the fief of his cousin Wartislaw would remain with the Griffin dynasty upon his death. When Duke Wartislaw III died in 1264, Barnim I was able to unite the whole Duchy of Pomerania under his rule. He promoted the Ostsiedlung by introducing German settlers and customs into the duchy, established many towns, among them Prenzlau, Szczecin, Gartz, Anklam, Stargard, Gryfino, Police, Pyrzyce, Ueckermünde and Goleniów. He was also known for his generous ecclesiastical foundations, and supported the extension of the secular reign of the Cammin bishops in the Kołobrzeg area.