Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin

Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
Herzogtum Mecklenburg-Schwerin
State of the Holy Roman Empire State of the Confederation of the Rhine
1379–1815
Flag Coat of arms
Mecklenburg-Schwerin
Capital		Schwerin
Government		Monarchy
Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
•	1701–1713	Frederick William
•	1713–1728	Karl Leopold
•	1728–1756	Christian Ludwig II
•	1756–1785	Frederick II
•	1785–1815	Frederick Francis I
History
•	Treaty of Hamburg	1379
•	Raised to Grand Duchy	1815
Preceded by Succeeded by Duchy of Mecklenburg Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
Today part of		Germany

The Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin was a duchy in northern Germany created in 1701, when Frederick William and Adolphus Frederick II divided the Duchy of Mecklenburg between Schwerin and Strelitz. Ruled by the successors of the Nikloting House of Mecklenburg, Mecklenburg-Schwerin remained a state of the Holy Roman Empire along the Baltic Sea littoral between Holstein-Glückstadt and Duchy of Pomerania.

The dynasty's progenitor, Niklot (1090–1160), was a chief of the Slavic Obotrite tribal federation, who fought against the advancing Saxons and was finally defeated in 1160 by Henry the Lion in the course of the Wendish Crusade. Niklot's son, Pribislav, submitted himself to Henry, and in 1167 came into his paternal inheritance as the first Prince of Mecklenburg.

After several divisions among Pribislav's descendants, Henry II of Mecklenburg (1266–1329) until 1312 acquired the lordships of Stargard and , and bequeathed the reunified Mecklenburg lands – except the County of Schwerin and Werle – to his sons, Albert II and John. After they both had received the ducal title, the former lordship of Stargard was recreated as the Duchy of Mecklenburg-Stargard for John in 1352. Albert II retained the larger western part of Mecklenburg, and after he acquired the former County of Schwerin in 1358, he made Schwerin his residence.