Mikilenburg

Mecklenburg Castle was a medieval castle and a residential capital of the Nakonid and Nikloting dynasties of the Obotrites. It was located just south of the modern village Dorf Mecklenburg, seven kilometres south of the Bay of Wismar in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. The only remnants of the ruined castle are parts of an earthen wall. Some scholars have associated Mecklenburg with the medieval trading emporium Reric.

The travelling merchant Ibrahim Ibn Jacub described Mecklenburg as “Nakon’s Castle” in 965. By 995 it was documented as Michelenburg or Mikelenburg, meaning "large castle" in Low German. In Latin, it was known as Magnopolis. The later duchy and region of Mecklenburg derives its name from the castle. The probable Slavic name, Veligrad also (“great” or “large castle”). was commemorated in a new Schloss Weligrad built between 1896 and 1898 for Duke John Albert of Mecklenburg.

Excavations indicate that the first castle of Mecklenburg was built in the 7th or 8th century in a lowland at the tip of a lakeland peninsula. It was possibly the Obotrite residence of Reric, destroyed in 808. If associated with Reric, merchants were at the castle by the beginning of the 9th century. Significant market traffic would have developed in the 10th century.; a number of silver artifacts have been found in the vicinity of the ruins.

The castle of Mecklenburg became a seat of Obotrite princes by the 10th century at the latest. It lay on a route from Hamburg to Wolin, assuring the castle importance as an economic and political center. The powerful Obotrite prince resided in the castle by 965.

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