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MECKLENBURG

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Originally appearing in Volume V17, Page 1020 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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MECKLENBURG , a territory in See also:

northern See also:Germany, on the Baltic See also:Sea, extending from S3° 4' to 54° 22' N. and from 1o° 35' to 13° 57' E., unequally divided into the two See also:grand duchies of Mecklenburg-See also:Schwerin and Mecklenburg-See also:Strelitz. MECKLENBURG-SCHWERIN IS bounded N. by the Baltic Sea, W. by the principality of Ratzeburg and See also:Schleswig-See also:Holstein, S. by See also:Brandenburg and See also:Hanover, and E. by See also:Pomerania and Mecklenburg-Strelitz. It embraces the duchies of Schwerin and Gtistrow, the See also:district of See also:Rostock, the principality of Schwerin, and the See also:barony of See also:Wismar, besides several small enclaves (Ahrensberg, Rosson, Tretzeband, &c.) in the adjacent territories. Its See also:area is 5o8o sq. m. Pop. (1905), 625,045. MECKLENBURG-STRELITZ consists of two detached parts, the duchy of Strelitz on the E. of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, and the principality of Ratzeburg on the W. The first is bounded by Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Pomerania and Brandenburg, the second by Mecklenburg-Schwerin, See also:Lauenburg, and the territory of the See also:free See also:town of See also:Lubeck. Their See also:joint area is 1130 sq. M. Pop. (1905), 103,451.

Mecklenburg lies wholly within the See also:

great See also:North-See also:European See also:plain, and its See also:flat See also:surface is interrupted only by one range of See also:low hills, intersecting the See also:country from See also:south-See also:east to north-See also:west, and forming the See also:watershed between the Baltic Sea and the See also:Elbe. Its highest point, the Helpter See also:Berg, is 587 ft. above sea-level. The See also:coast-See also:line runs for 65 m. along the Baltic (without including indentations), for the most See also:part in flat sandy stretches covered with See also:dunes. The See also:chief inlets are Wismar See also:Bay, the Salzhaff, and the roads of Warne--miinde. The See also:rivers are numerous though small; most of them are affluents of the Elbe, which traverses a small portion of Mecklenburg. Several are navigable, and the facilities for inland See also:water See also:traffic are increased by canals. Lakes are numerous; about four See also:hundred, covering an area of 500 sq. m., are reckoned in the two duchies. The largest is See also:Lake Miiritz, 52 sq. m. in extent. The See also:climate resembles that of Great See also:Britain, but the winters are generally more severe; the mean See also:annual temperature is 48° F., and the annual rainfall is about 28 in. Although there are See also:long stretches of marshy moorland along the coast, the See also:soil is on the whole productive. About 57% of the See also:total area of 1\I ecklenburg-Schwerin consists of cultivated See also:land, 18 % of See also:forest, and 13 % of See also:heath and pasture. In Mecklenburg-Strelitz the corresponding figures are 47, 21 and 1o%.

See also:

Agriculture 1s by far the most important See also:industry in both duchies. The chief crops are See also:rye, oats, See also:wheat, potatoes and See also:hay. Smaller areas are devoted to See also:maize, See also:buckwheat, See also:pease, See also:rape, See also:hemp, See also:flax, hops and See also:tobacco. The extensive pastures support large herds of See also:sheep and See also:cattle, including a noteworthy breed of See also:merino sheep. The horses of Mecklenburg are of a See also:fine sturdy quality and highly esteemed. Red See also:deer, See also:wild See also:swine and various other See also:game are found in the forests. The See also:industrial establishments include a few See also:iron-foundries, See also:wool-See also:spinning See also:mills, See also:carriage and See also:machine factories, dye-See also:works, tanneries, See also:brick-See also:fields, See also:soap-works, breweries, distilleries, numerous limekilns and See also:tar-boiling works, tobacco and See also:cigar factories, and numerous mills of various kinds. See also:Mining is insignificant, though a See also:fair variety of minerals is represented in the district. See also:Amber is found on and near the Baltic coast. Rostock, Warnemiinde and Wismar are the See also:principal commercial centres. The chief exports are See also:grain and other agricultural produce, live stock, See also:spirits, See also:wood and wool; the chief imports are colonial produce, iron, See also:coal, See also:salt, See also:wine, See also:beer and tobacco. The See also:horse and wool markets of Mecklenburg are largely attended by buyers from various parts of Germany.

Fishing is carried on extensively in the numerous inland lakes. In 1907 the grand See also:

dukes of both duchies promised a constitution to their subjects. The duchies had always been under a See also:government of feudal See also:character, the grand dukes having the executive entirely in their hands (though acting through ministers), while the duchies shared a See also:diet (Landtag), See also:meeting for a See also:short session each See also:year, and at other times represented by a See also:committee, and consisting of the proprietors of knights' estates (Rittergiiter), known as the Ritterschaft, and the Landschaft or burgomasters of certain towns. Mecklenburg-Schwerin returns six members to the Reichstag and town of Rostock " with its university and high See also:court of See also:justice " was declared to be See also:common See also:property, while the Diet or Landtag also retained its joint character, its meetings being held alternately at See also:Sternberg and at See also:Malchin. During the See also:early part of the See also:Thirty Years' See also:War the dukes of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg-See also:Gustrow were on the See also:Protestant See also:side, but about 1627 they submitted to the See also:emperor See also:Ferdinand II. This did not prevent Ferdinand from promising their land to See also:Wallenstein, who, having driven out the dukes, was invested with the duchies in 1629 and ruled them until 1631. In this year the former rulers were restored by Gustavus See also:Adolphus of See also:Sweden, and in 1635 they came to terms with the emperor and signed the See also:peace of See also:Prague, but their land continued to be ravaged by both sides until the conclusion of the war. In 1648 by the Treaty of See also:Westphalia, Wismar and some other parts of Mecklenburg were surrendered to Sweden, the recompense assigned to the duchies. including the secularized bishoprics of Schwerin and of Ratzeburg. The sufferings of the peasants in Mecklenburg during the Thirty Years' War were not exceeded by those of their class in any other part of Germany; most of them were reduced to a See also:state of See also:serfdom and in some cases whole villages vanished. See also:Christian See also:Louis who ruled Mecklenburg-Schwerin from. 1658 until his See also:death in 1692 was, like his See also:father Adolphus See also:Frederick, frequently at variance with the estates of the land and with members of his See also:family. He was a See also:Roman See also:Catholic and a supporter of Louis XIV., and his country suffered severely during the See also:wars waged by See also:France and her See also:allies in Germany.

In See also:

June 1692 when Christian Louis died in See also:exile and without sons, a dispute arose about the See also:succession to his duchy between his See also:brother Adolphus Frederick and his See also:nephew Frederick See also:William. The emperor and the rulers of Sweden and of Brandenburg took part in this struggle which was intensified when, three years later, on the death of See also:Duke Gustavus Adolphus, the family ruling over Mecklenburg-Gustrow became See also:extinct. At length the See also:partition Treaty of See also:Hamburg was signed on the 8th of See also:March 1701, and a new See also:division of the country was made. Mecklenburg was divided between the two claimants, the shares given to each being represented by the existing duchies of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, the part which See also:fell to Frederick William, and Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the See also:share of Adolphus Frederick. At the same See also:time the principle of See also:primogeniture was again asserted, and the right of summoning the joint Landtag was reserved to the ruler of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Mecklenburg-Schwerin began its existence by a See also:series of constitutional struggles between the duke and the nobles. The heavy See also:debt incurred by Duke See also:Charles See also:Leopold (d. 1947), who ',ad joined See also:Russia in a war against Sweden, brought matters to a crisis; the emperor Charles VI. interfered and in 1728 the imperial court of justice declared the duke incapable of governing and his brother Christian Louis was appointed See also:administrator of the duchy. Under this See also:prince, who became ruler de jure in 1747, there was signed in See also:April 1755 the See also:convention of Rostock by which a new constitution was framed for the duchy. By this See also:instrument all See also:power was in the hands of the duke, the nobles and the upper classes generally, the See also:lower classes being entirely unrepresented. During the Seven Years' War Duke Frederick (d. 1785) took up a hostile attitude towards Frederick the Great, and in consequence Mecklenburg was occupied by Prussian troops, but in other ways his See also:rule was beneficial to the country.

In the early years of the See also:

French revolutionary wars Duke Frederick See also:Francis I. (1756–1837) remained neutral, and in 1803 he regained Wismar from Sweden, but in 1806 his land was overrun by the French and in 1808 he joined the See also:Confederation of the See also:Rhine. He was the first member of the confederation to abandon See also:Napoleon, to whose armies he had sent a contingent, and in 1813–1814 he fought against France. In 1815 he joined the Germanic Confederation (Bund) and took the See also:title of grand duke. In 1819 serfdom was abolished in his dominions. During the See also:movement of 1848 the duchy witnessed a considerable agitation in favour of a more liberal constitution, but in the subsequent reaction all the concessions which had been Mecklenburg-Strehtz one member. In Mecklenburg-Schwerin the chief towns are Rostock (with a university), Schwerin, and Wismar the See also:capital. The capital of Mecklenburg-Strelitz is Neu-Strelitz. The peasantry of Mecklenburg retain traces of their See also:Slavonic origin, especially in speech, but their peculiarities have been much modified by amalgamation with See also:German colonists. The townspeople and See also:nobility are almost wholly of Saxon See also:strain. The slowness of the increase in See also:population is chiefly accounted for by See also:emigration. See also:History.—The See also:Teutonic peoples, who in the time of See also:Tacitus occupied the region now known as Mecklenburg, were succeeded in the 6th See also:century by some Salvonic tribes, one of these being the Obotrites, whose chief fortress was Michilenburg, the See also:modern Mecklenburg, near Wismar; hence the name of the country.

Though partly subdued by See also:

Charlemagne towards the See also:close of the 8th century, they soon regained their See also:independence, and until the loth century no serious effort was made by their Christian neighbours to subject them. Then the German See also:king, See also:Henry the See also:Fowler, reduced the Slays of Mecklenburg to obedience and introduced See also:Christianity among them. During the See also:period of weakness through which the German See also:kingdom passed under the later Ottos, however, they wrenched themselves free from this bondage; the 11th and the early part of the 12th century saw the ebb and flow of the See also:tide of See also:conquest, and then came the effective subjugation of Mecklenburg by Henry the See also:Lion, duke of See also:Saxony. The Obotrite prince Niklot was killed in See also:battle in 116o whilst resisting the See also:Saxons, but his son Pribislaus (d. 1178) submitted to Henry the Lion, married his daughter to the son of the duke, embraced Christianity, and was permitted to retain his See also:office. His descendants and successors, the See also:present grand dukes of Mecklenburg, are the only ruling princes of Slavonic origin in Germany. Henry the Lion introduced German settlers and restored the bishoprics of Ratzeburg and Schwerin; in 1170 the emperor Frederick I. made Pribislaus a prince of the See also:empire. From 1214 to 1227 Mecklenburg was under the supremacy of See also:Denmark; then, in 1229, after it had been regained by the Germans, there took See also:place the first of the many divisions of territory which with subsequent reunions constitute much of its complicated history. At this time the country was divided between four princes, grandsons of duke Henry Borwin, who had died two years previously. But in less than a century the families of two of these princes became extinct, and after dividing into three branches a third family suffered the same See also:fate in 1436. There then remained only the line ruling in Mecklenburg proper, and the princes of this family, in addition to inheriting the lands of their dead kinsmen, made many additions to their territory, including the counties of Schwerin and of Strelitz. In 1352 the two princes of this family made a division of their lands, See also:Stargard being separated from the See also:rest of the country to See also:form a principality for See also:John (d.

1393), but on the extinction of his line in 1471 the whole of Mecklenburg was again See also:

united under a single ruler. One member of this family, See also:Albert (c. 1338-1412), was king of Sweden from 1364 to 1389. In 1348 the emperor Charles IV. had raised Mecklenburg to the See also:rank of a duchy, and in 1418 the university of Rostock was founded. The troubles which arose from the rivalry and See also:jealousy of two or more joint rulers incited the prelates, the nobles and the burghers to form a See also:union among themselves, and the results of this are still visible in the existence of the Landesunion for the whole country which was established in 1523. About the same time the teaching of See also:Luther and the reformers was welcomed in Mecklenburg, although Duke Albert (d. 1547) soon reverted to the Catholic faith; in 1549 Lutheranism was recognized as the state See also:religion; a little later the churches and See also:schools were reformed and most of the monasteries were suppressed. A division of the land which took place in 1555 was of short duration, but a more important one was effected in 1611, although Duke John Albert I. (d. 2576) had introduced the principle of primogeniture and had forbidden all further divisions of territory. By this partition John Albert's See also:grandson Adolphus Frederick I. (d.

1658) received Schwerin, and another grandson John Albert II. (d. 1636) received Gustrow. The made to the See also:

democracy were withdrawn and further restrictive See also:measures were introduced in 1852 and 1852. Mecklenburg-Strelitz adopted the constitution of the See also:sister duchy by an See also:act of See also:September 1755. In z8o6 it was spared the infection of a French occupation through the See also:good offices of the king of See also:Bavaria; in 18o8 its duke, Charles (d. 1816), joined the confederation of the Rhine, but in 1813 he withdrew therefrom. Having been a member of the See also:alliance against Napoleon he joined the Germanic confederation in 1815 and assumed the title of grand duke. In 1866 both the grand dukes of Mecklenburg joined the North German confederation and the See also:Zollverein, and began to pass more and more under the See also:influence of See also:Prussia, who in the war with See also:Austria had been aided by the soldiers of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. In the Franco-German War also Prussia received valuable assistance from Mecklenburg, Duke Frederick Francis II. (1823—1883), an ardent See also:advocate of German unity, holding a high command in her armies. In 1871 the two grand duchies became states of the German Empire.

There was now a renewal of the agitation for a more democratic constitution, and the German Reichstag gave some countenance to this movement. In 1897 Frederick Francis IV. (b. 1882) succeeded his father Frederick Francis III. (1851—1897) as grand duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, and in 1904 Adolphus Frederick (b. 1848) a son of the grand duke Frederick William (1819—1904) and his wife See also:

Augusta Carolina, daughter of Adolphus Frederick, duke of See also:Cambridge, became grand duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. The grand dukes still See also:style themselves princes of the See also:Wends. See F. A. Rudloff, Pragmatisches Handbuch der mecklenburgischen Geschichte (Schwerin, 1780—1822) ; C. C. F. von See also:Lutzow, Versuch einer pragmatischen Geschichte von Mecklenburg (See also:Berlin, 1827—1835) ; Mecklenburgische Geschichte in Einzeldarstellungen, edited by R.

Beltz, C. Beyer, W. P. Graff and others; C. See also:

Hegel, Geschichte der mecklenburgischen Landstande bis 1555 (Rostock, 1856) ; A. See also:Mayer, Geschichte See also:des Grossherzogtums Mecklenburg-Strelitz 1816—18po (New Strelitz, 189o) ; Tolzien, See also:Die Grossherzoge von Mecklenburg-Schwerin. (Wismar, 1904); Lehsten, Der Adel Mecklenburgs seit dem landesgrundgesetzlichen Erbvergleich (Rostock, 1864) ; the Mecklenburgisches Urkundenbuch in 21 vols. (Schwerin, 1873—1903); the Jahrbiicher des Vereins Pr mecklenburgische Geschichte and Altertumskunde (Schwerin, 1836 fol.) ; and W. See also:Raabe, Mecklenburgische Vaterlandskunde (Wismar, 1894—1896) ; von Hirschfeld, See also:Friedrich See also:Franz II., Grossherzog von Mecklenburg-Schwerin and See also:seine Vorganger (See also:Leipzig, 1891) ; Volz, Friedrich Franz II. (Wismar, 1893) ; C. See also:Schroder, Friedrich Franz III. (Schwerin, 1898) ; Bartold, Friedrich Wilhelm, Grossherzog von Mecklenburg-Strelitz and Augusta Carolina (New Strelitz, 1893) ; and H.

Sachsse, Mecklenburgische Urkunden and Daten (Rostock, 1900).

End of Article: MECKLENBURG

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