Wartislaw IV, Duke of Pomerania

Who is Wartislaw IV, Duke of Pomerania?

Wartislaw IV or Vartislav IV was Duke of Pomerania-Wolgast from 1309 until his death. He was the only son of Duke Bogislaw IV of Pomerania and his wife Margareta, a daughter of Prince Wizlaw II of Rugia. Vartislaw IV had four sisters: Jutta, Elisabeth, Margareta and Eufemia.

Vartislaw IV married Elisabeth, a daughter of Count Ulrich I of Lindow-Ruppin; they had three sons: Bogislav V, Barnim IV and Vartislaw V.

In 1309 Vartislav IV succeeded his father as duke of Pomerania-Wolgast and in 1317 received the Lands of Schlawe and Stolp as a fief from Margrave Valdemar of Brandenburg-Stendal. Upon Valdemar's death in 1319, his minor cousin and heir Henry II was under Vartislav's tutelage, his plans to achieve the rule over Brandenburg however were shattered by King Louis IV of Germany, who finally granted the margraviate to his son Louis V of Wittelsbach in 1323.

In 1321 Vartislav signed an inheritance treaty with his maternal uncle Prince Wizlaw III of Rugia, and upon his death in 1325 oversaw the unification with the Principality of Rügen, then a Danish fief.