Pribislav of Mecklenburg

Who was Pribislav of Mecklenburg?

Pribislav was an Obotrite prince and the first Prince of Mecklenburg.

Pribislav was one of three sons of the Obotrite chieftain Niklot, who was killed in 1160 during a joint campaign by Duke Henry the Lion of Saxony and King Valdemar the Great of Denmark. The territory of the Obotrites was largely partitioned between Saxon lords, but Pribislav continued to fight against Henry from the fortification at Werle on the River Warnow near Rostock, the only territory remaining to Pribislav and his brother Wertislav.

Niklot's sons engineered a widespread revolt against Saxon rule in 1163. While Wertislav and much of the Slavic nobility were imprisoned by Henry during the siege of Werle, Pribislav destroyed many of the former Obotrite castles including Mecklenburg where all the male Fleming defenders were slaughtered. After Pribislav recaptured Malchow and Quetzin, Henry the Lion suppressed the revolt with much bloodshed. Wertislav was publicly hanged at Malchow. Supported by a Danish fleet, the Saxon army defeated the Slavs in the bloody Battle of Verchen in 1164. Pribislav fled to Pomerania afterward, but later led raids into the counties of Schwerin and Ratzeburg.