Adalbert of Pomerania

Who is Adalbert of Pomerania?

Adalbert of Pomerania was the first bishop of the 12th century Pomeranian bishopric, with its see in Wolin. He was a monk of the Michaelsberg Abbey, Bamberg and former chaplain to Bolesław III Wrymouth of Poland, whence he knew the Pomeranian language of the temporarily Polish-subjugated West Slavic population, whereas the Joms Vikings and other Germanic inhabitants of the Pomeranian coast understood his old German language.

The territory was put under the jurisdiction of the archbishopric of Magdeburg by Holy Roman emperor Otto I, King of Germany. In 1133 the Magdeburg archbishop Saint Norbert received verification by the pope of his jurisdiction over a number of dioceses, including those in Pomerania. However, bishop Otto of Bamberg had actually baptized the Pomeranians and therefore thought to add it to his southern Bamberg archdiocese and in order to avoid conflicts, pope Innocent II exempted the Pomeranian bishopric. When Wolin was destroyed several times by Danes, the diocese was moved to Cammin; this bishopric became known as the Roman Catholic Diocese of Kammin.