Dynasty
A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family in the context of a feudal or monarchical system, but sometimes appearing in elective republics. Alternative terms for "dynasty" may include "family" and "clan", among others; the longest-surviving dynasty in the world is the Imperial House of Japan, otherwise known as the Yamato dynasty, whose reign is traditionally dated to 660 BC. The dynastic family or lineage may be known as a "noble house", which may be styled as "royal", "princely", "ducal", "comital" etc. depending upon the chief or present title borne by its members. Historians periodize the histories of numerous nations and civilizations, such as Ancient Egypt and Imperial China, using a framework of successive dynasties; as such, the term "dynasty" may be used to delimit the era during which a family reigned, to describe events and artifacts of that period. The word "dynasty" itself is dropped from such adjectival references; until the 19th century, it was taken for granted that a legitimate function of a monarch was to aggrandize his dynasty: that is, to expand the wealth and power of his family members.
Prior to the 20th century, dynasties throughout the world have traditionally been reckoned patrilineally, such as under the Frankish Salic law. In nations where it was permitted, succession through a daughter established a new dynasty in her husband's ruling house; this has changed in some places in Europe, where succession law and convention have maintained dynasties de jure through a female. For instance, the House of Windsor will be maintained through the children of Queen Elizabeth II, as it did with the monarchy of the Netherlands, whose dynasty remained the House of Orange-Nassau through three successive queens regnant; the earliest such example among major European monarchies was in the Russian Empire in the 18th century, where the name of the House of Romanov was maintained through Grand Duchess Anna Petrovna. In Limpopo Province of South Africa, Balobedu determined descent matrilineally, while rulers have at other times adopted the name of their mother's dynasty when coming into her inheritance.
Less a monarchy has alternated or been rotated, in a multi-dynastic system – that is, the most senior living members of parallel dynasties, at any point in time, constitute the line of succession. Not all feudal states or monarchies were/are ruled by dynasties. Throughout history, there were monarchs. Dynasties ruling subnational monarchies do not possess sovereign rights; the word "dynasty" is sometimes used informally for people who are not rulers but are, for example, members of a family with influence and power in other areas, such as a series of successive owners of a major company. It is extended to unrelated people, such as major poets of the same school or various rosters of a single sports team; the word "dynasty" derives from Latin dynastia, which comes from Greek dynastéia, where it referred to "power", "dominion", "rule" itself. It was the abstract noun of dynástēs, the agent noun of dynamis, "power" or "ability", from dýnamai, "to be able". A ruler from a dynasty is sometimes referred to as a "dynast", but this term is used to describe any member of a reigning family who retains a right to succeed to a throne.
For example, King Edward VIII ceased to be a dynast of the House of Windsor following his abdication. In historical and monarchist references to reigning families, a "dynast" is a family member who would have had succession rights, were the monarchy's rules still in force. For example, after the 1914 assassinations of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his morganatic wife Duchess Sophie von Hohenberg, their son Duke Maximilian was bypassed for the Austro-Hungarian throne because he was not a Habsburg dynast. Since the abolition of the Austrian monarchy, Duke Maximilian and his descendants have not been considered the rightful pretenders by Austrian monarchists, nor have they claimed that position; the term "dynast" is sometimes used only to refer to agnatic descendants of a realm's monarchs, sometimes to include those who hold succession rights through cognatic royal descent. The term can therefore describe distinct sets of people. For example, David Armstrong-Jones, 2nd Earl of Snowdon, a nephew of Queen Elizabeth II through her sister Princess Margaret, is in the line of succession to the British crown.
On the other hand, the German aristocrat Prince Ernst August of Hanover, a male-line descendant of King George III of the United Kingdom, possesses no legal British name, titles or styles. He was born in the line of succession to the British throne and was bound by Britain's Royal Marriages Act 1772 until it was repealed when the Succession to the Crown Act 2013 took effect on 26 March 2015. Thus, he requested and obtained formal permission from Queen Elizabeth II to marry the Roman Catholic Princess Caroline of Monaco in 1999. Yet, a clause of the English Act of Settlement 1701 remained in effect at that time, stipulating that dynasts who
Euphemia of Sweden
Euphemia of Sweden was a Swedish princess, spouse of Albert II, Duke of Mecklenburg, Duchess consort of Mecklenburg, heiress of Sweden and of Norway, mother of King Albert of Sweden. Euphemia was born in 1317 to Eric of Sweden, Duke of Södermanland, second son of King Magnus I of Sweden, Princess Ingeborg of Norway, the heiress and the only legitimate daughter of King Haakon V of Norway, whose Kingdom of Norway thus became the inheritance of Euphemia and her brothers. In 1319, her infant elder brother Magnus VII of Norway succeeded their maternal grandfather to the throne of Norway; that same year, Swedish nobles exiled their uncle, King Birger of Sweden, after which the infant Magnus was elected King of Sweden. Their mother Ingeborg had a seat in the guardian government as well as the position of an independent ruler of her own fiefs, played an important part during their childhood and adolescence; the 24 July 1321 marriage contract for Euphemia was signed in Bohus Castle in her mother's fief in Bohuslän.
Her mother had plans to take control over Danish Scania, next to her duchy. The marriage was arranged with the terms that Mecklenburg, Holstein and Schleswig would assist Ingeborg in the conquest of Scania; this was approved by the council of Norway but not Sweden. When Ingeborg's forces under command of her lover Knut Porse invaded Scania in 1322–23, Mecklenburg betrayed her and the alliance was broken; the affair of Euphemia's marriage led to a conflict between Ingeborg and the governments of Sweden and Norway, which led to the demise of Ingeborg's political position in the guardian governments. The marriage took place anyway, after a fifteen-year engagement. Euphemia did not lack influence in Sweden, she is known to have acted as the witness of seals in several documents. In 1335, when King Magnus appointed Nils Abjörnsson to drots, the condition that Euphemia would act as his adviser was included in his appointment. Euphemia was married in Rostock on April 10, 1336, to her distant kinsman, Albert II, Duke of Mecklenburg, a North-German lord interested in obtaining some power in Scandinavia, e.g. fiefs or income.
Albert was to gain the nickname "Fox of Mecklenburg", to reflect his intrigues as well as avarice. The same year, the couple returned to Sweden with Rudolf of Saxony and Henry of Holstein to be present at the coronation of her brother and sister-in-law Blanche of Namur. In Germany, Euphemia's life as a Duchess consort of Mecklenburg does not appear to have affected her status in Sweden, as she was still a political factor there and her name was still placed on various documents, she was the mistress of a expensive ducal court. In 1340–41, she convinced Magnus to grant renewed trading privileges in Norway to the Hanseatic cities of Mecklenburg and Wismar. On 15 April 1357, she granted her inheritance after her brothers Håkan and Knut, the estates Hammar and Farthses, to Skänninge Abbey, it is not known if she was involved in the succession of her son to the throne of Sweden in 1363. She is last confirmed alive 27 October 1363, when she gave up the ownership of her dower estate Hagenow, her death year is not known, but she is confirmed dead 16 June 1370, when her widower made a vicaria to her memory.
Euphemia lived long enough to see her brother's branch of the family get into severe difficulties, albeit its extinction was not foreseeable then. Euphemia saw her own second son depose her brother from the Swedish throne, ascend as King Albert of Sweden. In Euphemia's lifetime it was evident that her genealogical position would become a pivotal point to many future claims to the Scandinavian thrones. Although her spouse married a second time after her death, all his legitimate children were born of Euphemia. At the time of her death, she had five surviving children: Duke of Mecklenburg. Married, Ingeborg of Denmark, eldest daughter of sonless King Waldemar IV of Denmark. Claimants to Denmark, they had children: Albert, Euphemia and Ingeborg. Henry III married, Matilda of Werle. Albert III, Duke of Mecklenburg, better known as Albert of Sweden, King of Sweden from 1364 to 1389. Married, firstly, in 1359, Richardis of Schwerin. Albert married, Agnes of Brunswick-Lüneburg. Magnus I, Duke of Mecklenburg.
They had John. Ingeborg of Mecklenburg. Married, Henry II, Count of Holstein-Rendsburg. Anna of Mecklenburg, her line extinct by her own death in 1415. Nordberg, Michael. I kung Magnus tid. Norstedts. ISBN 9119521227. Eufemia Eriksdotter, urn:sbl:15533, Svenskt biografiskt lexikon, hämtad 2013-10-24
Kingdom of Norway (872–1397)
The term Norwegian Realm and the Old Kingdom of Norway, refer to the Kingdom of Norway's peak of power at the 13th century after a long period of civil war before 1240. The kingdom was a loosely unified nation including the territory of modern-day Norway, modern-day Swedish territory of Jämtland, Herjedalen and Idre and Särna, as well as Norway's overseas possessions, settled by Norwegian seafarers for centuries before being annexed or incorporated into the kingdom as'tax territories'. To the North, Norway bordered extensive tax territories on the mainland. Norway, whose expansionalism starts from the foundation of the Kingdom in 872, reached the peak of its power in the years between 1240 and 1319. At the peak of Norwegian expansion before the civil war, Sigurd I led the Norwegian Crusade; the crusaders won battles in the Balearic Islands. In the Siege of Sidon they fought alongside Baldwin I and Ordelafo Faliero, the siege resulted in an expansion of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.. Leif Erikson, an Icelander of Norwegian origin and official hirdman of King Olaf I of Norway, explored America 500 years before Columbus.
Adam of Bremen wrote about the new lands in "Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum" when meeting Sweyn I of Denmark, but no other sources indicate that this knowledge went farther into Europe than Bremen, Germany. The Kingdom of Norway was the second European country after England to enforce a unified code of law to be applied for the whole country, called Magnus Lagabøtes landslov; the secular power was at its strongest at the end of King Haakon Haakonsson's reign in 1263. An important element of the period was the ecclesiastical supremacy of the archdiocese of Nidaros from 1152. There are no reliable sources for. Uppsala was established and was the third metropolitan diocese in Scandinavia after Lund and Nidaros; the church participated in a political process both before and during the Kalmar Union that aimed at Swedish side, to establish a position for Sweden in Jämtland. This area had been a borderland in relation to the Swedish kingdom, in some sort of alliance with Trøndelag, just as with Hålogaland.
A unified realm was initiated by King Harald I Fairhair in the 9th century. His efforts in unifying the petty kingdoms of Norway, resulted in the first known Norwegian central government; the country however fragmented soon, was again collected into one entity in the first half of the 11th century. Norway has been a monarchy since Fairhair; when Harald Fairhair became king of Norway after the battle at Hafrsfjord, he looked west to the isles, colonised by Norwegians for a century and by 875 the Northern Isles of Orkney and Shetland had been brought under his rule and given to Ragnvald Eysteinsson, Jarl of Møre. Iceland was more reluctant to give up their independent rule, so the Icelandic saga author Snorri Sturluson was given royal invitation to the court of King Haakon Haakonsson and was there convinced that Iceland was by right Norwegian. So began the Age of the Sturlungs, a time of political strife in Iceland, the Sturlungs worked for bringing Iceland to Norwegian rule and spread propaganda through their position at the Althing and resorted to violence before, in 1262, the Old Covenant was signed, which brought total Norwegian rule over the island.
In Ranríki Konunghella was built as a royal city alongside Biorgvin. It remained Norwegian until the 1658 Roskilde treaty. Herjárdalr remained so for five centuries. Jamtaland started paying taxes to Norway during the 13th century and was absorbed into a part of the mainland territory the same century, it was occupied by the Swedish during the Nordic Seven Years' War, but returned to Denmark-Norway as a result of the Stettin treaty of 1570. Idre and Særna, Norwegian since the 12th century, were conquered by Sweden during the Hannibal controversy. Ranríki, Herjárdalr, Idre and Særna were permanently surrendered to Sweden by the Peace of Brömsebro the 13th of August 1645. Viken, counties under Borgarþing: Ránríki Vingulmórk Vestfold Grenafylki Oppland, counties under Heiðsævisþing: Heinafylki Haðafylki Raumaríki Guðbrandsdalir Eystridalir Vestlandet, counties under Gulaþing: Sunnmærafylki Firðafylki Sygnafylki Horðafylki Rygjafylki Egðafylki Vøllðres HaddingjadalrTrøndelag, counties under Frostaþing: Raumsdølafylki Norðmørafylki Naumdølafylki Sparbyggjafylki Eynafylki Verdølafylki Skeynafylki Stjórdølafylki Strindafylki Gauldølafylki OrkdølafylkiRest of Norway, counties not attached to a thing: Jamtaland Herdalir Háleygjafylki Finnmòrk, as the areas north of Malangen, present-day Murmansk in Russia, parts of northern Lapland in Finland.
From the 600s Western Norwegian fish farmers began an exodus the nearby islands in the North Sea and Shetland on to the Western Isles like the Hebrides and Man, westward to the Faroe Islands and Greenland. Some of these islands were inhabited when the Norwegians arrived, but the local population was displaced or assimilated by the Norwegian immigrants; the islands' populations had a Norwegian ancestry, who kept in touch with the homeland over the North Sea. These Norwegian developed had their own chiefs or kings by Norwegian pattern, subject to the Norwegian royal power when it got national authority. Norw
Henry Borwin II, Lord of Mecklenburg
Henry Borwin II, Lord of Mecklenburg was a member of the House of Mecklenburg, was a Prince of Mecklenburg from 1219 to 1226 and Lord of Rostock. Borwin Henry II was Matilda of Blieskastel, he was the grandson of the founder of the House of Mecklenburg. After he died in 1226 in Güstrow, his four sons ruled Mecklenburg jointly until 1234, they divided Mecklenburg into the principalities of Werle, Parchim-Richenberg and Mecklenburg. Henry Borwin married in 1200 Christina of the daughter of King Sverker II of Sweden, they had the following children: Nicholas I, Lord of Werle John I the Theologian, Lord of Mecklenburg Henry Borwin III, Lord of Rostock Pribislaw I, Lord of Parchim-Richenberg, died in 1275 Margaret, married in 1230 Count Gunzelin III of Schwerin Matilda, married 1229 Duke Sambor II of Pomerelia Collection of materials Genealogical table of the House of Mecklenburg
Margaret I of Denmark
Margaret I was queen consort of Norway and Sweden and ruler in her own right of Denmark and Sweden, from which period there are ambiguities regarding her specific titles. She was the founder of the Kalmar Union. Margaret was known as a wise and capable leader, who governed with "farsighted tact and caution," earning the nickname "Semiramis of the North", she was derisively called "King Breechless", one of several mean nicknames invented by her rival Albert of Mecklenburg, but was known by her subjects as "the Lady King", which became used in recognition of her capabilities. The youngest daughter of King Valdemar IV of Denmark, Margaret was born at the Søborg Castle, she was a practical, patient administrator and diplomat, albeit one of high aspirations and a strong will, who intended to unite Scandinavia forever into one single entity with the strength to resist and compete against the might of the Hanseatic League. She died childless, having survived her only son, Olaf II, though some historians suggest she had an illegitimate daughter with Abraham Brodersson.
Margaret was succeeded by a string of incompetent monarchs, despite her efforts to raise and educate her heir Eric of Pomerania and his bride Philippa of England. Philippa in particular died young. "Although Eric came of age in 1401, Margaret continued for the remaining 11 years of her life to be sole ruler in all but name. Second regency marked the beginning of a Dano-Norwegian Union, to last for more than four centuries." The Union into which she put so much effort and hope disintegrated. Some historians have criticized Margaret for favouring Denmark and being too autocratic, though she is thought to have been regarded in Norway and respected in Denmark and Sweden, she was painted in a negative light in contemporary religious chronicles, as she had no qualms suppressing the Church to promote royal power. Margaret is known in Denmark as "Margrethe I" to distinguish her from the current queen, who chose to be known as Margrethe II in recognition of her predecessor. Margaret was born in March 1353 as the sixth and youngest child of King Valdemar IV and Helvig of Schleswig.
She was born in the prison of Søborg Castle, where her father had confined her mother. She was baptised in Roskilde and in 1359, at the age of six, engaged to the 18-year-old King Haakon VI of Norway, the youngest son of the Swedish-Norwegian king Magnus IV & VII; as part of the marriage contract it is presumed that a treaty was signed ensuring Magnus the assistance of King Valdemar in a dispute with his second son, Eric "XII" of Sweden, who in 1356 held dominion over Southern Sweden. Margaret's marriage was thus a part of the Nordic power struggle. There was dissatisfaction with this in some circles, the political activist Bridget of Sweden described the agreement in a letter to the Pope as "children playing with dolls"; the goal of the marriage for King Valdemar was regaining Scania, which since 1332 had been mortgaged to Sweden. Per contemporary sources, the marriage contract contained an agreement to give Helsingborg Castle back to Denmark, but, not enough for Valdemar, who in June 1359 took a large army across Øresund and soon occupied Scania.
The attack was ostensibly to support Magnus against Erik. As a result, the balance of power changed, all agreements between Magnus and Valdemar were terminated, including the marriage contract between Margaret and Haakon; this did not result in the withdrawal of Valdemar from Scania. Visby, populated by Germans, was the main town on the island and was the key to domination of the Baltic Sea. On 27 July 1361 a battle was fought between a well-equipped Danish army and an array of local Gotland peasants; the Danes took Visby, while the Germans did not take part. King Magnus and the Hanseatic League could not disregard this provocation, a trade embargo against Denmark was enacted, with agreement about necessary military action. At the same time, negotiations opened between King Magnus and Henry of Holstein about a marriage between Haakon and the latter's sister Elizabeth. On 17 December 1362, a ship left with Elizabeth bound for Sweden. A storm, diverted her to the Danish island Bornholm, where the archbishop of Lund declared the wedding a violation of church law because Haakon had been engaged to Margaret.
The Swedish and Hanseatic armies ultimately withdrew from their siege of Helsingborg. Following this, a truce was concluded with the Hanseatic States and King Magnus abandoning the war, meaning the marriage of the now 10-year-old Margaret and King Haakon was again relevant; the wedding was held in Copenhagen on 9 April 1363. The marriage of Haakon and Margaret was an alliance, Margaret remained in Denmark for some time after the wedding, but was taken to Akershus in Oslo Fjord where she was raised by Merete Ulvsdatter. Merete Ulvsdatter was a distinguished noblewoman and daughter of Bridget of Sweden, as well as the wife of Knut Algotsson, one of King Magnus's faithful followers. Margaret was brought up with Merete Ulvsdatter's daughter Ingegerd, who instructed her in matters of religion and monarchy. Merete's daughters and Catherine, became her closest female friends, with Margaret showing favoritism to Ingegerd, who became an abbess, as well as her monastery, it i
Borwin, Duke of Mecklenburg
Borwin, Duke of Mecklenburg has been the head of the House of Mecklenburg-Strelitz since 1996 and of the entire House of Mecklenburg since 2001. The death of Friedrich Franz, Hereditary Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin the last male member of the House of Mecklenburg-Schwerin on 31 July 2001 made Strelitz the only remaining line of the House of Mecklenburg, which ruled in Mecklenburg until 1918. Borwin and his sons and Michael, are the only known surviving legitimate male-line descendants of the medieval princely dynasty descended from Niklot of the Obotrites, which has included King Albert of Sweden. Duke Borwin of Mecklenburg was born in Freiburg im Breisgau the youngest child and only son of Duke Georg Alexander of Mecklenburg and his wife Archduchess Ilona of Austria the daughter of Archduke Joseph Francis of Austria and Princess Anna of Saxony, he is an agnatic descendant of Grand Duke Georg of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and through his mother a descendant of King Frederick Augustus III of Saxony and Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria.
Duke Borwin became the heir apparent to headship of the House of Mecklenburg-Strelitz on 6 July 1963 when his grandfather died and his father succeeded as head of the house. Borwin has studied Viticulture at the Geisenheim Grape Breeding Institute and served as an officer in the German Army, he has managed a Swiss drinks company. In politics, Duke Borwin is a former local party chairman for the Christian Democratic Union in the village of Hinterzarten in the Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald district of Baden-Württemberg, leaving his post in May 2009. In 1928 his grandfather George was adopted by his uncle and the head of the House of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Duke Charles Michael, his grandfather subsequently assumed the title of Duke of Mecklenburg with the style Serene Highness, confirmed on 18 July 1929 by the head of the Imperial House of Russia, Grand Duke Cyril Vladimirovich and recognised on 23 December by the former Grand Duke Frederick Francis IV of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. On 18 December 1950, Hereditary Grand Duke Friedrich Franz of Mecklenburg-Schwerin confirmed the ducal title and granted the style Highness, which in conjunction with the title, is the style enjoyed by dynastic members of the House of Mecklenburg.
His grandfather was confirmed as head of the house. Duke Borwin succeeded as head of the House of Mecklenburg-Strelitz following his father's death on 26 January 1996. With the death of Hereditary Grand Duke Friedrich Franz on the 31 July 2001, the House of Mecklenburg-Schwerin has become extinct in the male line leaving Mecklenburg-Strelitz as the only surviving branch of the grand ducal house. Duke Borwin is the patron and protector of the Order of the Griffon, revived in September 1984; the order was founded by Grand Duke Frederick Francis III of Mecklenburg-Schwerin on 15 September 1884. He has served on the Almanach de Gotha's Comité de Patronage. In 2005 Duke Borwin along with the head of the House of Hohenzollern, Georg Friedrich, Prince of Prussia attended the seasonal opening of Hohenzieritz Castle in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, it was at the castle where Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz who married Frederick William III of Prussia and became Queen of Prussia, died in 1810. Duke Borwin married Alice Wagner the daughter of Dr. Jürgen-Detlev Wagner and Marianne Bichl in a civil marriage on 24 December 1985 in Hinterzarten followed by a religious ceremony on 19 July 1986.
They have three children. Duchess Helene Olga Feodora Donata Maria Katharina Theresia of Mecklenburg Duke Georg Alexander Michael Heinrich Ernst Franz Ferdinand Maria of Mecklenburg Duke Carl Michael Borwin Georg Friedrich Franz Hubertus Maria of Mecklenburg House of Mecklenburg: Head of the House Order of the Wendish Crown House of Petrović-Njegoš: Grand Cross of the Order of Prince Danilo I House of Petrović-Njegoš: Knight of the House Order of Saint Peter of Cetinje United States: Member of the Sons of the American Revolution Niklot, Prince of the Obotrites and Lord of Mecklenburg, 1090–1160 Pribislav of Mecklenburg, Prince of the Obotrites and Lord of Mecklenburg, d. 1178 Henry Borwin I, Lord of Mecklenburg, d. 1227 Henry Borwin II, Lord of Mecklenburg, 1170–1226 John I, Lord of Mecklenburg, 1211–1264 Henry I, Lord of Mecklenburg, 1230–1302 Henry II, Lord of Mecklenburg, 1266–1329 Albert II, Duke of Mecklenburg, 1318–1379 Magnus I, Duke of Mecklenburg, 1345–1384 John IV, Duke of Mecklenburg, 1370–1422 Henry IV, Duke of Mecklenburg, 1417–1477 Magnus II, Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Güstrow, 1441–1503 Albert VII, Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Güstrow, 1486–1547 John Albert I, Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Güstrow, 1525–1576 John VII, Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Güstrow, 1558–1592 Adolphus Frederick I, Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, 1588–1658 Adolphus Frederick II, 1st Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, 1658–1708 Duke Charles Louis Frederick of Mecklenburg, 1708–1752 Charles II, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, 1741–1816 George, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, 1779–1860 Duke George Augustus of Mecklenburg, 1824–1876 Duke George Alexander of Mecklenburg, 1859–1909 George, Duke of Mecklenburg, 1899–1963 George Alexander, Duke of Mecklenburg, 1921–1996 Borwin, Duke of Mecklenburg, b. 1956 The Order of the Griffin House of Mecklenburg-Strelitz website
Henry II, Lord of Mecklenburg
Henry II, Lord of Mecklenburg, nicknamed the Lion was regent of Mecklenburg from 1287 to 1298, co-regent from 1298 to 1302 and ruled alone again from 1302 to 1329. He was the son of Henry I and reigned from 1287 to 1289 together with his brother John III. During his father's absence from 1275 to 1302, Mecklenburg was ruled by his mother Anastasia jointly with Henry's uncles Nicholas III and John II. In 1287, Henry II became co-regent with his uncle; when his father died in 1302, Henry II became Lord of Mecklenburg. Early in his reign, he conducted an unsuccessful war against Nicholas II of Werle about the succession of Henry I. Around 1299, the sons of his father-in-law Albert III of Brandenburg died and Albert gave him the Lordship of Stargard, which Albert had earlier promised to give as dowry to his daughter Beatrix. In the 1304 Treaty of Vietmannsdorf, it was once again agreed that Brandenburg enfeoffed Henry II with the Lordship of Stargard; when Beatrix died without a male heir in 1314, Brandenburg demanded that Stargard be handed back.
This led to the so-called "North German Margrave War". in 1299, an alliance of Henry II of Mecklenburg, Nicholas II of Werle and Albert III of Brandenburg-Salzwedel tried to conquer the Principality of Rostock. Lord Nicholas I of Rostock put his country in 1300 under the feudal rule and protection of King Eric VI of Denmark. Eric defeated Henry and took Rostock for himself. In 1304, a new alliance, consisting of Henry II and Albert's successor Herman came to the aid of king Wenceslaus II of Bohemia in his war against Emperor Albert I. In this war, Henry earned his nickname "the Lion". In 1310, he began a war against the Hanseatic cities of Rostock; the trigger for this war was the refusal of Wismar to host the wedding of Henry's daughter Matilda with Duke Otto III of Brunswick-Lüneburg. Henry III chose Sternberg as his residence and held the wedding there. Wismar submitted to Henry in 1311 and he continued his attack on Rostock. On 15 December 1312, he took the city, despite fierce resistance; the city rose up again in 1313, when Henry was undertaking a pilgrimage to the Madonna del Rocca church in Castelmola.
On 12 January 1314, Rostock was subdued again and the old city council, led by Bernhard Kopman, was restored to power. In 1315, the so-called "North German Margrave War" broke out, against Brandenburg and the city of Stralsund. Brandenburg, now led by Margrave Waldemar, invaded the disputed Lordship of Stargard. Henry besieged Stargard, but had to break off his siege in July 1316, he defeated Waldemar in the Battle of Gransee and was awarded the Lordship of Stargard in the Treaty of Templin of 25 November 1317. In 1319 Henry and Count Gerhard III of Holstein-Rendsburg tried to subdue Ditmarschen, but were unsuccessful. Ditmarschen won the Battle of Wöhrden; that year, Waldemar died and Henry II conquered Prignitz and the Uckermark. In 1323, Rostock revolted again, Henry subdued the city again and made peace with King Christopher II of Denmark on 21 May 1323. Christopher enfeoffed him with the Lordships of Rostock and Schwaan; the new Margrave Louis I of Brandenburg, or rather his guardian Count Berthold VII of Henneberg-Schleusingen, reconquered Prignitz and the Uckermark and Henry had to settle for an unfavourable peace treaty on 24 May 1325.
After the last Prince of Rügen, Wizlaw died on 10 November 1325, the first War of the Rügen Succession broke out. It ended after fierce fighting with the Peace of Brudersdorf of 27 June 1328, in which Pomerania acquired Rügen and Mecklenburg had to settle for a monetary compensation. Henry II died on 21 January 1329. Henry's first marriage was to Beatrix of Brandenburg, the daughter of Margrave Albert III of Brandenburg, they had one daughter: Matilda, married in 1311 with Duke Otto III of Brunswick-LüneburgHis second marriage, after 6 July 1315, was to Anna of Saxe-Wittenberg, the daughter of Duke Albert II of Saxe-Wittenberg. They had the following children: Ludgarda, married Duke Władysław of Bytom Henry Anastasia Albert II, nicknamed The Great, who succeeded Henry as Lord of Mecklenburg, in 1348 became the first Duke of Mecklenburg Agnes, married on 6 January 1338 with Lord Nicholas III of Werle-Güstrow John I, Lord of Mecklenburg and from 1348, Duke of Mecklenburg-Stargard Beatrix of Mecklenburg, abbess of the Ribnitz Monastery His third wife was Agnes, the daughter of Count Ulrich of Lindow-Ruppin.
This marriage remained childless. After the death of Henry, Agnes married Rudolf Duke of Saxe-Wittenberg. Ludwig Fromm, "Heinrich II. Der Löwe, Fürst von Mecklenburg", Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie, 11, Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot, pp. 541–542 Genealogical table of the House of Mecklenburg
