of Denmark. The expedition ended with the submission of the Rügen princess to Danish feudal overlordship and the mass baptism of the people of Rügen. The area on the mainland north of the Ryck that formed part of this territory was put under Berno's diocese. On 9 September 1171 Berno dedicated Schwerin Cathedral, a predecessor of the present building. He had great success in the foundation of monasteries, in which the Cistercians were of particular assistance: they founded Doberan Abbey in 1171, and in 1172 Dargun Abbey. On 30 November 1173 Berno dedicated the first altar in the chapel at Dargun and confirmed to the new monastery gifts from Pribislav and from Casimir I, Duke of Pomerania. On 1 February 1177 Berno held a general synod in Schwerin. At the beginning of 1178 he travelled to Rome, where in March Pope Alexander III confirmed him in his bishopric. He travelled to Rome again at the end of 1178 to attend the papal council of 5–18 March 1179. While he was on this journey, Pribislav, Prince of Mecklenburg, died, on 30 December 1178 in Lüneburg, in the train of which much serious disturbance ensued: on 10 November 1179 Doberan Abbey was sacked and all the inhabitants killed; Dargun Abbey was abandoned by its monks. For his protection and security Berno attended the court at Erfurt in November 1181, and on 2 December 1181 received the Emperor's confirmation of his ecclesiastical property. He also attended the court at Altenburg in 1183 to secure his position further. It took some time for the situation in Mecklenburg to calm down, although Christianity was already widespread, and in the new prince, Heinrich Borwin I, who had been ruling since 1181, had an energetic spokesman. Eventually, in 1186, it was possible to take in hand the reconstruction – on another site – of Doberan Abbey. Berno died in Schwerin on 14 January 1191. References F. Wigger: Berno, der erste Bischof von Schwerin, In: Jahrbücher de Vereins für mecklenburgische Geschichte 28, 1863, 3 ff. Franz Winter: Die Cisterzienser des nordöstlichen Deutschlands I, 1868, 82 ff Karl Schmaltz: Kirchengeschichte Mecklenburgs I, 1935 Karl Jordan: Die Bistumsgründungen Heinrichs des Löwen – Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der ostdeutschen Kolonisation, 1939 Joachim Wächter: Das Fürstentum Rügen – Ein Überblick. In Beiträge zur Geschichte Vorpommerns: die Demminer Kolloquien 1985–1994. Thomas Helms Verlag, Schwerin 1997, . Notes External links / Sources |- |- Year