serbs and croates

It is no wonder that the Croats claim that they are of Persian antecedents today. "Hrvati" means followers of the sun in Ossetian (Persian) dialect.
There is a Persian tribe by the name of Hrvati as well.

 

Polish Pomorze, German Pommern (from Slavic po, “along”; morze, “sea”)

historic region of northeastern Europe lying along the Baltic coastal plain between the Oder and the Vistula rivers. Politically, the name also came to include the area west of the Oder as far as Stralsund, including the island of Rügen (Rugia). Most of Pomerania is now part of Poland, but its westernmost section is in eastern Germany, as reflected in the name of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania Land (state). The region is generally flat, and there are numerous small rivers and, along the east coast, many lakes.

Pomerania was inhabited successively by Celts, Germanic tribes, and, by the 5th century AD, the Slavic Pomeranians (Pomorzanie) and Polabs. Mieszko I, prince of Poland (d. 992), mastered it, and in 1000 his successor, Boleslaw I the Brave, organized a diocese in Pomerania with its seat at Kolobrzeg. A local dynasty then ruled Pomerania and also the region to the west, later called Mecklenburg. On the death of Duke Swiatobor in 1107, his three sons each inherited a district: Boguslaw I received the eastern area, later called Hinterpommern (Pomerania Ulterior, or Eastern Pomerania), including Gdansk (Danzig); Warcislaw I received the western area, Vorpommern (West Pomerania) including Wologoszcz (Wolgast); and Ratibor obtained the central area including Szczecin (Stettin). German immigration into the western and central regions of Pomerania began in the late 12th century. This resulted in the Germanization of the towns and later of the nobility and the countryside.

Until the 17th century, Polish dukes ruled western and central Pomerania (the duchies of Wolgast and Stettin) under the suzerainty of the Holy Roman Empire. The elector of Brandenburg acquired these duchies in 1637, when the last Polish duke, Boguslaw XIV, who had united them, died without issue. Sweden received Western Pomerania by the Peace of Westphalia (1648); part of it was returned to Brandenburg-Prussia in 1720, and the remainder (Stralsund and Rügen) was recovered by Prussia in 1815. Prussia united western and central Pomerania into one province called Pommern.Eastern Pomerania was held by the Teutonic Knights from 1308 to 1454, when it was reconquered by Poland. In 1772 it was annexed by Prussia and made into the province of West Prussia. Part of it was restored to Poland after World War I; and the remainder, together with central Pomerania, became Polish in 1945. The German population of eastern and central Pomerania was expelled westward and replaced by Poles. Western Pomerania was incorporated into the German Democratic Republic.

The Caucasian Avars who conquered the Balkans have given Serbia, Crna Gora,
and Albania the names each respectively bears today. In the Lesghian-Avar
language, the Balkan Crna Gora carries the same toponym of the land they
left behind in the Caucasus: also called Crna Gora, now part of Daghestan.
In the Lesghian-Avar language: Srbi means "people." Also, in the
Lesghian-Avar language: Albania is the land they called their homeland,
neighbouring Armenia, once known as Ancient Caucasian Albania, dating back
2,000 years ago, but still found in old maps.

You see, the ancestors of the Serbs, Montnegrins, and Albanians were Avar
tribes (not to be confused with Mongol tribes near Siberia) from the
Caucasus, however the indigenous people such as the Thracians, Dacians,
Illyrians, and Slav retainers, were fussed with them, giving mixed signals
to us all today.

 Serbs think they are pure Slavs, which they are not.

 The Albanians think they are pure Illyrians, which they are not.

 The Montnegrins think they are Polabs who have been christianized by Rome, which is not true.

 The Avars were Christian Nestorians, who buried their dead and had a state religion, dating circa 300 A.D. They were totally assimilated by the Thracians and Slavs, and their vestiges live on in Serbs, Montnegrins and Albanians (Malisori but not Shiptars, to be precise)
so does their spirit.

The Council of Chalcedon changed many things for them
but they continued to exist as part of the Khazar Confederacy (Khazar is a
Turkic word for Georgians or Circassians) always keeping Byzantine ties rather than Latin ones. They paid great heed to their dead and had 26 tribes, including clans, like the Montenegrins and northern Albanians of old.

It is no wonder that the Croats claim that they are of Persian antecedents today. "Hrvati" means followers of the sun in Ossetian (Persian) dialect.
There is a Persian tribe by the name of Hrvati as well.

 Historically, Serbs and Croats were not only enemies, but racially different.

The Serbs belong
to the Balkano-Caucasian group (like the Georgians, Chechens, Circassians,Mingrelians)

and the Croats are Aryans, like Gypsy, English, German,Italian and the rest. They both came to the Balkans to fight, booty and re-settle Slavs, just like the Bulgarian-Utigurs did, a Turkic people, another race altogether.

 POLABS (Po=on, Laba=Elbe), the Slavs (q.v.) who dwelt upon the Elbe and eastwards to the Oder. Their chief tribes were the Vagri in Holstein, the Bodri~i or Obotritae in Mecklenburg, the Ljuti~i or Wiltzi in western Pomerania, the Sprevane on the Spree and the Gloma~i or Dalemintsi in Saxony. Except the Lithuanians they were the last Europeans to be christianized; their chief sanctuary was at Arcona on the Isle of Rugen. They were converted and conquered by the 12th century and systematically germanized. By the 17th century Slavonic survived only in a tiny patch in the east of Hanover about Liichow, where a few words were still understood at the beginning of the 19th century. The population of the district still goes by the name of Wends (q.v.). The chief remains of the language are a paternoster, a few phrases and a short vocabulary written down by Pastor Chr. Henning (c. 1700), and the diary of J. Paruns Schultze (d. 1734). These were edited by A. Hilferding (St Petersburg, 1856), and a grammar was published there by A. Schleicher (1871). M. Porzezinski and Fr. Lorentz are the chief later authorities. Polabian agrees mostly with Polish and Kulube with its nasalized vowels and highly palatalized consonants. It had, however, long vowels and a free accent. The remains of it are most corrupt, having been written down when the language was full of Low German by people who did not know Slavonic.

Religion and temple cults

 

The territory of the north-western Slavs was one of the few areas in medieval Europe which retained pagan beliefs and cults well into the twelfth century – a stumbling block for the ecclesiastical hierarchy of the neighbouring feudal states, and to some extent a thorn in the side of Christian Europe. From about 700 onwards Christian missions, therefore, attempted to convert these areas and to integrate them under Christian control. The tribes of the north-western Slavs, however, were equally steadfast in warding off these attempts, the more so as they were more or legs veiled pretexts for conquest and suppression by either the Frankish or the German kingdom. In such circumstances the pagan religion of the north-western Slavs also became the focal point of resistance to foreign conquest. The display of religious and cult practices was therefore of great importance and was stressed by Christian apologists.

 

According to the chronicler Thietmar (c. 1015), each tribe had its own god: 'There are', he said, 'as many temples as there are tribes.' Some of the names of the gods can be traced back to old Indo-European roots. The Wagrians around Oldenburg worshipped a god called Prove; those at Plon the god Podaga; the Polabs had a god Siwa and the Obodrites at Mecklenburg the god Radigost. Swarozyc was the principal god of the Wilti. He was worshipped at a ceremonial fort at Rethra (Riedegost) in the vicinity of the modern town of Neubrandenburg in Mecklenburg. The temple is described as follows: 'The outer walls, as far as one can discern, are decorated with various splendidly carved images of gods and goddesses. Inside are statues of gods each inscribed with a name; they are awe-inspiring and clad in helmets and armor; the highest of the gods is called Swarozyc and he is specially revered and worshipped by all heathens. The standards may only be removed in times of war and then only by warriors on foot’.

 

One of the characteristics of the Slav gods was that they had man y heads. In Arkona the Rugian god Svantevit is supposed to have been depicted with four heads. Other gods in Rügen are described as having had seven heads. Triglaw, a three-headed god, stood in Brandenburg, and the town of Szczecin also had a Triglaw as its special communal god. A few years ago a two-headed wooden statue was excavated on the island of Tollensesee near Neubrandenburg. At Wolin a miniature wood carving with four faces interpreted as Svantevit was associated with strata datable to the end of the ninth century.

 

Slav places of worship brought to light in excavations in Poland and the USSR show that in some regions the modes of worshipping gods in temples and by means of statues differed. The earlier places of worship of both the Slavs and the Baltic tribes usually consisted of a circular setting enclosing either symbolic posts or wooden figures. The best known of these sites is devoted to Perun at Novgorod. Archaeology shows that this type of site also occurred in Poland and east of the Oder. It is possible that the particular north-west Slav tradition of idols and temples may be due to Celtic influences from southern Poland and Bohemia.

 

From both documentary and archaeological sources we know of fertility and cattle gods such as Volos; gods of war and primeval power such as Svantevit; sky gods such as Perun; sun and file gods such as Svarog and Svarozyc and war gods such as Gerovit. There were also numerous other divinities and demons. Rethra is an example of a place where a complete pantheon was and created and priests or groups of priests established to serve it. Such priests were the religious leaders of the community and influenced social and politico-military life.

 

 

 

“In the temple stood a huge image,

far overtopping all human stature, marvellous for ifs four heads

facing the breast and two the back. Moreover, of those in front

as well as of those behind, one looked leftwards and the

rightwards. In the right band it held a horn wrought of

metals, which the priest who was versed in ifs rites

used to Jill every year with new wine,

in order to foresee the crops of the next season

from the disposition of the liquor.”

 

Saxo Grammaticus

Gesta Danorum

description of the god Svantevit at Arkona

About 1200

 

 

More unanswered questions hang over the Slavs than over any of the other peoples covered by this book. Their material culture overlaps at so man y points with that of their neighbors that it is sometimes difficult to assert categorically that an object is indubitably and exclusively Slav. Their place of origin may be located between the rivers Vistula and Dnjeper, their migration routes were varied and the area they came to occupy extended from Greece in the south to the Baltic in the north and to the River Main in the west. Nor did they at any time enjoy political or social unity. The best criterion would be linguistic, since there is certainly a language or group of languages, that can be called Slav; but it was not written down until the ninth century, and even after that, documents are meager.

 

Yet the vital importance of the Slavs in the formation of eastern Europe has never been disputed. Moving in from the great plains at the end of the Bronze Age, they divided into groups that the linguists define as: the eastern Slavs, who became the ancestors of the Russians, Belorussians and Ukrainians; the western Slavs, from whom spring the Czechs, Moravians, Slovaks and Poles; and the southern Slavs, the Serbs, Croats and Bulgarians. The northern Slavs, with whom this chapter is concerned, belong mainly to the western branch. Each of these groups, however, retained much that was common to them all. And as the medium of contact between many disparate cultures - Germanic, Norse, Illyrian, Iranian, Byzantine - they were collectively the most important, if the most mysterious, of the groups determining the make-up of the post-Roman world.

 

The island of Rügen lies off the southern Baltic coast, due north of Berlin. Its many peninsulas and inlets make it ideal as a trading station. For the Slavs it was the gate to Scandinavia, for the western Scandinavians one stage of the route that could take them to Byzantium. Here have been found, at Hiddensee, one of the richest of Scandinavian treasures; at Altenkirchen, carved stones representing Slav gods; at Ralswiek, the remains of jetties and boats; and at Arkona, a promontory on the extreme north side, was once the most famous of Slav temples. The description by Saxo Grammaticus, quoted at the top of this page, belongs to the early thirteenth century, but the temple had been destroyed by the Danish king Waldemar nearly a century before. Arkona today is a place of slightly sinister beauty. The great rampart built by the Slavs to defend their citadel is still easily recognizable. Behind it, now destroyed by the sea, was the site of the temple of the god Svantevit. His huge idol occupied an inner room hung with purple rugs.

 

 

 

THE NORTHERN SLAVS

 

THE FALL of the Roman Empire and the rise of the barbarian kingdoms in the fifth century AD mark the beginning of a new era in European history. It was not only the south and west of Europe that was affected; even outside the Empire, in eastern, central and northern Europe, the economic, social and cultural consequences of these events were far reaching. One of the groups to attain prominence as a result was the Slavs.

 

The Slavs, as a distinct linguistic and cultural division of the Indo-European family, seem to have crystallized as far back as the Neolithic, probably in the north European plain between the Vistula and the Dnjeper. In the east they were in contact with nomadic steppe tribes, who, among other things, transmitted a strong Iranian element to the Slav language. In the west, close relation with the coastal tribes of the Baltic had existed from remote times, and by the last centuries BC we find Slavs living as neighbors to Germanic peoples. The Germans called them 'Wends', a name also given to the east central European Veneto-Illyrian tribes. Tacitus, in the Germania (late first century), our earliest documented reference, calls them 'Venedi'.

 

In the first centuries AD some of the Germanic tribes moving south, for example the Goths and the Burgundians, encountered Slavs. There were skirmishes along the Vistula and occasionally in the area the east, between the Vistula and the Dnjeper. Some Slav tribes seem to have attached themselves to the Ostrogothic kingdom, or came under its sway. Others were in close touch with the Roman provinces on the middle and lower Danube and in Dacia. These relations were of considerable importance for economic consequences developments in the region of the Vistula and in the eastern foothills of the Carpathian Mountains. Roman industrial and craft traditions were transmitted from the provinces both indirectly, by way of the neighboring Slav tribes who adopted Roman methods of manufacture, and directly by skilled craftsmen from the provinces who came to the Slav heartlands either as refugees or as captives. In some places formal economic centers developed. Around Crakow on the upper Vistula, for instance, a centre of industrial pottery production grew up in the second century. The iron mines at Swiętokrzyskie Góry, which involved under-ground mining, were also worked. These mines supplied large tracts of the area in east central Europe covered by what is known as the Przeworsk culture, and there are even some indications that iron from Swiętokrzyskie Góry reached the Roman Empire. An analysis of traded objects in central and eastern Europe has shown how many goods of Roman or provincial Roman origin were acquired by some of the Slav tribes. Seen in this light, the Przeworsk culture, which is at least partially Slav, belongs to the margin of the Roman world. Roman influence can be traced not only in the fairly obvious areas of metalwork, pottery and jewellery, but also in agriculture: the common introduction of rye cultivation among the Slavs and the use of iron tools, including the iron-shod plough in some areas, were decisive innovations.

 

These contacts with the developed Roman world were of great importance to the history of the Slavs in two respects. Social and economic advances and consequent increased production potential within the tribes, led to a rapid growth of population in the fourth to sixth centuries. And this in turn was the main cause of the Slav migrations and expansion from the fifth century onwards. The Roman provinces acted as a magnet to which new bands of warriors and tribal groups were constantly attracted. Slav incursions into the Balkan provinces began early in the sixth century. These were followed in the mid-sixth century by more substantial Slav settlement south of the Danube on the territory of the east Roman Empire. This opened a new corridor to Mediterranean culture, and in the centuries that followed cultural and economic impulses originating in this area were transmitted as far as the Slav tribes on the Baltic coast. The Mediterranean coloring thus given to Slav culture is of great importance in considering the part played by these tribes in the history of the southern Baltic.

 

·        Slav tribes reached the south coast of the Baltic at different rimes and under different conditions. From the fifth and sixth centuries onwards dense Slav settlement was established between the mouth of the Vistula and the Bay of Kiel, at times even stretching as far as the lower Elbe. This was the territory of the western Slavs, who can be divided into four main groups.

·        Further west lived the Obodrites, an umbrella term for Obodrites proper, Wagrians, Polabs and Warnoi;

·        the Poles, of the region of Gniezno and Poznan, were to play an important role in the history of the Baltic peoples, as the kingdom which emerged between the Oder and the Vistula in the tenth century was based on this tribe.

·        The Wilti settled east of the Obodrite territory as far as the Oder; the Woliners at the mouth of the Oder, and the Pomeranians, so called because of their coastal settlements (pomorzane = seaside inhabitants), further east still.

 At times the Rugians or Rügen Slavs, the inhabitants of the island of Rügen, were a major factor in the western Baltic. The Venerable Bede in the eighth century knew of this tribe and names them alongside the Danes and the Huns. By that date the Rugians had presumably already come into contact with Willibrord's Anglo-Saxon mission.

 

 

Whereas the western Slavs occupied a long stretch of the Baltic shore as early as the sixth century, the eastern Slavs only reached the eastern side of the Gulf of Finland in the eighth and ninth centuries. During this little-known migratory and colonizing movement the Ilmen Slavs emerged as an identifiable group through a process of assimilation of tribes of Finno-Ugrian extraction. Important routes to central Asia and the Near East passed through their territory. Both the Volga and the Dnjeper routes began here, on the lower Neva, Lake Ladoga, and the Volkhov and Ilmen rivers. Staraja Ladoga, Beloezero and finally Novgorod became the dominant centers on this Continental trade and circulation route. The Krivichi created another point of access to the Baltic for the eastern Slavs by their general expansion towards Lake Peipus and by the foundation of Isborsk and Pskov.

 

Since immemorial time Baltic tribes, of which the Prussians, the Lithuanians and the Letts were the most important, had inhabited the area between the lower Vistula and the western Dvina. Finno-Ugrian tribes such as the Livonians, the Estonians and the Votes had settled to the north of the Dvina. These tribes would have preferred to adopt an isolationist policy, but for various poorly understood reasons they were unable to defend their territories in the south and south-east against the expanding Slavs. The Krivichi dominated such geographically crucial areas as the Smolensk region and the vicinity of Lake Peipus until the ninth and tenth centuries and at times even annexed them. This ethnic pattern which emerged during the early Middle Ages has remained fundamentally the same until the present day.

 http://www.emecklenburg.de/Mestlin/geschichte/g1648_.html

The history of Mestlin

This part tells about the first mentioning of Mestlin, the development to a big village, and the heavy fate during the Thirty-Years-War.

Stone Age

In the pre-historic and early historic times was the first settlement in the area of today's Mecklenburg, which is proven by a number of finds.

Finds prove the existence of humans in that area about 16000 years ago, a first settlement could have started about 10000 years ago (hunter-gatherers). Around 3000 BC, our ancestors became settled, they started cultivating the soil and keeping animals.

Bronze Age

The period between 1800 BC and 600 BC is being called Bronze Age.

Finds of tools, weapons and jewelry document the stage of development of our ancestors. Also from this time, are a number of burial mounds still preserved.

Iron Age

Between 600 BC and 600 AD, the "Warnen" (Teutonic tribe) lived in this area.

This period is marked by the use of iron instead of bronze. Other Germanic tribes on the area of today's Mecklenburg are the "Langobarden" and the "Semnonen". At the end of the 4th century, the big germanic migration to the south-west started. At the beginning of the 6th century, there is almost no soul in that area.

Slav-Time

In the 6th and 7th century, the entire land, that had been left by the Germans is being resettled by the Slavs. The Slav-Time lasts until the middle of the 12th century.

The area of today's Mecklenburg is being settled by the tribes of the "Obotriten" and the "Wilzen" (later called "Lutizen"). Parts of the "Obotriten" settle:

  • 6quot;Obotriten" between Wismarer Bucht and the southern end of the Schweriner See
  • "Rereger" around the area of Wismar and Schwerin
  • "Warnower" at the upper Warnow and at the Mildenitz
  • "Polaben" at the Elbe around Lauenburg, Boizenburg and Ratzeburg

Parts of the tribe of the "Wilzen6quot; (Kessiner, Zirzipaner, Tollenser, Redarier) settled further to the East in the area between the Warnow and the Oder.

995

The "Michelenburg" is mentioned for the first time in a document by King Otto III.

1160

Conquest of the land of the Obotriten by Henry the Lion, duke of Saxony and Bavaria

In 1160, Henry the Lion invades Mecklenburg with his army; The duke of the "Obotriten" Niklot, died during that invasion in 1160. In 1167, his son Pribislaw received a saxon fief; In 1160, Schwerin was founded as the first city in Mecklenburg.
The German settlement of
Mecklenburg continues until the middle of the 13th century, above all by settlers from Holstein, Lower Saxony and West-Phalia. The peasants received tax-free fief-land as fief-property. The German city-foundings took part mostly in the 13th century, above all by the territorial sovereignties.

1220

Founding of the monastry in Dobbertin as a monk's monastry for the holy Benedikt under duke Henry Borwin I.

1229

First major separation of Mecklenburg

For the four grand-sons of Henry Borwin I. (son of Pribislaw, grand-son of Niklot), Mecklenburg is being divided into the territories Mecklenburg, Rostock (line dies out in 1314), Werle (dies out in 1436), and Parchim- Richenberg (until 1256).
Around this time, one still speaks Slav in
Mecklenburg. The family-names, that consolidate around 1300, establish. Approx. 200 years later, the Slav language is hardly being spoken at all in Mecklenburg.

Around 1250, the first church in Mestlin is being built, the choir has been preserved until today. "Lisch" writes about that in 1856:

Historic Cultural Dictionary
 
Yearbooks of the Union for the History and Classical Antiquity of Mecklenburg, Friedrich Lisch, Schwerin 1856
The church of Mestlin near Dobbertin consists of a choir, a nave and a tower.
The choir has a quadratic ground plan, with an even altar wall, and is built of field stones (granite ashlars); the base and the corners are hewed evenly. The narrow window openings have sloping even loafings; whether they are round or in the transitional style softly sharpened, is impossible to see, since the window arches have been remodelled a number of times. The gable has round arch niches. So the choir is definitely from the time in which most of our churches have been built, approx. from the year 1230.
The nave is a high, beautiful building in the pointed arch style, made of very big bricks and has three-parted pointed arch windows. In the middle of the nave stand two slim pillars, which carry beautiful pointed arch vaults. Thereby, the church is being devided into two naves. The pillars, that have bases, are octagonal and placed in such a way that four corners stand under the vault seperations and are dressed with services; so there are four services running up the pillars to the four cardinal points. In younger times, the vault rips have been colored in black, grey and white, and have a very special ornamentation, that has not been seen anywhere else so far; it is trimmed with a number of lamellas and rip shields. These lamellas, of 10" diameter and approx. 1" thickness, are made of light yellow clay and decorated with various reliefs, like stars, crosses, rosettes, and so on, that are painted in a number of different colors. The southern gate is lined by six torusses and decorated with alternating black, green and red bricks. The nave is probably from the middle of the 14th century and has been furnished this way in that time as well.
The portal of the tower is also made of light green glazed and red bricks.

Approx. from 1230 until 1256, the settlement on the area of today's district Parchim was pushed by duke Pribislaw of Parchim (reigned from 1229 till 1256, after his expulsion was Nicolaus of Werle the local sovereign). He was supported by a number of aristocrats. Their names are being mentioned on documents of that time.

On October 9th, 1312 Mestlin is being mentioned in a document for the first time. The place name was Mustelin / Mostelin back then. It is of Slavic background: the word for "bridge" was "most" (Pol., Czech., Russ., Bulg.). The old-polabic form (the Polabs were a sub-tribe of the Obotriten) was probably "Mostelin". The middle syllable "el" is hard to interpret, maybe it's an indication of a person's name.

1312 Octbr. 9th. Mestlin
 
Eric, King of
Denmark, signs a treaty with the margrave Waldemar of Brandenburg on the division of the sum, which is to be expected from Rostock for the demolition of the tower of Warnemünde.
Aar 1312. S. Dionysii Dag, til Mustelin bleff fothandlet imellen Konning Erich oc Margreff Woldemor, at huad som de begge kunde bekomme aff de Rostocker, formedelst Forhandling, for at det Taarn for Verneminde bygd, igien maate affbrydis, oc aldrig siden byggis ved nogen, det skal de lige skiffte: vi skal lade Margreuffuen strax vide, huad os biudis, hand maa hafue otte Vgers frist at beraade sig der om, oc see til om hand kand faa meer end Kongen biudis, Margreffven skal giore os det samme igien, om hannem biusdis nogenslig Fordrag.
 
[= In the year 1312, on St.-Dionysius-day, was negiotiated between King Eric and the margrave Waldemar, that that, what they have to expect through negotiation with Rostock for the demolition of the tower that had been built in front of Warnemünde and that should never be built up again by anybody, should be divided up evenly between the two of them. We shall let the margrave know at once, what we are being offered; he is given eight weeks time for consultation and to find out if he could get more, than what the King is being offered. The margrave shall do the same, when he is offered such a contract.

OnJuly 8th, 1317 Mestlin is being mentioned in a document for the second time.

1317 July 8th. Mestlin
 
Johann j. j. duke of Werle(-Goldberg), confirms the city Goldberg on the basis of the city-letter for the same, that had been granted by duke Pribislaw of Parchim in 1248.
Nos [P.] dominus in P(er)archem - -. Nos igitur Johannes dei gratia domicellus de Werle notum esse volumus omnibus, tam presentibus quam futuris, quibus hoc scriptum manifestum fuerit sive promulgatum, quod de inclaritate animi nostri maturoque consilio nostrorum fidelium vasallorum in hiis scriptis ratificamus omnem donationis proprietatem civitatis nostre Goltberch, sicut ipsa est a nostris progenitoribus fundata et constructa modis omnibus, [cu]m aquis, aquarumdecursibus, piscationibus, pratis, pascuis, lignis, silvis, nemoribus et paludi[bu]s, rubis, rubetis et sespitibus, usuagiis, ferrifodi[ni]s, cultis et non cultis, viis et inviis aliisque omnibus proventibus, modo quocunque poterint evenire, a nobis et nostris sequacibus in perpetuum omnia et queque premissa sine molestia possidenda et perfruenda pacifice et quiete.
Ne vero quis nostrorum successorum super premissa hesitando dubitet, presentum paginam nostro cum sigillo fecimus roborari. Testes sunt: Tesmar[us], Reymar[us] de Mallin, Johannes de Havelberch, milites, [et] alii quam plures fide digni. Datum et actum Mostelin, anno domini M.CCC.XVII., feria sexta post octauas apostolorum Petri et Pauli, nostra in presentia.

1350 Henry Präemule is pastor of Mestlin / Ruest.

On Febr. 27th, 1352, Dankqward of Gutzstevel is being mentioned in Mestlin, the document (in Latin) includes a number of other names (among which there are 18 peasants from Mestlin). Ruest is also being mentioned here for the first time in a document.

1352 Febr. 27th. Goldberg
 
Dankqward of Gutzstevel and his son Johann improve a curation near Mestlin, but place an obligation on the owner to give alms and say Masses there.
In nomine domini, amen. Vniuersis ac singulis, ad quorum noticam presencia peruenerint, Dancquardus de Guzsteuel, armiger, et filius suus Johannes, morantes in villa Mustelyn, Zwerinensis diocesis, salutem in omnium saluatore. ... Hinrici Arnoldi ... Hinrici Hartwici ... Hartwici ... Ludekini Bolten ... Hinrici Hoppener ... Wernekini Dobbin ... Gherardi Robben ... Hennekini Ghildemester ... Hennekini Colwalck ... Hermanni Bernardi ... Hinrici Scampman ... Dancquardi Caluen ... Hermanni Langhemowe ... Hinrici Pramitten ... Hennekini Burlehosen ... Tyderici Blockes ... Bolrauen ... Tyderici Blockes ... Ludekini Croghers ... Johannis Demen ... Hermanni Jacoby ... Henrici Hoppener ...
Lutteke Kauele ... Johannes Sternebergh ... Bernardus ... Johannes de Damme ... Wylhelmus de Bomgarde ... Heyno Kule ... Hermannus de Haghenowe ... Ywanus de Belowe ...

1354 Dankqward of Gutzstevel receives Mestlin as a church fief (document, in Old-German).

1354 Jan. 6th. Parchim
 
Nicolaus, duke of Werle, enfiofs Dankqward Gutzstevel with the villages and courts Mestlin, including the Neuenhofe, Rüst and Hohen-Augzin, with property and all freedoms and legitimacies.
Vy her Nycolawes, van der gnade godes en here tu Werle, vnde vse rechten eruen don wytlyck al den ieghen, de dessen breef seen, lezen vnde horen, vnde begheren openbare tu werdende, dat wy myd rade vser radgheuen vnde vulbord vnde myd wetenegheyd vser eruen hebben leghen vnde lathen vseme leuen ghetruwen Dancquarde van Guzsteuele vnde zynen rechten eruen, dese ieghenwardych synt vnde tukomende, also hyr na screuen steyd, dat dorp tu Mostelyn vnde dan hof an deme dorpe vnde den Nygenhof, de dar lycht vppe der suluen veldmarke, vnde dat dorp tu Hoghen Eutzyn, myd aller bede, myd manbede, myd wynterbede vnde ...

1381 Mestlin is being mentioned in another document.

1381. Decbr. 4th.
 
Henning von Hagenow makes a court, two "Hufen" and a cottage over to his brother-in-law Henry of Gloveke as a dowry of his sister.
Ich Henning van Haghenowe bekenne vnde bethughe openbar vor allen luden, ... Hinric van Gloueke ... Henneke Dorman ... Dambeke ... Johan Wylz van Mostelin ... Hinrich Gusteuel ... Ludeke Weltzin ...

1389 Rektor Lowitz is pastor of Mestlin / Ruest

1391 / 1392 People from Mestlin and Ruest complain about robberers.

1391-1392
 
Documents on robberers and their crimes in the area of
Wismar.
... [J]tem Henneke Gusteuel to Mostelyn de was mede in der reyze. Jtem Hinric Ernst to Belowe de krech Domelowen perde eyn van Mustine. Item Henneke Dolghe to Rust de kofte Domelowen perde ...

1448 - 1461 The monastry of Dobbertin (founded in 1220) receives Mestlin (from seven different descendants of Gutzstevel).

In the Middle Ages, Mecklenburg experiences a revival. The dukes are being confronted with belligerent aristocrats, the later knighthood, in the 15th century. Attacks on salesmen, fights of the monarchs and social commotions in the cities are typical for this time-period.

1496

Mecklenburg-Schwerin has approx. 130,000 inhabitants.

1496 Mestlin is the biggest village in the area of the monastry - office of Dobbertin: its inhabitants pay eight Mark and four Schilling taxes. Dobbertin (5 Mark 4 ß) and Ruest (4 Mark minus 1 ß) are the next biggest.

1549

At the state parliament of the classes in Sternberg, the evangelic believe becomes binding for Mecklenburg. The reformation of Martin Luther has gained acceptance.

In the late Middle Ages, the influence of the dukes on churches increased. In the bigger cities of the country, the social tensions grew in the 16th century. The dissatisfaction in the population helped the reformation to its success.
After the victory of the reformation, the properties of the church had been divided up between the dukes of
Mecklenburg. Around 1750, there was no catholic church in Mecklenburg.

1541 Joachim Harney is pastor of Mestlin / Ruest. (Ruest becomes subsidiary church of Mestlin in 1557, Schlie writes 1557)

1567 There are 21 peasants, and 14 people with cottages (Kossaten) in Mestlin.

1569 Nikolaus Georgius is pastor of Mestlin / Ruest (Buchholz doesn't mention Georgius at all!)

1572

In the "Sternberger Reversalen", the knighthood is being given the disposition over the monastries Ribnitz, Dobbertin and Malchow as well as their property.

1557 Johannes Lonnies is pastor of Mestlin / Ruest. (Schlie writes 1586)

1585 Andreas Schnepel is pastor of Mestlin / Ruest. (Schlie writes 1595)

1601 There are 25 peasants, 7 people with cottages (Kossaten) and 6 annexes living in Mestlin, 14 peasants, 2 people with cottages and 1 annexe in Ruest.

1611 There are 30 peasants, 7 people with cottages (Kossaten) and 9 annexes living in Mestlin

1617 Bartholomäus Simonis becomes pastor of Mestlin / Ruest

1618 - 1648

Thirty-Years-War

Big devastations and a high number of human sacrifices in Mecklenburg Plünderung

1621

Second major seperation of Mecklenburg

Mecklenburg is being divided into Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg- Güstrow.

1627 Troups of the Swedish colonel Hunich march through Dobbertin / Kläden (Mestlin, Ruest, Dabel, Kläden, Dobbin and Sehlsdorf are being affected)

On the picture "Looting" (lithograph of a drawing by Ph. Wouwermanns), one can see, how a peasant's family is being turned out from their land and pestered by the marauding troops.

1627 - 1631

Wallenstein's troups conquer Mecklenburg, Wallenstein becomes the duke

1631

King Gustav Adolf of Sweden invades Mecklenburg

... swedish reign in Mecklenburg (alliance of March 13th, 1632)

1637 - 1640

frequent coming and going of Swedish and imperial troups

1645 Johann Simonis becomes the pastor of Mestlin / Ruest

1645

Passing of the rabble-law

1648

End of the Thirty-Years-War: Westphalian peace treaty

This first big war in Mecklenburg was disastrous for the development. The number of inhabitants has been reduced to one-sixth (from 300,000 to 50,000). Only one quarter of the countless peasantries before the war, have been taken up again. The aristrocrats took their advantage off this situation. After the war, especially in 1755 and 1806, they took down many peasant's villages and