• Pomerania, the country by the sea, stretches along the southern side of the River oder and is separated from Mecklenburg to the west by the Recknitz and from (East) Prussia to the east by the Weichsel. The Oder divides Pomerania into a large part, East Pomerania, and a small part, West Pomerania.

• 1000: Duke Boleslav I pushes forward to Kolberg (Kolobrzeg) and there founds the first diocese in Pomerania, the Archdiocese of Gnesen. Reinberg from Hassegau in Thuringia becomes the first and only bishop.

• 1124: Christianisation . At the behest of Boleslav III, Bishop Otto of Bamberg makes his first missionary journey to Pomerania. He baptises the first Pomeranians, visits Stettin (Szczecin) where he destroys the temple to the pagan god Triglaf, then goes on to Cammin and Wollin, finally returning to Poland via Kolberg and Belgard.

• 1140: Pope Innocent II gives permission for St Adalbert's Church in Wollin to become the first seat of the new bishop of the Diocese of Pomerania. Bishop Adalbert is the first Bishop of Pomerania.

• 1168: King Valdemar I of Denmark conquers the island of Rügen and suppresses the shrine to the four-headed god Svantevit on Arkona - this leads to people being converted to Christianity.

• 1173: Vartislav, warden of the castle at Stettin, founds the first Cistercian monastery at Kolbatz; the monks come from Esrom. 1180: Duke Kasimir founds the Premonstratensian monastery of Belbuck near Treptow.

• At the beginning of the 13th century the Diocese of Pomerania is over 500 km form end to end.

• In the 14th and 15th centuries work begins on the great brick-built churches including Stralsund, Greifswald and Demmin. The educational system undergoes further development.

• 1474-1523: Duke Bogislav X unites the whole of Pomerania and has a positive influence on the rise of humanism.

• 1456: The mayor of Greifswald Heinrich Rubenow, together with Duke Vartislav IX and Bishop Henning Iven, founds Greifswald University. 1534: the introduction of the Reformation is to be decided at the sitting of the state parliament in Treptow, and despite delays Bugenhagen carries through the Reformation with the approval of the dukes. Monasteries and convents are dissolved and the monks and nuns driven out. 1535: Bugenhagen publishes a new church constitution. King Ferdinand demands that the dukes restore the ownership of the monasteries to the orders. The church becomes the state church, and a system of superintendents and general superintendents is set up in place of the diocesan structure.

• 1532: Pomerania is divided into the duchies of Wolgast (West Pomerania) under Duke Philipp I and Stettin (East Pomerania) under Duke Barnim IX.

• 1536: the alliance of Pomerania with the Electorate of Saxony gives protestantism the upper hand in the German Empire.

• 1539: Greifswald University is re-opened as a protestant institution.

• 1563: a revised church constitution is passed by the state associations of Pomerania.

• 1618-48 Thirty Years' War: 1625 Duke Bogislav XIV comes to power and re-unites Pomerania. 1627: in the capitulation of Franzburg Duke Bogislav is forced to accommodate and feed 10 regiments of Wallenstein's troops - a total of 22,000 soldiers - in order to prevent a Swedish invasion of Pomerania. 1634: a regimental constitution is enacted. This ensures that after the death of the heirless Duke Bogislav XIV there will still be a government in Pomerania and prevents an assumption of power by Sweden. 1638: Elector Georg Wilhelm of Brandenburg receives a letter of enfeoffment (a grant of land in return for feudal service) from the Emperor. The "remaining Pomeranian princely councils" resign from office. Sweden takes over administration of the state. 1648: in the Treaty of Westphalia, Brandenburg gains East Pomerania and the Diocese of Cammin; Sweden gains West Pomerania with Stettin, Rügen and a strip of land east of the Oder.

• 1701: in Königsberg the Elector Frederick II of Brandenburg-Prussia crowns himself Frederick I, King of Prussia; a Prussian state church is formed.

• 1720: In the Peace of Stockholm, Prussia receives Stettin, Usedom, Wollin and West Pomerania as far as the River Peene in return for payment of 2 million Talers.

• 1806: King Gustav IV of Sweden abolishes serfdom in West Pomerania.

• 1817: to mark the 300th anniversary of the Reformation, the King Frederick William III carries through the union of the Lutheran and Reformed churches. Many pastors are opposed to this, and this leads to the formation of groups of "Old Lutherans".

• During the 29th century a few Catholic parishes are founded.

• 1850: a Protestant consistory is set up as the highest church administrative body in the Prussian State Church.

• 1875: the largest synagogue in Pomerania is consecrated.

• 1924: the "Constitution of the Protestant Church of the Old Prussian Union" is proclaimed.

• 1932/33: The "German Christians" win in the elections for the church committees.

• The "Confessing Church" is established in Pomerania in about 1933.

• 1943: Dietrich Bonhoeffer is arrested, and shortly before the end of the war he is executed.

• 1945: The Oder-Neisse line divides the province into German and Polish sections. East Pomerania, Stettin and a strip to the west of Stettin including Swinemünde come under Polish administration. The administrative districts of West Pomerania are annexed to Mecklenburg (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern).

• 1947: Greifswald becomes the seat of the bishop of the Pomeranian Protestant Church. The "Protestant Union", an association of independent state churches, is formed.

• 1950: a church constitution is agreed: the General Superintendent is given the title of "Bishop".

• 1952: West Pomerania is divided into the districts of Rostock, Neubrandenburg and Frankfurt-upon-Oder.

• 1955: the Pomeranian Protestant Church joins the Lutheran World Federation.

• In the 1960's, under pressure from the GDR government, the Pomeranian church is forced to change its name to the "Protestant Church of Greifswald". In 1990 it reverts to "Pomeranian Protestant Church".

• 1994: signing of the State Church Covenant between the State of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Mecklenburg and the Pomeranian Protestant Church.

• 1997: the new structure of the Pomeranian church reduces the number of church districts from 15 (originally 18) to 4 superintendents' areas, and the number of posts for pastors is reduced from 200 to 140. Today the Pomeranian church has 114,000 members: in 1955 there were 700,000.

Frank Hamburger

Bibliography:

N Buske, Pommersche Kirchegeschichte in Daten [History of the Pomeranian Church in Data], Arbeitsgemeinschaft für pommersche Kirchengeschichte e.V., Helms 2001