Rosette from cap of Prince Philip II (1573-1618)

A set of thirteen rosettes adorned the hood of the Pomeranian Duke Francis I (1577-1620), son of Bogislaw XIII and Clara, daughter of Duke Francis of Brunswick-Lüneburg, after whom he was named. At the age of 15, he became a coadjutor bishop of Kamień, and ten years later, in 1602, a bishop of Kamień. His then residence was the Duke's castle in Koszalin. In 1610, the Duke married Sophia (1587-1635), a daughter of the Saxon elector Christian I and Sophia of Brandenburg. In 1618, after the death of his elder brother Philip II, he took over the rule in the Duchy of Szczecin, resigning at the same time from the function of the Bishop of Kamień Pomorski. However, he only ruled for two years; he died on 27 November 1620. Unlike his brother and predecessor Philip II, a well-known collector and patron of the arts, he was more interested in military matters than science and the arts. That was partly due to the new political situation in which the Duchy found itself. The Thirty Years' War outbreak in 1618, which was initially a conflict between the Catholic Roman Emperor and his Protestant subjects in Bohemia, potentially threatened other Protestant states of the Reich, including Pomerania. However, the short period of his rule and strong opposition from the Sejm of the Pomeranian States meant that the Duke failed to put his ambitious plans for the militarisation of Pomerania into practice.

Monika Frankowska-Makała