Bogislaw VIII

Bogisław VIII ( – 11 February 1418), a member of the House of Griffin, was Duke of Pomerania ruling in Pomerania-Stolp from 1395 until his death. He also served as administrator of the Prince-Bishopric of Cammin from 1387 and as Cammin Prince-bishop from 1394 to 1398.

Background Bogisław was a younger son of Duke Bogisław V of Pomerania from his second marriage with the Welf princess Adelheid, a daughter of Duke Ernest I of Brunswick-Grubenhagen. Upon the partition of the Duchy of Pomerania in 1368/72, his father received the eastern lands around Stolp (now Słupsk). Upon his death in 1374, he was succeeded by his first-born son Casimir IV of Pomerania, Bogisław's half-brother and, by his mother Elizabeth, a grandson of King Casimir III of Poland. After Duke Casimir IV was killed while fighting for the Polish inheritance against his Piast cousin Prince Władysław the White three years later, Bogisław became co-ruler of Pomerania-Stolp, together with his brothers Wartislaw VII and Barnim V.

Rule with Wartislaw and Barnim As a younger son, Bogisław possibly had prepared for an ecclesiastical career and suspiciously eyed the appointment of John Brun, chancellor of Wenceslaus IV of Bohemia, then king of Germany, as Bishop of Cammin in 1386. To defend the bishopric's autonomy, he concluded an agreement with the cathedral chapter the next year, granting him the rights of a diocesan administrator. Though rigorously opposed by the bishop, Bogisław prevailed and could assume the episcopal ministry himself upon John Brun's death in 1394, however, he resigned four years later in favour of the Culm bishop Nicholas.

The reign of Bogisław and his brothers in Pomerania was influenced by the ongoing conflicts between his eastern neighbours, the Kingdom of Poland and the State of the Teutonic Order. The Pomeranian dukes, whose territory was the only land route to Teutonic Prussia not controlled by Poland, exploited this conflict by frequently changing sides. Soon after the Lithuanian grand duke Jogaila was crowned King of Poland (as Władysław II Jagiełło), the dukes of Pomerania-Stolp left an alliance and, late in 1388, sided with Poland, who had promised to partially respect their claims as King Casimir III's heirs. in return for the Bütow, Schlochau, Preußisch-Friedland, Baldenburg, Hammerstein and Schivelbein areas, which Poland had gained from Teutonic Prussia before.

Family He married Sophie of Holstein, the daughter of Henry II, Count of Holstein-Rendsburg. They had at least three children: Bogislaw IX, Duke of Pomerania (–1446) Adelheid of Pomerania (1410–after 1444/45), married Bernard II, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg in 1429 Ingeborg of Pomerania, who married Henry, Duke of Mecklenburg-Stargard