Philip II, Duke of Pomerania-Stettin
Duke Philip II of Pomerania-Stettin
Born	(1573-07-29)29 July 1573 Franzburg
Died	3 February 1618(1618-02-03) (aged 44)
Noble family	House of Griffin
Spouse(s)	Sophia of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg
Father	Bogislaw XIII, Duke of Pomerania
Mother	Clara of Brunswick

Philip II, Duke of Pomerania-Stettin (29 July 1573 – 3 February 1618) was from 1606 to 1618 the reigning duke ofPomerania-Stettin and is considered to be among of the most artistic of the Pomeranian dukes. He married Sophia ofSchleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg (1579-1618) in 1607. The marriage remained childless.

Philipp was born on 29 July 1573 in Neuenkamp, which later becameFranzburg inPomerania, as the eldest son of DukeBogislaw XIII of Pomerania-Barth and his first wife, Clara of Brunswick. He grew up in his father's small residence in Barth. Although he was the second-born son of DukePhilip I of Pomerania-Wolgast, when Philip I's inheritance was divided among the Pomeranian dukes on 1569, waived his rights to a share, in favour of his younger brotherErnest Louis. He had been compensation with anapanage consisting of thedistrict ofBarth and the secularizedCistercian monastery at Neuenkamp.

As a child and teenager, Philip received the usual education for a son of a German prince during the lateRenaissance era. Soon, however, his artistic and scientific interests grew soon beyond the usual level. Even at the age of twelve, he owned a collection of books and pictures. He wrote his first scientific papers at the age of 17. His art was not just an expression of his royal representation, but emerged from an inner need. At age 18, he wrote:It is may pleasure to collect good, selected books, portraits from a master's hand, and ancient coins of all kinds. From these I learn how to improve myself and also how I can be beneficial to the general public.

According to the customs of his time he undertook numerousgrand tours, which led him to many European countries and the local courts. The two-year stay inItaly at the end of his final grand tour, was cut short in 1598 when his mother fell seriously ill.

Five years later, government business caught up with him. In 1603, DukeBarnim X had died and Philip's father, Bogislaw XIII, became the ruling duke in theTeilherzogtum of Pomerania-Stettin. Apparently, Bogislaw XIII felt he was too old to actually govern, so he appointed his son Philip II as governor of Pomerania-Stettin. When Bogislaw XIII died in 1606, Philip became the ruling duke in Stettin in his own right. Characteristic elements of his reign were his patronage of the arts (described in more detail below), but also his rural regulations of 1616, in which a legal basis forserfdom was created.

On 10 March 1607 he married Sophia (1579–1658, inTreptow an der Rega, herdower), daughter ofJohn II, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg and his first wifeElisabeth of Brunswick-Grubenhagen.^[1] The marriage was, however, childless, like all the marriages in the last generation of the Dukes of Pomerania, so after the death of Philip's brotherBogislaw XIV, the House of Griffins died out in the male line.

Philip's special penchant formelancholy became apparent early on and was certainly reinforced by his sickly constitution. From the first decade of the 17th-century, he suffered fromgout. This made life more difficult, and he withdrew more and more from public life. It prevented him from attending in person the wedding of his brotherFrancis withSophia of Saxony inDresden in 1610, and the investiture of EmperorMatthias at the Diet of Regensburg in 1613. In 1612, he visited a recently discoveredhealth spa inLüneburg, but it brought him no relief from his suffering. He died on 3 February [O.S. 13 February] 1618, before the age of 50, like most male members of the last generation of theHouse of Griffins.

The most important works of art commissioned by Philip II date from the period 1606–1618. They include:

• theepitaph on thetomb of his ancestor DukeBarnim VI in the church ofKenz-Küstrow in the district ofBarth
• the so-calledsignting book, with numerous portraits of members of the House of Griffins
• an art gallery
• theMap of Lubinus, the first accurate map of theDuchy of Pomerania
• the Meier Court
• the highlight was thePomeranian art cabinet, which was destroyed by fire during theSecond World War

The art dealerPhilip Hainhofer fromAugsburg was responsible for the procurement of many works of art. Philip corresponded extensively with him. During Hainhofer's visit to Pomerania in 1617, he kept a diary. This diary contains a detailed description of the art collection at theDucal Castle inSzczecin.

When Philip died in 1618, many of the works he had commissioned had not been completed. His brother and successor,Duke Francis, showed little inclination to continue his deceased brother's artistic ambitions. He paid for the completion of works commissioned by his brother, but after that the era ofart at the court of the Pomeranian Dukes came to an end. Among the works completed under Francis was a new wing of the Ducal Castle on the west side of Mint Square. Most works of art were housed in this new wing.

• Friedrich Ludwig v. Medem (ed.):Philipp Hainhofers Reise-Tagebuch, enthaltend Schilderungen aus Francken, Sachsen, der Mark Brandenburg und Pommern im Jahr 1617, in:Baltische Studien, vol. 2 issue 2, 1834, pp. I-XXXII and 1–180.
• Theodor Pyl (1888). "Philipp II., Herzog von Pommern-Stettin".Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (in German). Vol. 26. Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot. pp. 34–36.
• Oscar Doering:Des Augsburger Patriciers Philipp Hainhofer Beziehungen zum Herzog Philipp II. von Pommern-Stettin. Correspondenzen aus den Jahren 1610-1619 im Auszuge mitgetheilt und commentiert, in:Quellenschriften für Kunstgeschichte und Kunsttechnik des Mittelalters und der Neuzeit, vol. 6, Vienna, 1894.
• Hellmuth Bethe:Die Kunst am Hofe der pommerschen Herzöge, Berlin, 1937.
• Dirk Schleinert:Das Stammbuch Herzog Philipps II. von Pommern, in:Findbücher, Inventare und kleine Schriften des Landeshauptarchivs Schwerin, vol. 10, Schwerin, 2004,ISBN 3-9805560-9-3.
• Barbara Mundt:Herzog Philipp II. als Kunstsammler und sein Agent Philipp Hainhofer, in:Pommern. Zeitschrift für Kultur und Geschichte, issue 3/2009,ISSN 0032-4167, pp. 38–44.

• Publications by or about Philip II, Duke of Pomerania atVD 17

• House of Griffins
• Dukes of Pomerania
• 1573 births
• 1618 deaths
• 16th-century German nobility
• 17th-century German people

• Articles with short description
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• Use dmy dates from May 2021
• CS1 German-language sources (de)