Mecklenburg’s 13th century was characterized by a sudden rise of approximately 40 towns with the first half of the 13th century. Resulting from a combination of the conversion and conquest of the Slavic tribes in the 12th and 13th centuries, German speaking settlers were introduced to found villages and towns within Mecklenburg. While the development of these towns has been considered through historical and archaeological work done by other authors, the aim of this contribution is to examine an interdisciplinary approach connecting historical sources, urban morphology and urban archaeology. This approach aims to determine the major factors influencing the urban development of towns of Mecklenburg in the 13th century. For this contribution, the town of Friedland will be used as a case study. Friedland has a rich catalogue of archaeological findings while at the same time the urban history is well established. Meanwhile major details of the earliest phase of urban in the mid-13th century settlement remain still unclear. Using the oldest cadastral maps, the town was divided into morphological regions that will be further studied through the archaeological and historical sources. The addition of these sources have allowed for a comprehensive understanding of Friedland’s urban development from Slavic settlement to Medieval town. The analyses and results of this case study will help form the first of many towns to be studied under the banner of the Research on Urban Heritage of Medieval Mecklenburg (RUHMM). The overall goal of the PhD project this case study is part of is to demonstrate how an interdisciplinary approach can be used to place the development of towns like Friedland in the larger context of urbanization in the Baltic region. As these towns were under both internal and external influences, the matrix would be a perfect basis for the future development of the urban heritage within Mecklenburg and the surrounding areas.
Atzbach et al. (Fri,) studied this question.