Editing Greifswald (section)

===Middle Ages and Reformation===
[[File:Greifswald Fangenturm.jpg|thumb|upright|Medieval ''Fangenturm'' (Prisoners' Tower), Greifswald]]
[[File:Klosterruine Eldena2.jpg|thumb|[[Eldena Abbey]] was founded in 1199. Today only its ruins remain.]]
[[File:Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Universität Greifswald 044.jpg|thumb|The eastern side of the historic city centre (seen from the cathedral tower)]]

In medieval times, the site of Greifswald was an unsettled woodland which marked the border between the [[Denmark|Danish]] [[Principality of Rügen]] and the [[Pomeranian duchies and dukes|Pomeranian]] [[County of Gützkow]], which at that time was also under Danish control. In 1199, the Rugian Prince [[Jaromar I]] allowed Danish [[Cistercians|Cistercian]] monks to build [[Eldena Abbey|Hilda Abbey, now Eldena Abbey]], at the mouth of the River [[Ryck]]. Among the lands granted the monks was a natural [[salt evaporation pond]] a short way up the river, a site also crossed by an important south–north ''[[Via Regia|via regia]]'' trade route. This site was named ''Gryp(he)swold(e)'', which is the [[Low German]] precursor of the city's modern name – which means "[[Griffin]]'s Forest." Legend says the monks were shown the best site for settlement by a mighty griffin living in a tree that supposedly grew on what became Greifswald's oldest street, the ''Schuhagen''. The town's construction followed a scheme of rectangular streets, with church and market sites reserved in central positions. It was settled primarily by Germans in the course of the {{lang|de|[[Ostsiedlung]]}}, but settlers from other nations and [[Wends]] from nearby were attracted, too.

The [[salt]] trade helped Eldena Abbey to become an influential religious center, and Greifswald became a widely known market. When the Danes had to surrender their [[Pomerania]]n lands south of the Ryck, after losing the [[Battle of Bornhöved (1227)|Battle of Bornhöved]] in 1227, the town succeeded to the [[Pomeranian duchies and dukes|Pomeranian dukes]]. In 1241, the Rugian prince [[Wizlaw I]] and the Pomeranian duke [[Wartislaw III]] both granted Greifswald market rights. In 1250, the latter granted the town a charter under [[Lübeck law]], after he had been permitted to acquire the town site as a fief from Eldena Abbey in 1248.

When Jazco of Salzwedel from Gützkow founded a [[Franciscan]] friary within the walls of Greifswald, the Cistercians at Eldena lost much of their influence on the city's further development. Just beyond Greifswald's western limits, a town-like suburb (''Neustadt'') arose, separated from Greifswald by a ditch. In 1264, Neustadt was incorporated and the ditch was filled in.

Eldena Abbey and the major buildings of Greifswald were erected in the North German [[Brick Gothic]] (''Backsteingotik'') style, found along the entire southern coast of the Baltic.

Due to a steady population increase, Greifswald became at the end of the 13th century one of the earliest members of the [[Hanseatic League]], which further increased its trade and wealth. After 1296, Greifswald's citizens no longer needed to serve in the Pomeranian army, and Pomeranian dukes did not reside in the city.

In 1456, Greifswald's mayor Heinrich Rubenow laid the foundations of one of the [[List of oldest universities in continuous operation|oldest universities]] in the world, the [[University of Greifswald]], which was one of the first in Germany, and was, successively, the single oldest in [[Sweden]] and [[Kingdom of Prussia|Prussia]].

In the course of [[Protestant Reformation|Reformation]], Eldena Abbey ceased to function as a monastery. Its possessions fell to the Pomeranian dukes; the bricks of its Gothic buildings were used by the locals for other construction. Eldena lost its separate status and was later absorbed into the town of Greifswald. The religious houses within the town walls, the priories of the Blackfriars ([[Dominican Order|Dominicans]]) in the northwest and the Greyfriars (Franciscans) in the southeast, were secularized. The buildings of the Dominicans (the "black monastery") were turned over to the university; the site is still used as part of the medical campus. The Franciscan friary ("the "grey monastery") and its succeeding buildings are now the [[Pomeranian State Museum]].

During the [[Thirty Years' War]], Greifswald was occupied by (Catholic) Imperial forces from 1627 to 1631,<ref name="Langer406"/> and thereafter, under the [[Treaty of Stettin (1630)]], by (Protestant) Swedish forces.<ref>{{cite book|title=Gemeinsame Bekannte: Schweden und Deutschland in der Frühen Neuzeit|editor1-first=Ivo|editor1-last=Asmus|editor2-first=Heiko|editor2-last=Droste|editor3-first=Jens E.|editor3-last=Olesen|first=Herbert|last=Langer|chapter=Die Anfänge des Garnisionswesens in Pommern|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nI9dItT816kC&pg=PA397|publisher=LIT Verlag|location=Berlin-Hamburg-Münster|year=2003|isbn=3-8258-7150-9|language=de|page=397}}</ref>