Rostock Inheritance Agreement

The Rostock Inheritance Agreement (german: Rostocker Erbvertrag) describes several agreements reached by the Hanseatic city of

Rostock Rostock (), officially the Hanseatic and University City of Rostock (german: link=no, Hanse- und Universitätsstadt Rostock), is the largest city in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and lies in the Mecklenburgian part of the state, ...

with the

dukes of Mecklenburg This list of dukes and grand dukes of Mecklenburg dates from the origins of the German princely state of Mecklenburg's royal house in the High Middle Ages to the monarchy's abolition at the end of World War I. Strictly speaking, Mecklenburg's p ...

as landlords. * The First Rostock Inheritance Agreement was reached in 1573 between the city of Rostock and John Albert I of

Mecklenburg Mecklenburg (; nds, label=Low German, Mękel(n)borg ) is a historical region in northern Germany comprising the western and larger part of the federal-state Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The largest cities of the region are Rostock, Schwer ...

. Through the agreement the city recognised the duke's sovereignty. * The Second Rostock Inheritance Agreement of 1788, agreed with Duke Frederick Francis I set aside renewed disagreements between the parties that had arisen under his predecessor, Duke

Frederick of Mecklenburg , house =House of Mecklenburg , father =Christian Ludwig II, Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin , mother =Duchess Gustave Caroline of Mecklenburg-Strelitz , birth_date = , birth_place =Schwerin, Mecklenburg-Schwerin , death_date ...

and awarded special rights to the city until 1918. The inheritance agreements should not be confused with the

State Constitutional Heritable Settlement State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

(; LGGEV) of 1755, which Duke Christian Louis agreed with the duchy's estates (''Landstände'') combining the knights' federation (''Ritterschaft'') and the chartered cities eligible for the estates (''Seestädte'' and ''Landstädte'' forming together the ''Landschaft''), which also included the city of Rostock. This led to a permanent involvement of the estates in the government of the state and from then on blocked constitutional development in the modern sense. The strength of the estates, opposing dynastic divisions, kept Mecklenburg together, at times partitioned into several branch duchies with each its own government but one common body of the estates. And the power of the estates held down the dominance of the monarchs and successfully blocked

absolutism Absolutism may refer to: Government * Absolute monarchy, in which a monarch rules free of laws or legally organized opposition * Absolutism (European history), period c. 1610 – c. 1789 in Europe ** Enlightened absolutism, influenced by the E ...

in Mecklenburg. Treaties of Mecklenburg 1573 treaties 1788 treaties 1573 in the Holy Roman Empire 1788 in the Holy Roman Empire Rostock {{Treaty-stub