Page "Rügen" Paragraph 23

In 1168, the Danish king, Valdemar I, and his army commander and advisor, Bishop Absalon of Roskilde destroyed the Svetovid temple in the hillfort at Cape Arkona, ending both the territorial and religious autonomy of the Rani, their former monarchs became Danish princes of Rügen.

In 1325 Rügen was inherited by the Duchy of Pomerania.

The Rani prince, Jaromar I, ( died 1218 ) was a vassal of the Danish king and brought Christianity to the island's inhabitants.

In 1184, the Pomeranians, whose rule had previously extended as far as the land of Gützkow and to Demmin and thus made them the immediate neighbours of the now Danish Principality of Rugia, were commissioned by their overlord, the Holy Roman Emperor, to seize Rügen for the empire, but were defeated in the Bay of Greifswald.