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- "Die Leichenpredigten des Stadtarchivs Braunschweig" tells us that Henricus Leniken was the "B?rgermeister" (Mayor) and "Stadt Richter" (Municipal Judge) for Friedland in Mecklenburg-G?strow district, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.
Alternative spellings of the surname Leniken possibly include: Lemken, Lemchen and Lemmichen.
Friedland is a town in the district Mecklenburg-Strelitz in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Germany. "Vredeland" was founded in 1244 by the "Kurf?rsten" (Electors) Otto and Johann of Brandenburg.
The Duchy of Mecklenburg-G?strow (later renamed Mecklenburg-Strelitz in 1701) was a state of the Holy Roman Empire in Northern Germany, that existed on three separate occasions ruled by the House of Mecklenburg at G?strow. A first short-lived predecessor state existed after the death of Duke Henry IV of Mecklenburg in 1477 and the partition of the land among his sons in 1480, when Albert VI received the estates of the former Werle Lordship around G?strow. Nevertheless, Albert died without issue in 1483 and his lands were again inherited by his younger brother Magnus II of Mecklenburg-Schwerin.
When Magnus died in 1503, his sons Henry V and Albert VII at first ruled jointly over entire Mecklenburg until its renewed division by the 1520 Neubrandenburg Treaty. Albert, a fierce opponent of the Protestant Reformation, had insisted on the partititon and became Duke of Mecklenburg-G?strow, while his brother Henry retained Mecklenburg-Schwerin. However the jurisdiction of Mecklenburg remained undivided, both brothers held the title of a "Duke of Mecklenburg" and as Henry only left one insane son when he died in 1552 the Schwerin lands fell back to Albert's sons Ulrich III and John Albert I.
At this time John Albert and Ulrich had ruled jointly over the G?strow lands, but now came into conflict over the inherited Schwerin part. The controversy was finally decided in 1556 by the "Ruppin dictum" of Elector Joachim II Hector of Brandenburg: John Albert I received Schwerin while Ulrich remained Duke of Mecklenburg-G?strow. Nevertheless Ulrich died without heirs in 1603 and G?strow fell back to John Albert's grandchildren Adolf Frederick I and John Albert II, joint rulers of Mecklenburg-Schwerin from 1610 onwards.
Mecklenburg-G?strow was created for a third and final time with the partition of 1621, when John Albert II received the G?strow part of Mecklenburg. In 1628 he and his brother at Schwerin were stripped off their duchies by order of Emperor Ferdinand II of Habsburg in favour of his Generalissimo Albrecht von Wallenstein. Officially the dukes were reproached for having secretly sided with King Christian IV of Denmark, while in fact Mecklenburg was given in compensation of the enormous expenses Wallenstein had paid in building up Imperial troops. He took his residence at G?strow but nevertheless was dismissed by the Emperor under pressure of the Prince-electors three years later, while the dukes with the support of Swedish troops were restored.
The House of Mecklenburg-G?strow had assumed the administration of the former Catholic Bishopric of Ratzeburg after its conversion to Lutheranism in 1554. By the 1648 Peace of Westphalia, the diocese was finally secularised and adjudicated to the last administrator Duke Gustav Adolph.
Gustav Adolph's death in 1695 led to an inheritance dispute between his son-in-law Adolphus Frederick II of Mecklenburg, younger son of Adolf Frederick I and his nephew Duke Frederick William of Mecklenburg-Schwerin which would lead to the creation of Mecklenburg-Strelitz in 1701.
Vorpommern is the smaller, western part of the formerly all-German region of Pomerania; the eastern part became part of Poland after the end of World War II. In the Middle Ages, the area was ruled by the Pomeranian dukes as part of the Duchy of Pomerania. Pomerania was under Swedish rule after the Peace of Westphalia from 1648 until 1815 as Swedish Pomerania. Pomerania then became a province of Prussia in 1815. It remained a Prussian province until 1947.
This database researched and compiled by Norman Lee Madsen, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 21 July 2015.
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1545 - 1575 (~ 31 år)
