ABSTRACT
The history of Pomerania in the tenth to thirteenth centuries has largely been studied in its context as an area which its neighbours sought to influence and expand into. There are two reasons for this. First, the sources of the earliest history of the Baltic region were created in the elite circles of monarchies involved in expanding their influence into this territory and thus they are mainly concerned with this problem. Second, this research perspective was reinforced in the nineteenth century when scholarly discussion concentrated on finding traces of the legacy constituting the developing national identity of Germans and Poles. In the case of West Pomerania, contacts with Germany or Denmark played a similar role; for Poland this meant rivalry with these neighbours for influence at the mouth of the Oder and eventually the necessity of arriving at political and religious compromises.
