ABSTRACT
In the twelfth-century Pomeranian chronicles and particularly in the Life of Otto of Bamberg, Pomeranian towns are described as civitates. Certainly it is true that towns under German law had to pass through a definite period of development before they functioned fully, and that the granting of a particular town law often marks the end of the process. But, unlike many instances in the West, east German town foundations were planned as towns from the start and are to be considered as towns from their first beginnings. Only from 1237, in the period when German settlement was in full swing, do we find the terms advocatia and advocatus in charters of immunity for Pomeranian monasteries in general, in both parts of the country. In 1239, in a document of Barnim I, there appears as a witness a man called Godekinus advocatus, the first known ducal official with this title; his place of residence is not mentioned.
