Career
Pribislav was one of three sons of the Obotrite chieftain Niklot, who was killed in 1160 during a joint campaign by Duke Henry the Lion of Saxony and King Valdemar the Great of Denmark. Niklot"s sons engineered a widespread revolt against Saxon rule in 1163. While Wertislav and much of the Slavic nobility were imprisoned by Henry during the siege of Werle, Pribislav destroyed many of the former Obotrite castles including Mecklenburg where all the male Fleming defenders were slaughtered.
After Pribislav recaptured Malchow and Quetzin, Henry the Lion suppressed the revolt with much bloodshed.
Wertislav was publicly hanged at Malchow. Supported by a Danish fleet, the Saxon army defeated the Slavs in the bloody Battle of Verchen in 1164.
Pribislav fled to Pomerania afterward, but later led raids into the counties of Schwerin and Ratzeburg. Pribislav"s restoration to power established an originally Slavic dynasty in Mecklenburg that lasted until 1918.
In comparison, the lands of the Polabians and Wagrians to the west had been taken over by Saxon lords.
Pribislav founded the monastery of Doberan in 1171 and endowed the Bishopric of Schwerin. He participated in a pilgrimage to Jerusalem with Henry the following year. Pribislav died from a wound received at a tournament in Lüneburg.
His body was placed in a church in Doberan in 1219.
