Anotlier Mechthildis, also honored as a saint in the Koman Catholic Church, flourished near the middle of | the 12th centurj'. .She was a descendant of the counts of Andechs. In early youth she commenced to mani- fest signs of piety, and when she attained the requisite age she became a nun in the Ojnvent of Diessen, in Ba- varia. Here she awjuired such reputation for piety and zeal that she was elected abVjess in 11.0.3. .Some years afterwards she was obliges], at the command of the bish- op, V) go as abbess to the Convent of EdeLstetten, which she was to renovate. .She lalxjred there with her usual zeal, and proved very successful, yet she always regret- ted leaving her former convent, and during her last ill- ness was removed Ui it. She died May 31, 11 W). She is commemorated April 10.— Herzog, lieal-EncyJdop. ix, 22.3 : Wct/.iT II. Welu-, Kirchm-J^r. xii, 788. (J, N. P.) Mecklenburg, a North German u-rritorj', now part of the (jerman empire, c-onsists of two grand-duchies, the larg'r one called Mecklenburg-.Schwerin, and the smaller one f:allerl Mecklcnburg-Strelitz,
(\.) MccUndjury-Sdiverin, Ijounded on the north by the Baltic, on the east by I'omerania, on the south 1 y Brandenljurg, anrl on the west bj' I^uenburg, covers an area < f aUjut .5120 8<juare miles, and has a p^jpulation of .^>>.i;iX Tin \nC,7), of which .O.j<i,29<) are Lutherans rj<Kj iJef<;rmed;, 1195 communicants of the Church of I'.ome. and :i<>U adherents to the .Jewish faith. The Meckleiiburgers are for the most part of .Slavonic ori- gin, but amalgamation with their .Saxon neighlxjrs has largely fJermanizwl the original race. The predomi- nating form of religion is the Lutheran, the religion of the reigning prince. The grand-<luke, whfjse fKJwers are limit(;<l by a mixed feudal and constitutional form of -_'oveniment,has the title of royal highness, and is styled ; rince of the Wends, and of Schwerin an<l Batzeburg, ' ount of Schwerin, and lord of Bostf>f;k, Stargard, etc. 1 he state Church divider the territorj- into 331 rectf>- riw, with 47.J churches, which are controlled by six su- l^rintendents and thirty-seven prafjK/sitors. Much has frf-en done of late years in extending the educational or- L'anization of JIe*;klenburg, although the lower clasM-s <'•> not yet enjoy as many a'lvantages as in wjme other ':i-:r! r- offjennany. lVrsid<-s the university at ]£<^t'K,k ;. . . iliere are five gymnasia, and numerous burgher, (.»r Ml), and other scIkxjIs. The principal towns are tlie < apital Schwerin, Ludwigslust, Br*tw:k, Gilstrow, and ^Vi.smar.
(■l.j M^rUf^Jmrfi-Slrf.lUz, the othCT grand-duchy, \n f ■ rn: -'d of two distinct [K>rtions of tcrritorj-, viz, .Star- _ .' , '.y far the larger division, lying to the f^ast of y\" r.;'iiburg-.S<)iw»-rin; and the priiicii>ality of IJatze- burg (Ijetween Mw.klenbiirg-Shwerin and I^ii<-iiburgj, and <;onrjprij(fc« an area of raih«-r more than I'XX) wpiare rriil< -. with a fiopulation of ffX.TTO Cm |H«;7;, of whifh '7.' ;7 are Lutherans ( HKK) B/rformed/, W.f Boman Cath- ',Ii - lid M'li'i .Jews. Like the other Mecklenburg duchy, the Loujiiry iit in the haii'ls of the Lutherans. It i-
divided into sixty-two rectories, and is governed by seven diocesan superintendents (propste).
The two Mecklenburg duchies have provincial es- tates in common, which meet once a year, alternately at Malchin and Sternberg. This united chamber consists of noble landowners and the representatives of forty- seven provincial Ixtroughs, each of which has, however, its separate municipal government.
IJUlury. — The Mecklenburg territory', anciently oc- cupied by Germanic and afterwards by .Slavonic tribes, was in the 12th centurj- coii(|uered by Henry the Lion, duke of .Saxony, who, after thoroughly devastating tlic countrj', and compelling the small numIxT of inhaliit- ants remaining after the war to adopt Christianity, re- stored the greater part of the territorv' to Burewin, tlie heir of the slain .Slavonic jirince, Niklot, and gave him hLs daughter in marriage. The countrj- at that period received its present designation from its principal settle- ment, Mikilinborg, now a village Ixtween Wismar and Brui-L Christianity was, however, known to the inhab- itants of this countrj' long before the inroads of Henry the Lion. Missionaries of the Cross arc said to have lx;en there in the days of Charlemagne; but true Chris- tian principles and faithful adherents to the Christian cause were not made there until the first half of the lOlh centun,'. After Henry I had vanquished the natives in the battle at Leuzen (931 j, bishop Ailalward, of Verden, in that very year baptized one of their rulers, and by the close of that centurj' many converts had been gathered. But Christianity was still unpopular, and its coiifissors suffered much persecution, es[»ecially near the middle of the 11th centurj' (comp. .Jaffe, Lolhur, p. 147, 232; Conrad III, p. 10;. Not until the successful incursions of Henrj- the Lion can Christianity Ixi really said to have found a hold in Mecklenburg territorv', and hence he is generally looked upon not only as the author of the cons<didation of the territorj' as Mecklenburg, but als<j as the founder of Christianity within its bounds. .Shortly after the middle of the 12th century convents v.ere built, and several monastic establishments founded. We find one Vicelin (t 1 !•>!;, bishop of Lulxck, and his success^jr (jerold, especially active as missionaries. But Christianity diil not attain to a really prosperous con- dition during the Middle Ages in this [lart of the 'i'eu- tonic domains, although it was elevated info a duchy in 1349 by the emperor Charles. The Protestant doctrines were first intrmluced here in l.O.Of) by duke Johann Al- brecht, ami his grandsons, Wolf-Friedrich and .Fohann Albrecht, who founded the lines of Mccklenburg-Schwe- rin and Mecklenburg-(;ilstrow. They were, however, de[)rived f.f the ducal title in 1027, in consequence of their arllursion to the Protestant cause, and the imperial general Wallenstein was proclaimed <luke of all M< ck- lenburg. In UVAZ Gustavus Adrdphus of .Sweden re- st/»red his kinsmen, the de|K>s<(l dukes, to (heir domains. Kotzer, alias .S<;hltiter fq. v.j, who was fK)isone»l in l.'>32, was particularly prominent in the cause of the Be- forrners. The fruit of his lalxirs was seen in l.'/M in the decree against the reading of the mass, and in the final oflicial adoption of the Protestant cause in \:)iM. The secular affairs of Mecklenburg continued to undergo changes. Aft^r various sulxlivisions of the dmal line into the bran<h<-s of .Shwerin, .Strelilz, and otlu rs. and the hWT.ChMvc. extindion of s<-veral of t hew collateral houM'S, the ImfK'rial Commission, which met at Ham- burg in 1701, brought alx.ut the settlement of a family comi»act, by which it was arranged that .S< hwerin and Gitstrow should form one duchy, and Stnlilz, with liatzeburg and Stargard. Mirow and NemcTow, another inde|<endent t«.v<r<ignty. After this, very few events of imjiortancc <K<iirred till the accession in .Shwerin, in 178.'j,of Friedrich I" ranz, who obtained the title of grand- duke in 1X1.'.. and died in 1K'J7, after a long reign, which he had made highly conducive to the iiitenial wi-lfare and external npiitation of his hiredilary <lomiiiions. The reign of l'ri»drich Franz H, who succeeded his fa- it,ir I'liiil I ri< ilri, li- ill 1>''12, was disturlx.d by a contest