Flag of Mecklenburg. Both partitions Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg-Strelitz used the same flag, as their grand dukes were two branches from the same family.
History
During the early Middle Ages, the Slavic Obotrites lived in the area now known as Mecklenburg. The Saxons and Danes allied in 1158, invaded Obotrite lands and killed their leader Niklot. Niklot's son Pribislav led a revolt against Saxon rule but accepted the role as Prince of Mecklenburg as a Saxon vassal in 1167 and converted to Christianity. Pribislav hereby founded the House of Mecklenburg that would rule the area until 1918.
Partitions of Mecklenburg
The concept of national states did not exist in the Middle Ages. Instead, political entities were personal possessions and it was common to partition those among sons after a ruler had died. Mecklenburg was no different and was partitioned many times but in cases a duke died without a heir the part could revert to another branch of the family.
In 1480 the duchy was partitioned into Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg-Güstrow. The latter would exist 3 times until 1695. In 1701 the territories were rearranged with the largest part for Mecklenburg-Schwerin and the remainder for Mecklenburg-Strelitz. After the Napoleonic era these duchies were 'promoted' to grand duchy status and joined the German Confederation in 1815. Being close allies to neighbouring Prussia, they joined the North German Confederation in 1866 and the German Empire in 1871. In 1918 the grand dukes abdicated following the November Revolution that ended the monarchy in Germany and all its states.
Location of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg-Strelitz in Northern Germany during the years of the German Confederation (1815-1866).
The Hanseatic City of Rostock was part of Mecklenburg-Schwerin but had a large degree of autonomy and even had minting rights until Mecklenburg-Schwerin joined the North German Confederation in 1866.
Modern history
The name Mecklenburg was first abolished by Nazi reforms in 1937 and again by East Germany in 1952. After reunification its name was revived in the formation of the federal state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in 1990.
The region suffers from depopulation but has plenty of historic sites and beaches which draw a number of mostly German tourists.
Currency
The coinage history for all of Mecklenburg is pretty similar but local differences in valuations existed. During the heydays of the Hanseatic League Mecklenburg was part of the Wendish Monetary Union (1378-1569) based on the Lübeck system of 1 Mark = 16 Schillinge = 48 Witten = 192 Pfennige. From 1540 the Thaler took over as the most used large silver coin and its value eventually stabilised to 48 Schillinge or 3 Mark.
Mecklenburg coins fluctuated in value versus Hamburg-Lübeck or Prussian coins. In 1763 standards were set for both parts. Mecklenburg-Schwerin followed the Hamburg-Lübeck Mark Courant in which there were 11⅓ Thaler (34 Mark) in a Cologne Mark (233.86 grams) of pure silver. Mecklenburg-Strelitz instead used a base of 13⅓ Thaler per Cologne Mark, which was fit for the Courantthaler system developed in Austria in 1750 (Courantthaler = 1⅓ Thaler) and that many German states, except Prussia, followed.
From 1789 Mecklenburg-Schwerin minted ⅔ Thaler (Gulden) coins in the Leipzig standard (12 Thaler = Cologne Mark). From 1848 both duchies followed the Prussian standard of 14 Thaler per Cologne Mark, but maintained their old subdivisions of Thaler = 48 Schillinge = 576 Pfennige.
Mecklenburg Mark (1872)
The unification of Germany brought about a new unified and decimalised currency named Mark, subdivided in 100 Pfennige and worth ⅓ Thaler. The nationwide currency was introduced in 1873, but both Mecklenburg grand duchies steamed ahead with their own coins of 1, 2 and 5 Pfennige in 1872 that followed the new decimalised standard (48 old Pfennig = 25 new Pfennig). As the German Empire coins that were introduced a year later were different the 1872 local issues were demonetised as early as 1878.
During the era of unified coinage the grand duchies minted a very low number of 2, 3, 5, 10 and 20 Mark coins, and therefore these are quite rare.
Catalog
Mecklenburg (1167-1701)
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/mecklenburg_principality-1.html
Mecklenburg-Güstrow (1480-1695)
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/mecklenburg_gustrow_duchy-1.html
Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (1701-1815)
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/mecklenburg_schwerin_duchy-1.html
Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (1815-1918)
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/mecklenburg_schwerin_grand_duchy-1.html
Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1701-1815)
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/mecklenburg_strelitz_duchy-1.html
Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1815-1918)
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/mecklenburg_strelitz_grand_duchy-1.html
City of Rostock (until 1866):
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/rostock_city-1.html