Bracelet from sarcophagus of Duke Francis I (1577 - 1620)

A pair of armour-like weaved bracelets with the coat of arms of the Duchy of Pomerania enamelled on rectangular buckles was made in 1596 for the first wife of Pomeranian Duke Bogislaw XIII (1544-1606), Clara of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1550-1598). This is evidenced by the inscription on the underside of the buckles with her name and the date: V.G.G. / CLARA / G.Z.B.V.L. / H.Z.S.Pō /15.96 [Von Gottes Gnaden / Clara / Gräfin zu Braunschweig und Lüneburg / Herzogin zu Stettin Pommern 1596] [By God's Grace / Clara / Countess of Brunswick and Lüneburg / Duchess of Stettin Pommern 1596].

Klara was a daughter of Francis, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and Clara, Princess of Saxe-Lauenburg. She first married Bernard VIII, Duke of Anhalt, in 1565. Two years after his death, in 1572, she became the wife of the Pomeranian Duke Bogislaw XIII. The couple had eleven children, six sons and five daughters. In 1598, the Duchess fell ill with the plague and died in the Duke's residence in Franzburg.

It is not known when and under what circumstances the bracelets came into the possession of the Duchess's son Franz I. An inscription with his name was then added on the sides of the buckles: V.G.G. FRANTZ / H.Z.S.Pom [Von Gottes Gnaden Franz / Herzog zu Stettin Pommern] [By God's Grace Francis / Duke of Stettin-Pomersk].

The pair of bracelets belonged to Francis I's tomb equipment. They can be seen on the 1621 posthumous portrait of the Duke from the collection of the cathedral in Merseburg (Vereinigte Domstifter zu Merseburg und Naumburg und des Kollegiatstifts zu Zeitz). Also, in the account of the funeral ceremony of Francis I, in the description of the outfit in which the Duke was buried, we find the following information: '(...) beautiful cuffs and bracelets on his hands (...)'*.

Monika Frankowska-Makała

*Die Personalien und Leichen-Processionen der Herzoge von Pommern und ihrer Angehörigen aus den Jahren 1560 bis 1663, ges. v. U. von Behr Negendank-Semlow, J. von Bohlen-Bohlendorf, Halle 1869, p. 347.