Ratzeburg

Ratzeburg is known as an "island town" due to the location of its old town in the middle of Lake Ratzeburg and its connection with the mainland, which is only via three dams.

The town was founded on the island in the 11th century by the local ruler, Prince Ratibor of the Polabians, who was nicknamed Ratse.

In 1044 missionaries led by the monk Ansverus came into the region and built a monastery. In 1066 during a pagan rebellion, the monstery was destroyed and the monks were stoned to death. Ansverus was canonised in the 12th century and his relics were entombed in the Ratzeburg cathedral.

Heinrich der Löwe (Henry the Lion) became the ruler of the town in 1143 and established a bishopric in 1154. He was also responsible for the construction of the late Romanesque Cathedral.

Though the town of Ratzeburg was part of the Ratzeburg diocese, the town itself was a part of the old Duchy of Saxony and remained until 1876.

Ratzeburg briefly was part of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. After the Danish crown lost Lauenburg in the Second Schleswig War (1864), Lauenburg's estates of the realm offered the dukedom to the Prussian Hohenzollern dynasty in personal union, who accepted in 1865.