This linen cloth with its once colourful embroidery is one of the very rare medieval treasures in northern Germany which depicts courtly life.

Twelve medallion shapes present hunting scenes, tournaments, grand entrances, and courtly ceremonies. The upper and right sides are trimmed, so it can be assumed that the cloth originally included at least one additional row of medallions.

The story these images tell and the origin of the linen cloth remain unknown to this day. It was in the possession of the former Cistercian convent in Bergen and may have come here as part of a nun’s dowry or as a donation.

The unusual name of the cloth Rückenbanktuch (literally ‘back bench cloth’) is based on the assumption that it was a wall hanging in the high choir of the church or used as a decorative element on the back of the choir stalls, and thus, though conceived as a secular work, was given a liturgical function.

A total of 449 place names were mentioned in the royal (1314) and episcopal tax lists (1318). The place names on the map reflect the oldest written spelling.

The prince’s deputy was the Landvogt (bailiff/sheriff). He was also responsible for overseeing high justice, including capital punishment. His residence was in Bergen.

Rügen was administered in eight Gardvogteien (bailiwicks). The Gardvögte (regional bailiffs/administrators) also had to be of noble birth. They were responsible for dealing with low justice (theft, bodily harm, desecration, etc.) and originally held court every week at the nearest church or in the bailiwick’s town. The Bede, the tax levied by the prince, was paid by all inhabitants except the nobility and the clergy.

Until 1543, Rügen was part of the Diocese of Roskilde in Denmark. The provost was the representative of the Bishop of Roskilde He lived in Ralswiek.

In the Middle Ages, there were twenty-six churches with their own individual catchment areas, the Parrochien (parishes).

Church tax was also called the ‘bishop’s rye’. The church taxed all inhabitants of Rügen, the nobility, the farmers, the day labourers, ferrymen, millers, and tavern owners.

The last prince of Rügen, Vitslav (Wizlaw) III (1302–1325), had no hereditary descendants. As he was a Danish vassal, a succession agreement with Denmark loomed on the horizon in the event of his death. The nobility of the principality and, above all, the citizens of Stralsund saw their rights (privileges), which had been guaranteed for a hundred years, at risk. In 1316, they therefore concluded an alliance to oppose their sovereign Vitslav III. This treaty was a military coalition between the city of Stralsund and knights and squires from the principality. In this constellation, the knights and squires, as bearers of arms, were also Rügen’s army in the event of war.

In the same year, the king of Denmark, Eriik VI Menved, concluded a military alliance with the princes and dukes between the Oder and Weser rivers, including Vitslav III of Rügen. They besieged Stralsund for an entire summer in vain and were forced to make an inglorious retreat.