1.3 Philip I, Duke of Pomerania-Wolgast
Otto Henry was not the only one who attempted to establish a permanent manufacture in his territory. His cousin, Philip I of Pomerania (1515-1560), who belonged to the House of Greifen, did the same in the 1550s. In the German lands (and in fact throughout Europe), between 1540 and 1560, we witness the creation of many workshops run by expatriate Flemish weavers.1 The weavers had fled the Netherlands in order to escape religious persecution. One might think of Seger Bombeck‘s workshops in Torgau, Leipzig and Dresden, and Peter Heymans’ installations in Stettin. On this interesting subject, which still needs further research, the best contribution remains to this day an article by Rortraud Bauer.2
Philip was educated at the court of his maternal grandfather in Heidelberg. He acceded to power after the death of his father, Georg I. In 1532 he received Pomeranian-Wolgast. His most remarkable act with regard to tapestries was financing a workshop in Stettin, directed by Flemish weavers. One of them, Peter Heymans, worked there between 1547 and 1566. Heymans wove an impressive number of tapestries, among which, in 1554, the famous tapestry of ‘Croÿ’ (the Tapetum Concordiae), in which Martin Luther, standing in a pulpit at the centre, points his finger at a figure of Christ crucified [13].3 Luther is accompanied by 22 members of Philip’s family, including the Dukes of Saxony.
13
Peter Heymans
Wedding and Reformation commemorative carpet of Philip I of Pomerania (1515-1560), 1554
Greifswald, Pommersches Landesmuseum