Copy of the charter of Otto III. from 10th September 995

• width: 54 cm

The text of the charter was handed down in a transcript in a cartulary of the Magedeburg chapter around 1480.

On 10th September 995 the German King Otto III. spent time, in connection with a military campaign against the Slavic Obotrites and “Velotaber,” in the ancestral seat of the Obotrites, the “wiligrad.” Otto III. performed some of his official functions here in the castle. Amongst other things he gave his chamberlain Tietzow a village in the Magdeburg region.

This Latin charter ended with “actum michelenburg” as the location. That is the oldest proof of the name MECKLENBURG, which is actually the pseudonym for “large castle.” The name was then later transferred to the surrounding village and sovereignty and became part of the name of a federal state – a unique constellation in Germany.