Bogislaw was born in Rügenwalde (now
Darłowo, Poland). His parents were
Eric II, Duke of Pomerania-Wolgast, and
Sophia of Pomerania, both members of the
House of Pomerania . Bogislaw was first married to
Margaret of Brandenburg and later to
Anna, daughter of the Polish king
Casimir IV Jagiellon. With his second wife he had eight children, including
Sophia, who became queen of Denmark. He inherited all of the previously partitioned Duchy of Pomerania and became its sole ruler in 1478. He was succeeded by his sons
George I and
Barnim XI. Before Bogislaw's reign, the Duchy of Pomerania had for a long time been divided into several splinter duchies, ruled by relatives of the Griffin house. In 1464, Pomerania-Stettin's duke
Otto III died without an heir, Bogislaw's father Eric II and his uncle,
Wartislaw X, both ruling different portions of Pomerania-Wolgast, managed to succeed in a conflict about Pomerania-Stettin inheritance with the
Margraviate of Brandenburg. In 1474, with his father's death, Bogislaw inherited his splinter duchy, becoming Duke of Pomerania. In 1478 with his uncle's death, he also inherited his splinter duchy, Pomerania-Barth, becoming the first sole ruler in the Duchy of Pomerania since about 200 years. His father,
Eric II, had left Pomerania in tense conflicts with Brandenburg and
Mecklenburg. Bogislaw managed to resolve these conflicts by both diplomatic and military means. He married his sister, Sophia, to
Magnus II, Duke of Mecklenburg, and his other sister, Margarete, was married to Magnus's brother Balthasar. Bogislaw himself married Margarete, daughter of Brandenburg's
Prince-elector Frederick II. Also, in 1478, Bogislaw regained areas lost to Brandenburg by his father, most notably the town of
Gartz and other small towns and castles north of the Brandenburgian
Uckermark. He confirmed the 1472
Peace of Prenzlau in 1479, leaving
Strasburg with Brandenburg and Bogislaw had to take his possessions as a fief from Brandenburg. In the same year, his wife died before they had children. When Bogislaw married Anna of Poland on 2 February 1491, all of Pomerania's neighbors were tied to the House of Pomerania by marriage. Bogislaw made use of these favourable conditions in 1493, and strengthened Pomerania's position towards Brandenburg in the
Treaty of Pyritz, which declared Pomerania not a fief of Brandenburg, but a fief of the
Holy Roman Emperor. From 1496 to 1498, Bogislaw travelled to
Jerusalem as a pilgrim. He died in
Stettin. ==Children==