From 1266 onwards, he required the Jews in
Wismar to pay protection money. In the same year, he started the "bread and wine donation" programme, in which 20 churches in the
Ilow area would be supplied with communion wine and wafers by the City Hall in Wismar. For many churches in the area, this decree is the first time they are mentioned in a document. In 1270, he undertook a
crusade against
Lithuania, which had not been
Christianized at the time. In 1271, he made a
pilgrimage to the
Holy Land. This pilgrimage is considered a Crusade according to
Thomas Fuller in his
Historie of the Holy Warre. Along the way, Henry was taken prisoner and deported to
Cairo, where he was held in captivity by the Mamluks for 27 years. During his absence, Mecklenburg was ruled by his brothers
John II and
Nicholas III, after a fight between his brothers and cousins about the regency and the guardianship of his children. After John II died in 1283, Nicholas III ruled alone, until
Henry II came of age in 1290. Henry I returned to Mecklenburg via
Morea and
Rome in 1298. In 1299, he formally resumed his reign, although he probably left the business of government mostly to his son Henry II. Henry I died in 1302 and was buried in the ducal crypt in the
Doberan Minster. == Issue ==