He was the son of
Henry I and reigned from 1287 to 1289 together with his brother
John III. During his father's absence (his father had been taken prisoner while on a crusade) from 1275 to 1302, Mecklenburg was ruled by his mother Anastasia jointly with Henry's uncles
Nicholas III (until 1290) and
John II (until 1283). In 1287, Henry II became co-regent with his mother and uncle. When his father died in 1302, Henry II became Lord of Mecklenburg. Early in his reign, he conducted an unsuccessful war against
Nicholas II of Werle about the succession of
Henry I. Around 1299, the sons of his father-in-law
Albert III of Brandenburg died and Albert gave (or sold) him the Lordship of Stargard, which Albert had earlier promised to give as
dowry to his daughter
Beatrix (Henry II's wife). In the 1304
Treaty of Vietmannsdorf, it was once again agreed that Brandenburg
enfeoffed Henry II with the
Lordship of Stargard. Nevertheless, when Beatrix died without a male heir in 1314, Brandenburg demanded that Stargard be handed back. This led to the so-called "
North German Margrave War". in 1299, an alliance of Henry II of Mecklenburg,
Nicholas II of Werle and
Albert III of Brandenburg-Salzwedel tried to conquer the Principality of
Rostock. Lord
Nicholas I of Rostock put his country in 1300 under the feudal rule and protection of King
Eric VI of Denmark. Eric defeated Henry and then took Rostock for himself. In 1304, a new alliance, consisting of Henry II and Albert's successor
Herman came to the aid of king
Wenceslaus II of Bohemia in his war against Emperor
Albert I. In this war, Henry earned his nickname "the Lion". In 1310, he began a war against the Hanseatic cities of
Wismar and
Rostock. The trigger for this war was the refusal of Wismar to host the wedding of Henry's daughter Matilda with Duke
Otto III of Brunswick-Lüneburg. Henry III then chose
Sternberg as his residence and held the wedding there. Wismar submitted to Henry in 1311 and he continued his attack on Rostock. On 15 December 1312, he took the city, despite fierce resistance. The city rose up again in 1313, when Henry was undertaking a pilgrimage to the Madonna del Rocca church in
Castelmola. On 12 January 1314, Rostock was subdued again and the old city council, led by
Bernhard Kopman, was restored to power. In 1315, the so-called "
North German Margrave War" broke out, against Brandenburg and the city of
Stralsund. Brandenburg, now led by Margrave
Waldemar, invaded the disputed Lordship of Stargard. Henry besieged Stargard, but had to break off his siege in July 1316. He defeated Waldemar in the
Battle of Gransee and was finally awarded the Lordship of Stargard in the
Treaty of Templin of 25 November 1317. In 1319 Henry and Count
Gerhard III of Holstein-Rendsburg tried to subdue Ditmarschen, but were unsuccessful. Ditmarschen won the
Battle of Wöhrden, where Henry escaped with difficulty. Later that year, Waldemar died and Henry II conquered
Prignitz and the
Uckermark. In 1323, Rostock revolted again, and Henry subdued the city again and made peace with King
Christopher II of Denmark on 21 May 1323. Christopher enfeoffed him with the Lordships of Rostock,
Gnoien and
Schwaan. The new Margrave
Louis I of Brandenburg, or rather his guardian Count
Berthold VII of Henneberg-Schleusingen, reconquered
Prignitz and the
Uckermark and Henry had to settle for an unfavourable peace treaty on 24 May 1325. After the last Prince of Rügen,
Wizlaw died on 10 November 1325, the first
War of the Rügen Succession broke out. It ended after fierce fighting with the Peace of Brudersdorf of 27 June 1328, in which Pomerania acquired Rügen and Mecklenburg had to settle for a monetary compensation. Henry II died on 21 January 1329. == Marriage and issue ==