The town of Sternberg was founded during the
Ostsiedlung by duke
Pribislaw I, who chartered the town with
German town law in 1248. In the vicinity of the town are the remains of three earlier,
Slavic settlements (near
Groß Raden and
Sternberger Burg within the current city limits, and near
Groß Görnow). The Slavic settlement and ramparts near Groß Raden have been excavated and reconstructed and serve as a well-known
open-air museum for the Slavic era.
Suzerainty over Sternberg was transferred from Pribislaw to the Prince of Mecklenburg following Pribislaw's expulsion in 1255. Sternberg became the favorite residence of duke Heinrich II. (
the Lion) in 1310. In 1492, 27 Jews were burned on the Judenberg after being charged with
Eucharistic Sacrilege, a fictitious crime used in Jewish pogroms throughout medieval and renaissance Europe. On June 20, 1549, the
Reformation was introduced in
Mecklenburg as a result of a special council (Landtag) on the Sagsdorfer Bridge in Sternberg. In 1628, during the
Thirty Years' War Albrecht von Wallenstein held council here. ==Geography==