The two duchies have two separate systems of lower courts and a common supreme court it Ros tock. There is no general financial system in the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. The reve nue is divided into three classes, of which by far the largest (derived from the royal domains and ordinary taxes) is under the sole control of the Grand Duke. .1 part 44 it goes to cover the ordi nary expenses of the Government. The total public debt, incurred to sonic. extent for the purchase of railways, amounted in 1901 to $26.505,000. (Gen eral and technical education is on a high plane. The university at Rostock (q.v.) provides higher education. Population, in 1890, 578,342; in 1900, 017.770, almost entirely Protestant.
Illsronv. The territory of Aleeklenburg was anciently occupied by Germanic peoples, and at the beginning of the :Middle Ages the Wends. Mot nits. and other Slavic tribes took possession of the region. The Slavie inhabitants long resisted the power of Germany, but were finally subdued in the second half of the twelfth century by llenry the Lion, Duke of Saxony. Henry left a part of the country ( which took its name from Alikilinborg, the principal settlement of the (Mo t rits. near the modern Wismar) under the rule of the 4)INa rit prinees. while at the same time the Germanization of the was prosecuted. After 1229 the territory was (eminently divided and subdivided among the 41,,cvmlatas of the original Slavic rulers. In 131s leeklenburg was elevated into n duchy by the Emperor Charles 1V. In 1:163 Albert III.. Duke of lleeklenburg, was called to the throne of Sweden. but in 13S9 was dethroned by Margaret, Queen of Denmark and Norway. In the middle of the sixteenth cen tury Luthernnism was made the re li4ion in Meeklenburg. About this time there was a division into the two ducal lines of Meek lenburg-Sehwerin and Meeklenburg-Giistrow. In
the Thirty Years' War the Dukes of :Mecklenburg joined Christian IV. of Denmark in the struggle against the Catholic powers, and. as a result, were depriVell of their possessions, which were conferred in 1629 upon Wallenstein. In 1631, however. the dukes were restored by Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden. After various subdivisions of the duval line into the branches of Selliverin, Strelitz, and others, and the successive extinction of several of these collateral houses, the Imperial h Commission, which met at hamburg in 1701, brought about a family compact, by which it Was arranged that Schwerin and Giistrow should form one duchy and Studitz with Ratzeburg, Star gard, etc., another. In 1815 the dukes of both the Mecklenburgs assumed the title of Grand Duke. Frederick Francis (1785-1837), Grand Duke of Meeklenburg-Schwerin, abolished serfdom in his dominions, to which he added Wismar. 'The reign of Frederick Francis 11. of the same duchy. who succeeded his father, Paul Frederick, in 1842. was disturbed by a contest between the nobles and the burghers and smaller landowners. The revolutionary movement of 1848 gave a fresh stimulus to the popular ferment in both duchies, and the disturbances could only be I quelled by t intervention of the Prussian troops; hut a reaction look place in 1850, and matters were restored to their former condition. Fred erick Francis 11. (q.v.). Grand Duke of Meck lenburg-Schwerin. was one of the principal gen erals in the Franco-German War of 1870.71. As members of the new German Empire. the two duchies have maintained their internal (.onstitu tion very much on the old footing. Consult: Boll, Geschichie .11eeklenburgs 1855-50) ; Mayer, (lesehiehle des Grossherzog thums .11erklenbyrg - Strelitz 1816-90 (.Nenstre litz, 1890).