Greifswald - Caféhaus Marimar

Greifswald's foundation can be traced back to Cistercian Kloster Eldena (Eldena Monastery), to whose estate it initially belonged. Salt was produced here and so it may have been a settlement of salt workers. In June 1249, the local prince Wartislaw III received a fiefdom from the monastery over the town, which was granted the "Lübische Stadtrecht" (city rights) in 1250. In 1264 the city was allowed to build a protective wall and fortifications.

In 1278, Greifswald was first mentioned in a document as a member of the Hanseatic League. However, as early as the 14th and then in the 15th century, Greifswald's harbour no longer met the requirements of shipping traffic, as it silted up. As a result, Greifswald fell behind the other Hanseatic towns.

In 1456, Duke Wartislaw IX founded the university as the Pomeranian State University. The still existing university is the second oldest university in the Baltic region after Rostock.

The Thirty Years' War brought horrible times. The imperial troops led by notorious Wallenstein entered Greifswald in 1627 and set up a regime of terror in which the population was plundered. To repel the Swedish troops, Wallenstein had the fortifications reinforced and used the population for forced labour. A plague epidemic decimated the population to such an extent that by the end of the war only half the houses were inhabited. In 1631, King Gustav Adolf II's troops captured Greifswald after a short battle.

Pomerania was now swedish until the Congress of Vienna in 1815.
-

The building, now used as "Caféhaus Marimar", is located in the northern part market square (Markt 11). The site was already built on in the late 13th century, and the house was erected between the firewalls from this period in the early 15th century, the gable probably after 1400. In the 14th and 15th centuries, the house belonged to the Rubenow family, who provided several mayors of the town.

One of them was Heinrich Rubenow. He became mayor of Greifswald in 1449. He was one of the drving forces behind the foundation of a Pomeranian university in Greifswald. As a wealthy citizen, he provided several thousand marks to endow the university and left his library to the future law faculty. He was able to gain the support of the Bishop of Cammin and Duke Wartislaw IX of Pomerania. The latter endowed the university in 1456.

The opening of the university by Rubenow took place in October 1456 in the Nikolai Church, which was raised to the rank of a cathedral for the occasion.

Due to numerous hostilities, Rubenow had to flee Greifswald in September 1457. He was offered shelter in Stralsund. After his return in December 1457, his opponents were expelled from the city, and one was executed.

Presumably at the instigation of his enemies Rubenow was murdered on New Year's Eve 1462.