count. At the battle of Mollwitz (April 10th, 1741) he justified his sovereign’s choice by his brilliant leading, which, when the king had disappeared from the field, converted a doubtful battle into a victory which decided for the time being the fate of Silesia. After the conclusion of the war he was governor of the important fortresses of Brieg and Neisse. In the Second Silesian War (1744–1745) Schwerin commanded the army which, marching from Glatz, met the king’s army under the walls of Prague, and in the siege and capture of that place he played a distinguished part (September 10th, 1644). Some time afterwards, the king being compelled to retreat from Bohemia, Schwerin again distinguished himself, but, resenting a real or fancied slight, retired to his estate, to which, and its inhabitants, he devoted his energies during the years of peace. He reappeared on the field at the outbreak of the Seven Years’ War (1756), and during the first campaign conducted the war on the Silesian side of Bohemia; and in 1757, following the same route as in 1744, again joined Frederick at Prague. On the 6th of May followed the battle of Prague. Leading on a regiment of the left wing to the attack with its colour in his hand, the old field marshal was shot dead. Frederick erected a statue on the Wilhelmsplatz to his foremost soldier, and a monument on the field of Prague commemorates the place where he fell. Since 1889 the 14th (3rd Pomeranians) Infantry of the German army has borne his name.
See Varnha en von Ense, Biographische Denkmale, vol. vi. (3rd ed., Leipzig, 1873§ , and Leben Schwerins (Berlin, 1841); Wöllner, Ein Christ und ein Held. oder Nachrichten von Schwerin (Frankfurt a. O., 1758); Pauli, Lebcn Grosser fielden, i. (Halle, 1759); Gollmert, Gesch. des Geschlechts van Schwerin (Berlin, 1878); Schwebel, Die Herren und Grafen von Schwerin (Berlin, 1885).
SCHWERIN, a town of Germany, in the Prussian province of Posen, at the confluence of the Obra and the Warthe, 28 m. by rail E. of Ciistrin. Pop. (1905) 6768. Its principal manufactures are cigars, furniture, bricks and starch. By river a brisk trade is carried on in agricultural produce.
SCHWERIN, a town of Germany, the capital of the grand duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, prettily situated at the S.W. corner of the lake of Schwerin (14 m. long and 312 m. broad), 129 m. by rail N.W. of Berlin, and 20 m. S. of the Baltic. Pop. (1905) 41,638. The town is closely surrounded and hemmed in by a number of lakelets, with high and well-wooded banks, and the hilly environs are occupied by meadows, woods and pretty villas. The old and new towns of Schwerin were only united as one city in 1832; and since that date the suburb of St Paul and another outer suburb, known as the Vorstadt, have grown up. Though Schwerin is the oldest town in Mecklenburg, its aspect is comparatively modern, a fact due to destructive fires, which have swept away most of the ancient houses. The most conspicuous of the many fine buildings is the ducal palace, a huge irregularly pentagonal structure with numerous towers, built in 1844–1857 in the French Renaissance style. It stands on a small round island between Castle Lake and the lake of Schwerin, formerly the site of a Wendish fortress and of a later medieval castle, portions of which have been skilfully incorporated with the present building. The older and much simpler palace; the opera house, rebuilt after a fire in 1882; the government buildings, erected in 1825–1834 and restored in 1865 after a fire; and the museum, in the Greek style, finished in 1882, comprising a fine collection of paintings of the 17th century Dutch school; all stand in the “old garden,” an open space at the end of the bridge leading to the new palace. Among the other secular buildings are the palace of the heir-apparent, built in 1779 and restored in 1878, the large arsenal, the ducal mews, the ducal library containing 180,000 volumes, the town hall, the artillery barracks and the military hospital. The cathedral was originally consecrated in 1248, though the present building—a brick structure in the Baltic Gothic style, with an unfinished tower—dates for the most part from the 15th century. Among other religious edifices are St Paul’s church, a Roman Catholic church and a synagogue. Schwerin is rich in educational institutions, which include a classical school, a veterinary college and a technical school. Since 1837 Schwerin has been once more the residence of the grand duke, and the seat of government, a fact which has had considerable influence on the character of the town and the tone of its society. The chief industry is the making of furniture, and there are also some manufactures of dyes and soap.
Schwerin is mentioned as a Wendish stronghold in 1018, its name (Zwarin or Swarin) being a Slavonic word equivalent to “game-preserve.” The Obotrite prince Niclot, whose statue is placed above the portal of the palace as the ancestor of the present reigning family, had his residence here. The town, found in 1161 by Henry the Lion in opposition to this pagan fortress, received civic rights in 1166. From 1170 to 1624 it gave name to a bishopric; and it was also the capital of the duchy of Schwerin, which forms the western part of the grand-duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Destructive fires, the hardships of the Thirty Years’ War, and the removal of the court to Ludwigslust in 1756 seriously depressed the town. It owes its revival and many of its chief buildings to the grand-duke Paul Frederick, to whom a statue by Rauch was erected in 1859.
See Fromm, Chronik der Haupt- und Residenzstadt Schwerin (Schwerin, 1863, revised and continued by G. Quade, 1892); G. Quade, Vaterlandskunde (Wismar, 1894); and Worl, Führer durch Schwerin (1905).
SCHWERTE, a town of Germany, in the Prussian province of Westphalia, 9 m. by rail N.E. of Hagen, at the junction of the lines Aix-la-Chapelle-Holzminden and Schwerte-Cassel. Pop. (1905) 13,015. It has a Romanesque church, with a carved altar of 1523, and stained glass of the 14th and 15th centuries; and there is a 16th century town hall. The industries are practically confined to the manufacture of iron and steel goods. Schwerte received civic rights in the 12th century.
SCHWETZ, a town of Germany, in the Prussian province of West Prussia, on the left bank of the Vistula, 29 m. by rail N.E. of Bromberg. Pop. (1905) 7747. It has an Evangelical church, two Roman Catholic churches, a synagogue andan old convent, now used as a lunatic asylum, and also the remains of a castle built in the 14th century by the Teutonic Order. The chief industries are the making of sugar and shoes, and there are also electrical works and saw-mills.
See Kotz, Geschichte der Stadt Schweiz seit 1772 (Marienwerder, 1904).
SCHWETZINGEN, a town of Germany, in the grand duchy of Baden, situated in a plain 9 m. by rail S.E. of Mannheim at the junction of lines to Carlsruhe, Heidelberg and Spires. Pop. (1905) 6858. It has a castle, formerly the residence of the electors palatine of the Rhine, built in 1656, destroyed by the French in 1689, but afterwards rebuilt. Its gardens, which occupy 117 acres, were laid out in the middle of the 18th century in imitation of those of Versailles. Cigars, vinegar, beer, yeast and jam are manufactured, while tobacco and hops are cultivated. Schwetzingen became a town in 1833.
SCHWIEBUS, a town of Germany, in the Prussian province of Brandenburg, situated in a fertile plain, 47 m. E. of Frankfort-on-Oder by the railway to Posen. Pop. (1905) 9321. It is still in part surrounded by its medieval wall, and has an old marketplace, a castle and many old houses. Velvet, cloth, machinery, bricks and candles are manufactured, and there are flour-mills, breweries, distilleries and lignite mines. The territory of Schwiebus originally belonged to the principality of Glogau, and in the 16th and 17th centuries was a bone of contention between the electors of Brandenburg and the emperors. A compromise was arrived at in 1686, by which the elector received the lordship of Schwiebus on renouncing his claims to the principalities of Liegnitz, Brieg and Wohlau. The electoral prince Frederick, afterwards the elector Frederick III., had, however, in a private compact pledged himself to restore Schwiebus to the emperor Leopold I. when he became elector, and he did so in 1695, receiving £40,000 in exchange. By the peace of 1742, Frederick the Great regained Schwiebus with the rest of Silesia, and it was incorporated with the department of Glogau.
SCHWIND, MORITZ VON (1804–1871), German painter, was born in Vienna in 1804. He received rudimentary training and led a joyous careless life in that gay capital; among his companions
