After the Danish conquest, the princes moved their capital from Charenza to nearby Rugard (now incorporated in Bergen auf Rügen).

In the course of the Ostsiedlung, large numbers of German settlers had been encouraged to come to Rügen by the Rani prince Jaromar I and his successors.

Towns were either built within a clearance or near an older Rani burgh and granted Lübeck law when grown to a respective size.

[1] Wizlaw II did not succeed in inheriting Schlawe-Stolp from his mother, but gained the terra Loitz in 1275 In 1168 after the capture of the fortress and temple on Arkona and Charenza by Valdemar I of Denmark the Rügen princes finally had to pay feudal homage to the Danes.

In addition to handing over the temple treasure to the Danes and transferring the estates owned by the temple to the Church, the Rügen princes were obliged to render knights' service in case of war, to pay annual taxes, to provide hostages and to adopt Christianity.

His brother and successor, Prince Jaromar I (died 1218), accepted Danish supremacy and promoted the adoption of Christianity.

In 1177, Rügen troops supported military campaigns by the Danes to Wollin, Usedom and Gützkow, and, in 1178, to Wusterhusen and Wolgast Jaromar I resided from 1180 on the Rugard near Bergen.

In the border dispute between Jaromar I and the widow of Bogislaw I, Knut VI awarded the estates of Miserez (near Jarmen) and Loitz to Gützkow Castle which was in Rügen's hands.

Vitslav I encouraged this development, by enabling Cistercian monks from the Lower Rhine to found Neuenkamp Abbey in the region in 1231.

Two collateral branches of the princely house, the lords of Gristow and the family of Putbus also encouraged colonization by Germans of their estates in Reinberg and Brandshagen.

He strove, during his early years in power, to achieve peaceful relations with his Pomeranian neighbours, especially the counts of Gützkow.

In 1252, he sold the present-day Mönchgut estate of Reddevitz on Rügen to Eldena Abbey, and he also promoted the establishment of town-based monasteries in Stralsund.

In 1259 he intervened in the conflict between the Danish king, Christopher I and the archbishops of Lund and landed with a Rügen army on Zealand.

He conquered Copenhagen, routed a peasant army raised by the Queen Dowager, Margaret Sambiria, and devastated large parts of Zeeland, Scania and Lolland.

Vitslav II, who came to power at the age of 20 after the violent death of his father, tried to improve the relationship between Lübeck and Stralsund by renewing trade agreements.

The regular participation of Vitslav II in Danish royal councils and attestations indicates the perpetuation of the feudal relationship between Rügen and the Kingdom of Denmark.

Prior to his death in 1282, Vitslav II's younger brother, Jaromar III, often served as regent and co-prince.

Since his first marriage turned out to be childless, in 1310 his liege lord, the King of Denmark Erik Menved, agreed a contract of inheritance with Vitslav III, whereby the collateral branches of the princely houses of Putbus and Gristow renounced their succession in favour of the Danish crown.

The failure of negotiations eventually led to the siege of Stralsund in 1316 by an army under the leadership of Duke Eric I of Saxe-Lauenburg.

Vitslav III, whose financial situation had been worsened by the war, awarded numerous privileges to Stralsund, gave them the right to his royal taxes and jurisdiction and sold his mint to the town.