John III of Werle

John III, called John van Ruoden (before 1300–1352), took Werle-Goldberg in the 1316 partition after his father Nicholas II died, while his uncle John II kept Werle-Güstrow. In 1317 he married Mechtild, daughter of Duke Otto I of Pomerania.

The Rügen War of Succession broke his finances. In 1326 Christopher II of Denmark promised Rügen to John and Henry II of Mecklenburg, though he had already pledged it to Pomerania; under the eventual peace Pomerania kept Rügen, and John won only a pledge on Tribsees, which Pomerania then conquered.

To pay his war contractors he pledged Laage, Malchin, Stavenhagen and Malchow, most of his land. From 1350 he left rule to his son Nicholas IV. He was gravely ill in 1352 and was probably buried at Malchow Abbey.