German is a West Germanic language that is mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and official or co-official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, South Tyrol (Italy), the German-speaking Community of Belgium, and Liechtenstein. It is also one of the three official languages of Luxembourg and a co-official language in the Opole Voivodeship in Poland. The languages which are most similar to German are the other members of the West Germanic language branch: Afrikaans, Dutch, English, the Frisian languages, Low German/Low Saxon, Luxembourgish, and Yiddish. There are also strong similarities in vocabulary with Danish, Norwegian and Swedish, although those belong to the North Germanic group. German is the second most widely spoken Germanic language, after English.
Polish is a West Slavic language of the Lechitic group. It is spoken primarily in Poland and serves as the native language of the Poles. In addition to being an official language of Poland, it is also used by Polish minorities in other countries. There are over 50 million Polish language speakers around the world and it is one of the official languages of the European Union.
Starostwo, administrative units established from the 14th century in the Polish Crown and later in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth until the partitions of Poland in 1795. They were jointly referred to as the crown lands (królewszczyzna).
The High Middle Ages, or High Medieval Period, was the period of European history that commenced around 1000 and lasted until around 1250. The High Middle Ages were preceded by the Early Middle Ages and were followed by the Late Middle Ages, which ended around 1500.
The period of rule by the Piast dynasty between the 10th and 14th centuries is the first major stage of the history of the Polish nation. The dynasty was founded by a series of dukes listed by the chronicler Gallus Anonymous in the early 12th century: Siemowit, Lestek and Siemomysł. It was Mieszko I, the son of Siemomysł, who is now considered the proper founder of the Polish state at about 960 AD. The ruling house then remained in power in the Polish lands until 1370. Mieszko converted to Christianity of the Western Latin Rite in an event known as the Baptism of Poland in 966, which established a major cultural boundary in Europe based on religion. He also completed a unification of the West Slavic tribal lands that was fundamental to the existence of the new country of Poland.
The Duchy of Pomerania was a duchy in Pomerania on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea, ruled by dukes of the House of Pomerania (Griffins).
In 1312, the order was dissolved, and its possessions were taken over by the Knights Hospitaller.[1] Draheim Castle (in the area of modern Stare Drawsko) was built in the mid-14th century at the crossing of the trade route via marchionis from Pomeranian Stargard to Danzig and the via regalis from Kolberg to Poznań.[3] In 1368, during an exchange of territories, Margrave Otto VII of Brandenburg gave the areas around Czaplinek and Wałcz (Deutsch Krone) to the Polish king Casimir III the Great, who in 1370 established Wałcz County (powiat Wałcz) from these accessions: part of the Poznań Voivodeship (palatinate), it consisted of seven loosely connected regions in royal or noble possession subordinate to the judicum castrensis in Wałcz.[1]
The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem, also known as the Order of Saint John, Order of Hospitallers, Knights Hospitaller, Knights Hospitalier or Hospitallers, was a medieval and early modern Catholic military order. It was headquartered in the Kingdom of Jerusalem, on the island of Rhodes, in Malta and St Petersburg.
Stare Drawsko is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Czaplinek, within Drawsko County, West Pomeranian Voivodeship, in north-western Poland.
Gdańsk is a Polish city on the Baltic coast. With a population of 464,254, Gdańsk is the capital and largest city of the Pomeranian Voivodeship and the capital of Kashubia. It is Poland's principal seaport and the centre of the country's fourth-largest metropolitan area.
Draheim was made one of three (sub-)starosties of the county, the other ones being Usz-Pila (Schneidemühl) and Wałcz.[1] In addition to the three starosties, four regions consisting of allodial possessions of the von Wedell, von der Goltz and Czarnowski families were also part of the county.[1] These noble families were also in possession of areas in Pomerania, the Brandeburgian Neumark and other parts of Poland, and also of areas within the Draheim starosty.[1] Draheim Castle was a royal possession.[1] The starost of Draheim (also tenutarius or capitaneatus tenutae) was appointed for life by the Polish king, who owned a quarter of the starosty's income.[4] The starost was in charge of the local administration, military and jurisdiction.[4] His German subjects however, in contrast to peasants on Polish noble estates, were able to appeal his judicial decisions at the court in Wałcz, and were repeatedly assured this right in respective documents.[4]
The Neumark, also known as the New March or as East Brandenburg, was a region of the Margraviate of Brandenburg and its successors located east of the Oder River in territory which became part of Poland in 1945.
When in the late 14th century the southwestern territories of Heinrichsdorf-Warlange and Brotzen-Machlin became allodial possessions of the von der Goltz family, who before had held the areas as fiefs, and were thus excluded from the starosty, Draheim lost a direct land route to the rest of Walcz county.[3] Draheim was then surrounded by the Imperial Duchy of Pomerania in the north, east and southeast, with the exception of the small enclave of Groß Poplow-Brutzen which was in the possession of the von Manteuffel family and directly under the Polish crown; in the southeast, Draheim bordered the Neumark exclave Groß Zacharin-Doderlage.[3] The border was not fixed, but varied according to the ability of competing nobles in the frontier region to manifest their respective claims.[5] When a noble perceived an intrusion into his territory, he and his subjects traditionally reacted with an inequatio, a mounted raid, into the territory of his competitor on the other side of the border.[5] This practice persisted in Walcz county until the late 18th century.[6]
A robber baron or robber knight was an unscrupulous feudal landowner who imposed high taxes and tolls out of keeping with the norm without authorization by some higher authority, while protected by his fief's legal status. Some resorted to actual banditry. Medieval robber barons most often imposed high or unauthorized tolls on rivers or roads passing through their territory. Some actually robbed merchants, land travelers, and river traffic, seizing money, cargoes, entire ships, or engaged in kidnapping for ransom.
Drawsko Pomorskie is a town in Drawsko County in West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland, the administrative seat of Drawsko County and the urban-rural commune of Gmina Drawsko Pomorskie. As of 2013, the town has 11,878 inhabitants.
In the 16th century the region largely converted to Lutheranism during the Protestant Reformation. During the counter-reformation, of the three important families only the von der Goltzs remained Protestant, while the von Wedells and Czarnowskis converted to Roman Catholicism, maintaining however a tolerant attitude towards the Protestant settlers.[4] Starost Jan Czarnowski expelled the Protestant preachers in 1625; the churches were restored to Catholicism, although the populace remained largely Protestant.
Also in the 16th century, conditions for peasants worsened in the neighboring Duchy of Pomerania due to the implementation of stringent serfdom.[7] Many peasants fled from Pomerania to Draheim and other parts of Walcz county, where the nobles offered them hereditary farmland in deserted villages and clearances which they were to settle according to German law.[8] The settlers primarily originated in Pomeranian and Neumark areas no more than 50 kilometres (31mi) away from the Draheim border, and their influx continued throughout the 16th and 17th centuries despite protests of their former superiors.[9] This migration was enhanced by the Thirty Years War, during which Pomerania and Neumark were devastated, while the Polish territories were spared.[9] Orders of the Polish king to expel the refugees were ignored by the local nobles.[10] New villages were founded according to Magdeburg law: their settlement was organized by a Schulze, usually a rich farmer or burgher, who bought the office from the landlord and worked out the contracts (Privilegien or Lehnsbrieffe [sic!]) with the peasants.[10] Schulzes as well as free peasants and pub owners were required to attend their landlord in arms when it came to the abovementioned border skirmishes with competing nobles.[11] Since a schulze was able to partition and sell his estate, with the heirs or other acquiring party gaining all privileges of a schulze even if owning only part of such an estate, the number of schulzes increased significantly over time.[12] This process was enhanced by the landlords, who needed the schulzes' armed services at the border.[13]
In July 1655, during the Second Northern War, Draheim was devastated by a trespassing Swedish army.[14] A Brandenburgian report noted that no more than 150 inhabitants remained, the rest had fled to nearby areas, but hesitated to return as they were deprived of all their means.[14]
According to the Treaty of Bromberg, Frederick William promised not to infringe upon the rights of the Roman Catholic Church in Draheim. The number of Protestants in the territory gradually shrank. It was not until the reign of King Frederick William I of Prussia (1713–40) that a Protestant church was built in Tempelburg.
The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem, commonly the Teutonic Order, is a Catholic religious order founded as a military order c. 1190 in Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem.
Swedish Pomerania was a Dominion under the Swedish Crown from 1630 to 1815, situated on what is now the Baltic coast of Germany and Poland. Following the Polish War and the Thirty Years' War, Sweden held extensive control over the lands on the southern Baltic coast, including Pomerania and parts of Livonia and Prussia.
The Frontier March of Posen-West Prussia was a province of Prussia from 1922 to 1938. Posen-West Prussia was established in 1922 as a province of the Free State of Prussia within Weimar Germany, formed from merging three remaining non-contiguous territories of Posen and West Prussia, which had lost the majority of their territory to the Second Polish Republic and Free City of Danzig in the Treaty of Versailles. From 1934, Posen-West Prussia was de facto ruled by Brandenburg until it was dissolved in 1938 by Nazi Germany, and its territory divided between the Prussian provinces of Silesia, Pomerania, and Brandenburg.
Nowe Miasto Lubawskie is a town in Poland, situated on the River Drwęca. The total population in June 2018 was 11,062. Nowe Miasto Lubawskie is the capital of Nowe Miasto County and was assigned to the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship in 1999.
The Province of West Prussia was a province of Prussia from 1773 to 1829 and 1878 to 1922. West Prussia was established as a province of the Kingdom of Prussia in 1773, formed from Royal Prussia of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth annexed in the First Partition of Poland. West Prussia was dissolved in 1829 and merged with East Prussia to form the Province of Prussia, but was re-established in 1878 when the merger was reversed and became part of the German Empire. From 1918, West Prussia was a province of the Free State of Prussia within Weimar Germany, losing most of its territory to the Second Polish Republic and the Free City of Danzig in the Treaty of Versailles. West Prussia was dissolved in 1922, and its remaining western territory was merged with Posen to form Posen-West Prussia, and its eastern territory merged with East Prussia as the Region of West Prussia district.
The history of Pomerania starts shortly before 1000 AD with ongoing conquests by newly arrived Polans rulers. Before that the area was recorded nearly 2000 years ago as Germania, and in modern-day times Pomerania is split between Germany and Poland. The name Pomerania comes from the Slavic po more, which means Land at the Sea.
The Treaty of Bromberg or Treaty of Bydgoszcz was a treaty between John II Casimir of Poland and Elector Frederick William of Brandenburg-Prussia, ratified at Bromberg (Bydgoszcz) on 6 November 1657. The treaty consisted of several agreements, including the Treaty of Wehlau signed on 19 September 1657 by the Brandenburg-Prussian and Polish-Lithuanian envoys in Wehlau. Thus, the treaty of Bromberg is sometimes referred to as treaty of Wehlau-Bromberg or Treaty of Wehlau and Bromberg.
Myślibórz is a city in north-west Poland, in West Pomeranian Voivodeship. It is the capital of the Powiat of Myślibórz, with a population of 11,867.
The Province of Brandenburg was a province of Prussia from 1815 to 1945. Brandenburg was established in 1815 from the Kingdom of Prussia's core territory, comprised the bulk of the historic Margraviate of Brandenburg and the Lower Lusatia region, and became part of the German Empire in 1871. From 1918, Brandenburg was a province of the Free State of Prussia until it was dissolved in 1945 after World War II, and replaced with reduced territory as the State of Brandenburg in East Germany, which was later dissolved in 1952. Following the reunification of Germany in 1990, Brandenburg was re-established as a federal state of Germany, becoming one of the new states.
The Margraviate of Brandenburg was a major principality of the Holy Roman Empire from 1157 to 1806 that played a pivotal role in the history of Germany and Central Europe.
Czaplinek is a town in Drawsko County, West Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland, with 7,155 inhabitants (2016).
Weyher family was a family of high nobility, most prominent in the 16th and 17th centuries in the Pomerania region and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The family origins can be traced to Würzburg, Germany.
Chwarszczany is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Boleszkowice, within Myślibórz County, West Pomeranian Voivodeship, in north-western Poland, close to the German border. It lies on the river Myśla, approximately 6 kilometres (4 mi) south-east of Boleszkowice, 32 km (20 mi) south-west of Myślibórz, and 82 km (51 mi) south of the regional capital Szczecin (Stettin). It is located at the junction of voivodeship road 127 and national road 31. The village has a population of 222.
Pomerania during the Early Modern Age covers the history of Pomerania in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries.
The Province of Pomerania was a province of Brandenburg-Prussia, the later Kingdom of Prussia. After the Thirty Years' War, the province consisted of Farther Pomerania. Subsequently, the Lauenburg and Bütow Land, Draheim, and Swedish Pomerania south of the Peene river were joined into the province. The province was succeeded by the Province of Pomerania set up in 1815.
Rakowo is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Krzęcin, within Choszczno County, West Pomeranian Voivodeship, in north-western Poland. It lies approximately 4 kilometres (2 mi) north-east of Krzęcin, 12 km (7 mi) south-east of Choszczno, and 73 km (45 mi) south-east of the regional capital Szczecin.
The Treaties of Cölln and Mewe, concluded in 1454 and 1455, transferred the Neumark from the State of the Teutonic Order to the Electorate of Brandenburg. The Teutonic Knights had received the area as a pawn from Brandenburg in 1402, and as a possession in 1429. Financial shortages due to the onset of the Thirteen Years' War (1454–1466) forced Ludwig von Erlichshausen, Grand Master of the Teutonic Order, to pawn the Neumark to Frederick II, Elector of Brandenburg, by the Treaty of Cölln on 22 February 1454, and to subsequently sell it by the Treaty of Mewe on 16 September 1455.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Drahim Castle.
Christoph Motsch: Grenzgesellschaft und frühmoderner Staat. Die Starostei Draheim zwischen Hinterpommern, der Neumark und Großpolen (1575–1805). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2001, ISBN3-525-35634-X. (in German)
Haik Thomas Porada, Michael Lissok: Die frühere Starostei Draheim und die Stadt Tempelburg. In: Pommern. Zeitschrift für Kultur und Geschichte. Heft 2/2002, ISSN0032-4167, S. 2–9. (in German)
Martin Wehrmann: Geschichte von Pommern. Band 2. 2. Auflage. Friedrich Andreas Perthes, Gotha 1921, S. 179. Nachdruck: Weltbild Verlag, Augsburg 1992, ISBN3-89350-112-6. (in German)
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