Castle in Pokrzywno

he castle in Pokrzywno was built on the site of the Slavic stronghold of Copriven. This stronghold was first given to bishop Christian in 1222, and after the defeat of the bishop's mission to convert Prussia, the stronghold was taken over by the Teutonic Knights around 1230. After a few years, the first convent of brothers was brought to Pokrzywno. Around the middle of the thirteenth century, the Order began the construction of a brick castle, which lasted over half a century. As one of the first defensive assumptions of the Teutonic Knights, the castle in Pokrzywno does not yet show the regularity characteristic in later times.

The complex occupies a promontory with steep slopes surrounded on three sides by streams, the interconnected castle and outer bailey from the east were separated from 

photo by ZeroJeden, X 2002

the rest of the hill by a wide dry moat. The southernmost part of the promontory was occupied by the upper castle consisting of three wings and a section of the curtain wall from the south. The construction began with the construction of perimeter walls, only after their erection did the construction of buildings begin to be added to them. In the northern corner, a building with a chapel on the first floor was erected, from it, along the eastern section of the wall, a building with representative features was erected. In the south-eastern corner there was a gate preceded from the side of the outer bailey by a long gate neck. The layout of the remaining part of the upper castle is impossible to reconstruct due to the demolition of ruins carried out in early modern times.

At the end of the thirteenth century, the construction of the outer bailey began. The vast area was closed with an octagonal wall, to which other buildings were later added, in the first place probably a granary in the north-west corner, which had significant defensive functions. From the perimeter of the walls of the outer bailey, a decorative gate from the mid-fourteenth century has survived in the eastern section of the wall. This gate led to the latest part of the castle complex ? outer bailey, which was built in the second half of the fourteenth century.

During the war with the Polish-Lithuanian army in Pokrzywno, the commander was Burchard von Wobecke, who died in the Battle of Grunwald. The castle was briefly given for merits to Dobiesław of Oleśnica, whose presence contributed to significant damage to the object. After the defeat of the 

photo by ZeroJeden, IV 2005

Order in 1411, on the initiative of Grand Master Henry von Plauen, the Teutonic Knights began to modernize many castles. Pokrzywieński was renovated, and the walls were raised and equipped with more modern embrasures. After the coup d'état, Henry von Plauen was demoted and transferred to the commandry in Pokrzywno.

During the Hunger War, the castle was seriously damaged, which consequently led to the loss of its importance and the liquidation of the commandry.

After the Second Peace of Toruń, the Polish king designated the castle as the seat of starosts. In 1611, there was a fire in the castle, but it was rebuilt. During the Swedish wars, the invaders who left the castle buildings retreating from Polish in 1660 had their headquarters here. The devastated buildings were renovated and reinhabited by starosts.

The final decline began after the first partition of Polish. In 1784, the Prussian authorities began the demolition of the chapel, the work was stopped, but the weakened vault collapsed soon after. Lack of care and gradual demolition led the remaining buildings 

Plan of the castle proper according to Conrad Steinbrecht, 1900-1920

to ruin. It was not until 1934 that all demolition works were stopped, the first works to secure the castle were not seen until the sixties of the twentieth century.

Show on map