Castles and Fortifications of the Teutonic Knights and the Church Hierarchy in Prussia

rchaft des 'deutsche naringen 3 CASTLES AND FORTIFICATIONS OF THE TEUTONIC KNIGHTS AND THE CHURCH HIERARCHY IN PRUSSIA Marian Arszynslei e central and eastern stretch of rhe Baltic Lowland, now pardy wirhin the borders of northern Poland and partly wirhin the territory of the Russian ndave of Kaliningrad and western Lithuania, was under Teutonic rule for several centuries in the Middle Ages. Historians of architecture categorise this area as one of the regions of Europe characrerised by clusters of fortified structures which present a particularly interesting and multifacered problem. Few of these structures have retained their original shape - mostly as a result of nineteenth-century conversion and reconstruction. The majority of them, though, have survived in a more or less ruined state. Some of the structures have long since disappeared and we can only gain information about thern from archaeological and written sources as weil as from old views and plans. The cluster of architecture referred to above grew up gradually, starting in the second quarter of the thirteenth century. As the Teuronic Order made territorial gains, it spread to ever wider areas - first to the Kulmerland, then to successive parts of Prussia proper, and finally to lands to the west of the Vistula, The first structures which marked the beginning of this cluster were in fact not the work of rhe Order. Immediately after arriving on the borders of the Kulmerland, rhe Order sertled its detachrnenr in Nieszawa (Germ. Nessau), in fortifications granted to it by Duke Konrad of Masovia. These forrifications were subsequendy to act as insurance for rhe operation whose aim was to establish an invasive bridgehead on the opposire bank of the Vistula. Ir was immediately protected by a fortified watchtower with foundations made of rhe branches of a massive oak tree. Later, too, large solitary rrees, referred to in sources as arbor custodie or uiartboum, were sometirnes used as fortified observation posts or sentry posts. 57 Part One - Prussia During such military operations following on from this, aimed at making further territorial gains, the imporrance of fortified structures grew steadily, Ir was only the immediate construction of some kind of fortification that made it possible to defend the newly-conquered area and maintain aurhoriry over it. In this early period, fortifications were not always built from scratch. Ir was fairly cornmon to take advantage of the fortifications built on rhe conquered land by the indigenous peoples, an exarnple of which is rhe Prussian fortified settlement in Balga (Veseloe). However, the Teutonic Knights quickly abandoned this method and began to build cornpletely new fortifications, though usually in locations rhat had long been fortified. In this, they availed thernselves of assistance from both Polish and western European Crusaders participating in their military expeditions. However, the core workforce in these early fortifications works was undoubtedly the local Prussian population. Some of the indigenous people, temporarily allied with the Teuronic Knighrs, worked volunrarily, offering their technical expertise and experience in construction, while others were forced to work. Indeed, the Teutonic Knights were officially authorised ro demand such work, for example through papal regulations. All of the early fortifications in the hands of the Teuronic Knights - both those taken over from the previous owners and those built from scratch - were, in terms of rnaterials and shape, fairly primitive residential and defensive settlements, drawing on very old local building traditions. The main elernent of the construction of these serrlernents was rhe defensive rampart, the massive wooden core of which was filled and covered with earth. Generally preceded by a deep moat, it usually surrounded the inner courtyard following an oval oudine. On top of it, mostly coupled with ramparts, were low wooden residential buildings and outhouses, and sometimes even a chapel. Occasionally wooden defence towers would also be consrructed along the line of the ramparrs. Amongst the Teutonic constructions of this type; one of the most thoroughly researched archaeologically is their first defensive settlement in Marienwerder (Kwidzyn). In the light of the results of recent research, it was not until the end of the thirteenth century that the slow, gradual process began of introducing massive materials and structures into the art of building Teutonic fortifications - at first stone, as in the castle in Thorn (Torun), for example, then brick. Ir was primarily castles built from scratch that were constructed using these durable materials and masonry techniques. At the same time, some of the existing fortified towns, built earlier using wood and earth, were gradually rebuilt. However, a fair proportion of Teutonic strongholds - even those of great military importance, such as Ragnit (Neman) - did not undergo this process until the late fourteenth or early filieenth century. Some of the less significant ones had still not been rebuilt by the end 58 ang iily. !ade ~ir. Lirly by .ent lOd :hat oth ns. dIy _ - '_-r.:._-. 'e-, ied lfid -_- _- ----__ - - ~- nie pal ose Fig. 2. Reconstruction of the wood-and-earth rampart of Thorn ms (after J. Chudziakowa) tng :::se 100 .00 ith ies ng ne 'fit [ld [St ily 1d ilt m ur Fig. 3. Ourline of the castle of the Teutonic Order in Thorn (Toruri) rh in the fourreenrh cemwy ui (after Z. Nawrocki) Part One - Prussia of the existence of the Teutonic state. There are even cases where new less important fortifications were built on the eastern border of the state during the declining years of its existence using the traditional wood and earth embankment. Some of the early stone or brick castles, ehe best exarnple of which is Thorn (Toruri), were erected on the framework of ehe earlier wood and earth fortifications, which led to their irregular shapes, in part oval, in part rectilinear, or, in ehe case of Thorn, horseshoe-shaped, The buildings which were erected slighdy later, though, broke away more and more from such a direct reliance on the original plan of the previous buildings from the site. Their shapes became more complex and varied, predominancly irregular polygons - such as those of the cascles in Engelsburg (Pokrzywno) and Roggenhausen (Rogözno). The majority of contemporary researchers represent the view that the Teutonic Order, despite the fact that it had already ruled over numerous fortiflcations in the Middle East and in many parts of Europe, did not yet have its own concept of rhe shape of its fortified sear that was adapred to the particular conditions and tasks rhar it encountered in Prussia. At first it thus drew on Central European knighrs' castles, particularly from Thuringia, as rhe pattern for the casdes in Engelsburg and Roggenhausen and other contemporary strucrures, This pattern obviously still did not suit rhe needs of the Order, as it was soon abandoned. Several years later, certain features began to appear in the shape of subsequently built castles which suggest that rhe Teutonic Knights were starring to find functional and formal solutions thar were more suited to the needs arising from the form and manner in which their organisational and economic strucrures worked as they crystallised after the second half of the thirteenth cenrury in their Prussian estates. Among these needs, the requirements arising from rhe rigours of rnonastic life held a prominent place, as rhis aspect was the subject of particular efforts to activate it by the leaders of the Order during this period. Under the inBuence of all these factors, the division of space into separate functions began to be more apparent in the planning of the interiors of the castles constructed at that time, and the tendency appeared to combine individual elements that had previously been dispersed into a compact architecturally structured whole, larger in size than hitherto. Therefore, castles began to acquire a more regular shape, square or rectangular, while their scale became more monumental and their architectural form more unified. The first signs of the search for these new solutions are visible in the Boor plan of Birgelau (Bierzglowo) casde, whose construction probably started bet\'ieen (he third and fourth quarters of (he thirteenth century. Tangible results were really only achieved, however, ar the end of that century. Ir was ehen that the anti-Teutonic uprisings finally came to an end, and consequently there aost was a slow improvement in the domestic situation. It was not until this irnprovement ~ 60 3. Marian Arszyriski, Castfes and Fortifications 0/ the Teutonic Knights ... anr took place that the material and organisational basis was created to undertake more ears extensive construction projects. The fact that more intensive construction work was undertaken at that time orn in Prussia was also undoubtedly influenced by events rhar took place outside its Ins, borders and were decisive in the further course of the history of the Order. In 1291, :ase Muslims conquered Acre, the last stronghold of Christianity in the Holy Land, which (er, ultimately deprived the Teutonic Knights of their main field of action. This dramatic lau event condusively consolidated the conviction that had been maturing for some nd time in the minds of many of rhe elite Teutonic leadership that the only chance Hg for the further development of rhe Order was to shift ehe focus of its activities from the Mediterranean area to Prussia. The intensihcation of castle-building to oie reinforce loeal military and organisational infrastructure was thus imperative, given ins the situation. ~t In such circumstances, a visibly new type of fortified seat for the Teutonic Order nd began to take shape in rhe late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries in the course , lIS of building casrles in Elbing (Elblag), Marienburg (Malbork) and Brandenburg ud (Ushakovo). The architectural form which becarne crystallised during the construction lid of these castles became a model whose main features were reproduced thenceforth tin by the builders of subsequent seats for ehe Teutonic Order in Prussia until the state esr ceased to exist.

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