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A PILLAR OF DANSKER, THE BEST PRESERVED RELIC OF THE CASTLE IN KOWALEWO POMORSKIE
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T
he first castle in Kowalewo was probably built by Teutonic Knights shortly after receiving this land from the missionary bishop Christian (d. 1245), which took place in 1231. In 1269, this presumed timber-soil stronghold stopped the siege of Prussian tribe of Barts, but the archaic construction based on fragile building materials was not able to guarantee the safety of their defenders in the future. The Order found out about this only three years later, when a pagan tribe of Jaćwęgowie led by Skomand invaded and then burnt down the Teutonic colony. Shortly after these events, a Commandery was established in Kowalewo and the construction of a brick castle was started. This investment was probably initiated under the supervision of commander Arnold Kropp and accompanied by works on fortification of the village, which was granted town rights in 1298. In 1330, Kowalewo repulsed the invasion of the Polish, Hungarian and Russian armed forces led by Władysław Łokietek, who were ravaging Chełmno Land. The castle defended by commander Herman von Oppen was severely damaged at the time, but was not conquered due to the lack of heavy siege equipment.
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THE ONLY KNOWN IMAGE OF THE CASTLE BEFORE ITS DEMOLITION, THIS VERY FAINTLY VISIBLE PICTURE COMES FROM THE XVII CENTURY
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D
uring Polish-Teutonic Wars and in the period immediately preceding these events, the castle was a well-established, self-sufficient unit, as evidenced by the inspection conducted in 1399. It showed that in castle armoury there were 56 helmets, 39 pieces of various types of armour, 10 caps, 51 crossbows and over 9,000 bolts, as well as 3 guns for stones and lead bullets. In total, 81 horses stood in the stables, including 4 very expensive battle horses, 7 mail horses and 12 carriage horses to service the military fleet. In the manor houses, 2111 pigs, 1250 sheep and 224 cattle were kept. The war activities contributed to the increase in armament expenditure, thanks to which in 1421 the castle already had 8 cannons, for which almost 800 bullets of various calibers were prepared.
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A PLATE WITH AN APPROXIMATE DATE OF CASTLE ERECTION PLACED ON THE PILLAR OF THE DANSKER
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I
n July 1410, in the battle of Grunwald, commander Michael von Viltz was killed, and soon afterwards the Polish units under the command of Mikołaj Pilewski and Jan from Pułków occupied the town. Kowalewo was then leased to
Mikołaj Trąba (d. 1422), one of the closest and most trusted royal courtiers. The Polish occupation of the town, which lasted several months, was ended by an offensive of Teutonic military troops supported by the Knights of Livonia under the command of Landmarshal Bern Hevelmann, while the first Peace of Toruń sanctioned the ownership of these lands, that remained Teutonic. In 1422, during the next war between Poland and the Order, Władysław Jagiełło was trying for eight days to conquer the castle , but the fortress defended by command of the Toruń commander Martin von Kemnete was not captured. At the beginning of 1454 the citizens of Kowalewo joined an uprising against the Order and took over the stronghold without any fight. Three years after these events it was handed over to Oldřich Červonka (d. 1465), whose name opens a long list of the starosts of Kowalewo, who were in office at the castle from 1457 to 1772. On the basis of the peace agreement signed in Toruń in 1466, the town became the property of Poland, and the former residence of the commanders - the seat of above-mentioned starost offices.
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THE PILLAR OF DANSKER IN DRAWING FROM 1889, DIE BAU- UND KUNSTDENKMAELER DES KREISES THORN
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U
nder Polish rule the castle lost much of its former glory, and at the beginning of the 17th century its condition was so bad that the local parliament in Grudziądz demanded its repair. The building was severely damaged during the Swedish occupation in 1629 when it was taken over and plundered by units commanded by Gen. Wrangl. The difficult situation of the starost's seat after the end of the wars with Sweden is shown by the inspection of the castle carried out in 1662, in which we read: There's only one bastion in the courtyard where there's a room where the governor stands. (...) The stables are all broken. The tower, where nobility were holding the courts, collapsed and ruined. In 1685 Sejm decided to rebuild the fortress, but due to lack of funds the investment was abandoned. It was used until 1772, when it was finally left behind due to the scale of the damage. Since then the building was uninhabited, but the ruins in some form still existed at least until 1820, as we are informed by the inventory done by T. J. Giese. A few years later, the successive demolition of Gothic walls began, and the brick regained as a result was used to build an evangelical church with a parish house. In 1911 a water tower was erected in the area of a former upper castle, which stands here to this day.
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CASTLE HILL WITH AN XXTH-CENTURY WATER TOWER, POSTCARD FROM AROUND 1915
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VIEW OF THE RUINS FROM THE TIMES WHEN STRAŻACKA STREET WAS YET A DIRT ROAD (1918)
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T
he castle was erected on the high, southern shore of a vast lake (1), in the vicinity of narrow isthmus, which led the trade route towards Brodnica. It consisted of a regular quadrilateral brick conventual building and three baileys, surrounded by walls and integrated with the town. Due to the lack (apart from one poorly readable drawing from the 17th century) of historical iconographic records, the external view, dimensions and layout of the convent house (2) remain largely unrecognized. With a high degree of probability we can determine that it was a building made of brick on a stone foundation with a length of 45 meters each side, with an entrance (3) on the south-west leading from the middle bailey, through the gate neck (4). Presumably, in its southern wing there was a chapel (5) (on the eastern side) and a refectory (6) (on the western side), and in the western wing (7) there were dormitories with commander's apartment. Other wings probably performed utility functions, housing kitchen chambers, warehouses, bakery, etc. All the buildings of the upper castle were cellared except small fragments of the southern and eastern parts, and their width was about 13 meters. Communication between rooms was provided by porches leading around a square courtyard (8), which were probably made of wood. The castle did not have a main tower, and in all probability it also had no corner turrets. However, the decoration of its elevation was on a high artistic level.
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PLAN OF RUINS OF THE UPPER CASTLE ACCORDING TO B. WASIK: 3. ENTRANCE GATE IN THE SOUTH WING, 4. GATE NECK, 5. PROBABLY A CHAPEL,
6. PROBABLY A REFECTORY, 7. WEST WING, 8. COURTYARD, 9. PILLAR OF THE TOILET TOWER (PRESERVED), 10. INTER-WALL, 11. EAST WALL (PRESERVED)
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CASTLE AND TOWN PLAN BY C. STEINBRECHT: 1. LAKE, 2. UPPER CASTLE 3. ENTRANCE TO THE CASTLE FROM THE BAILEY, 9. TOILET TOWER,
12. SOUTH BAILEY, 13. QUADRILATERAL TOWER, 14. SOUTH WALL TOWER, 15. MIDDLE BAILEY, 16. TOWER, 17. WEST BAILEY,
18. TOWN, 19. CHURCH
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A
porch, supported by a pillar (9), was led out of the upper castle to the north, and ended with a toilet tower. Richly decorated with blends and friezes, the brick pillar is today the best preserved relic of Teutonic Castle. The conventual part of the stronghold was surrounded by an additional ring of walls forming an inter-wall (10), in the eastern section (11) also partly survived to the present day. Auxiliary functions to the castle were carried out within three baileys located south-west of the convent house, separated by walls and moats. The southernmost outer bailey (12) had a plan similar to a rectangle with sides of 118x58 meters - it was fortified by a quadrilateral tower (13) on the west side and a tower in the southern curtain (14). From northeast, it was adjacent to the middle bailey (15) marked on an irregular quadrilateral plan of about 60x70 meters, with a tower (16) in the southern wall probably used to flank the entrance from the town side. The smallest one was the western bailey (17), however, due to poor legibility it is not possible today to clearly define its dimensions and layout. On the northern side, the upper castle was protected by two semi-cylindrical towers integrated with the inter-wall. The internal part of the bailey consisted of wooden buildings of economic and military character, among them those mentioned during a visit in the years 1411-36: malt house, brewery, flour storehouses, bakery, temple workshop, powder magazine and stables.
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PRESERVED WALLS OF THE SOUTHERN BAILEY
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T
he pillar of the toilet tower (dansker) has been preserved in good condition to this day, as well as, to a certain extent, decapitalized but still legible parts of the bailey curtain walls with the base of the towers, among them almost complete
southern wall . Also
small fragments of southern part of inter-wall and foundations of the convent house hidden underground have survived. On the castle hill, probably within former courtyard, stands a water tower from early 20th century. The site of former convention's headquarters now has a recreational function and is freely accessible.
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ABOVE: THE CASTLE HILL NOW, BELOW: PRESERVED DANSKER PILLAR AND THE XX-CENTURY WATER TOWER
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K
owalewo Pomorskie is located about 30 km northeast of Toruń, on the Toruń-Olsztyn railway route. The railway station is 30 minutes walk away from the castle hill. The relics of the medieval castle are located in the northern part of the town, on Strażacka Street. A large number of parking places are nearby.
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1. W. Antkowiak, P. Lamparski: Zamki i strażnice krzyżackie..., Graffiti BC 1999
2. M. Haftka: Zamki krzyżackie w Polsce, 1999
3. L. Kajzer, J. Salm, S. Kołodziejski: Leksykon zamków w Polsce, Arkady 2001
4. R. Sypek: Zamki i obiekty warowne Państwa Krzyżackiego, Agencja CB 2000
5. A. Wagner: Murowane budowle obronne w Polsce X-XVIIw., Bellona 2019
6. B. Wasik: Zamek w Kowalewie Pomorskim - pierwsze wyniki badań archeologicznych, 2018
7. B. Wasik, M. Wiewióra: Próba rekonstrukcji układu przestrzennego zamku..., W. Kons. 45/2016
8. M. Wiewióra, B. Wasik: Chronologia zamku krzyżackiego w Kowalewie Pomorskim...
9. M. Wiewióra, B. Wasik: Zamek w Kowalewie Pomorskim. Dzieje warowni..., Arch. XXXV 2017
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CYLINDRICAL TOWER IN BATALIONÓW CHŁOPSKICH STREET, A RELIC OF THE OLD TOWN FORTIFICATIONS
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Castles nearby:
Golub-Dobrzyń - castle of Teutonic knights from the 14th century, 12 km
Wąbrzeźno - relics of the Chelmno bishops' castle from the XIV century, 17 km
Lipieniek - relics of Teutonic castle from the 14th century, 27 km
Złotoria - ruin of the royal castle from the 14th century, 27 km
Toruń - ruin of Teutonic castle from the 13th century, 27 km
Toruń - ruin of the royal castle Dybów from the 15th century, 28 km
Radziki Duże - ruin of a knight's castle from the 14th/15th century, 29 km
Papowo Biskupie - ruin of Teutonic castle from the 14th century, 30 km
Radzyń Chełmiński - ruin of Teutonic castle from the 13th century, 30 km
Brodnica - ruin of the Teutonic castle from the 14th century, 33 km
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text: 2020
photographs: 2005, 2019
© Jacek Bednarek
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