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CASTLE IN ŚWIDWIN, VIEW FROM NORTHWEST
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t is not known exactly when the Gothic castle in Swidwin was built. According to historians, it was probably founded by Duke Przybysław II of Mecklenburg (d. after 1316), who in 1286 leased the Świdwin property paying the Brandenburg Margrave Albrecht four thousand marks for it. The construction work probably started soon after this transaction and continued at least until the middle of the last decade of the 13th century, which is confirmed by document from 1292, where some amounts of money spent on fortification were mentioned. The first mention clearly confirming the existence of Castrum Schiuelbeyn dates back to 1317, when it was sold by Waldemar the Great to Heinrich von Wachholtz (d. 1317), Bishop of Kamień Pomorski. The contract, which amounted to six thousand marks in silver, was secured by a clause allowing the pledge to be redeemed within the next fourteen years. However, the then margrave did not have time to do it because he died two years later. In 1319 the Świdwin estate was purchased for eleven thousand Brandenburg marks in silver by Danish knight Nicolaus Olafsohn and a marshal at the court of the Duke of Szczecin, Wedigo von Wedel (d. 1324). A few years later von Wedel paid off the Dane's shares, becoming the sole owner of the town and the castle, with the right to surround them by walls, a palisade and moats. In the years 1324-54 the estate was administered by Wedigo's son, Hasso von Wedel, founder of Gothic modernization of the fortress, which from then on was the seat of the entail. At that time he also erected the town church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, whose pastor resided permanently in the castle.
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ŚWIDWIN, MEDIEVAL TOWN PLAN BY ZBIGNIEW RADACKI
1. CASTLE, 2. MARKET SQUARE 3. CHURCH, 4. TOWN WALLS, 5. REGA RIVER
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The name Schiuelbeyn first appeared in 1280, in the deed of sale of the lands to the Brandenburg Margrave Albrecht III by the Bishop of Kamień Pomorski Hermann von Gleichen. In November 1292, the margrave confirmed in writing a declaration to refund the expenses incurred by the castle's lessee in fortifying the settlement of Schivelbeyn - this document is the second oldest note in which the 13th-century name of the present town was placed. The castle was first mentioned in documents in 1317, when it was pledged to the bishops of Kamień Pomorski as Castrum Schiuelbeyn. In the following years, or even centuries, the term has changed progressively. In 1400 the town was called Schibilbein and later Schiwilbeyn (1405), Schiwelbeyn (1456), Schievelbein (1804) and finally Schivelbein (before 1945). After World War II, it was briefly given the name Świbowina, and in 1946, Świdwin.
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VIEW OF THE CASTLE FROM THE WEST, OIL PAINTING BY CARL HESSMERT FROM AROUND 1900
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n the second half of the 14th century Hans von Wedel (d. 1391) became the owner of the castle and the town. A year later he took out a loan from the town council of Chojna in the amount of 500 grzywnas, which he was unable to pay back. He was soon deprived of the office of New March starost, and thus of his main source of income. A difficult financial situation forced him to sell the Świdwin property to the Teutonic Order. In return he received a promise to repay his creditors, a life annuity of 150 grzywnas and a grange in Unisław near Toruń. Thanks to this transaction, which was very beneficial for the Teutonic Knights, the Order was enriched with a territorial enclave, now used as a communication point by the road leading to Brandenburg, from where most of the new knights of the Order were recruited and from where substantial military aid necessary for the wars with Lithuania and Poland arrived. How important it was for the Teutonic Knights to acquire that land is evidenced by the fact that during the signing of the agreement in the castle in Elbląg on May 14, 1384, the highest Teutonic dignitaries were present, among them Grand Master Konrad Zöllner von Rotenstein, Grand Commandant, Grand Marshal, Grand Hospitaller, Grand Chamberlain of the Order, and six Commandants from Prussia and Gdańsk Pomerania. In return for repayment of debts and received benefits von Wedel was obliged to make a declaration in which he gave himself with the castle, town and land of Świdwin, with all the villages, estates, income and benefits as he inherited them, not retaining any rights or properties for himself.
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BEAUTIFUL ARTWORK FROM 1937
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S
oon after obtaining the Świdwin land, the Teutonic Knights granted it the status of a separate aldermaushing, which from September 1384 was administered by Walrabe von Scharfenberg (d. after 1390). Despite the fact that he resided here only five months, in such a short time he managed to accumulate a considerable amount of equipment and necessary supplies, providing the stronghold with two small and one big cannon, 25 crossbows and a large amount of food, which was necessary in case of the siege and to equip knights traveling on missions to Prussia. After Scharfenberg, the office of the mayor of Świdwin was held by Kaspar von Briesen, but his reign did not last long again, as already in 1386 he handed this function over to the former procurator from Działdowo, Heinrich von Welnitz (d. 1386), shortly before his death. In 1402 the Order liquidated the office of Świdwin's mayor, replacing it with the office of New March's mayor, to whom a vast territory from Kostrzyn to Świdwin would be subordinated. The castle in Świdwin was initially the seat of new administration; however, it was directly managed not by the mayor, but by a forester (waltmeister) responsible for organizational and financial matters, overseeing manor management and law enforcement in the subordinated area. From the last decade of the 14th century a cellar master (kellermeister), a kitchen master (kuchenmeister) and a master blacksmith (schmiedemeister) were also confirmed at the castle. According to preserved documents, in 1413 the forester of Świdwin was supposed to maintain 23 soldiers, which the mayor of New March considered completely useless in such a large number.
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CASTLE AND THE TOWN IN A DRAWING BY MATTHAEUS MERIAN, 1652
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s the Teutonic Knights were consolidating their power in new territory, they started to expand the castle. However, the construction works were carried out very slowly, which was explained by a considerable distance from the capital, the necessity to extinguish conflicts with the local nobility, as well as the costly Polish-Teutonic war. In 1408 an armoury (harnisch) was confirmed in the castle, next to the kitchen. Presumably, construction of the northern residential wing was also underway at that time, but was interrupted when the finances of the Order's state collapsed after the defeat at Grunwald. The mayor of the New March was then Michael Küchmeister von Sternberg (d. 1423), Grand Master of the Teutonic Order in 1414-22. During the war with Poland in 1409-11 he raided castles and towns in Gdańsk Pomerania occupied by the Polish army. He also took part in the Battle of Koronowo, where he was captured and returned to Świdwin only after establishing the First Toruń Peace Treaty. In 1433, after the outbreak of another Polish-Teutonic war and the invasion of Jan Čapek's Hussite army (which served as auxiliary troops for the Polish army) into the New March, refugees from the lands occupied by the Hussites found shelter in the poorly supplied castle in Świdwin. Despite significant shortages of food and weapons, the crew under the command of Lamprecht von Wedel managed to defend the fortress against the troops of Prince Bogusław IX of Słupsk (who was in alliance with Poland). Soon, however, the knights who were serving the Teutonic Order refused to take part in further battles because they did not receive their outstanding pay.
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SOUTHERN ELEVATION OF THE CASTLE ON A COLOURED POSTCARD FROM AROUND 1910
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Świdwin was the most important point on the route connecting the countries of the Reich with main territory of the Teutonic Knights' state. The castle was often visited by deputies going to Malbork as well as by knights enlisted to fight in wars against the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania. The castle also operated as a prison, where representatives of the Pomeranian knighthood were jailed, who were often in conflict with the mayor of the New March and opposed his policies.
In 1446 a townspeople and local nobility were greatly outraged by the case of Henrik Skolima, a Prussian knight tricked by the Teutonic Knights and imprisoned in the castle, and probably murdered there. It is not known how exactly he offended the Grand Master, who unlawfully deprived him of the family property. Skolima long and unsuccessfully tried to obtain justice. He intervened in his case before the bishop of Warmia and even
Prince Ladislav in Vienna, but having failed, he declared a private war against the Teutonic lords and began to raid the estates belonging to them. After his capture, he was imprisoned in the dungeons of the Świdwin castle, where alleged evidence of his guilt was obtained by burgomaster Klaus Boltenhagen, who was used to inspire trust and ultimately incriminate the imprisoned knight. His death escalated the already bad relations between the Order and the Prussian knights and the townspeople, which eventually led to the outbreak of an anti-Teutonic uprising in February 1454.
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THE SOUTH WING OF THE CASTLE IN THE 1930S AND IN 2004
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M
odernization of the castle was completed only after Konrad von Erlichshausen (d. 1449) became Grand Master in the 1440s. The ceremony of its completion took place in the summer of 1446, as we learn from the invitation sent to the head of the Order by Georg von Egloffstein, mayor of the New March. However, the expenses spent on this investment never paid off, because only a few years later the Teutonic Knights were forced to leave the castle, never to return. Being militarily and financially weakened after the outbreak of the Thirteen Years' War, they sold the New March to Elector of Brandenburg, Friedrich II der Eiserne (d. 1471). The purpose of this transaction was to avoid the threat of ceding those lands to the Poles and Pomeranian princes allied with them. However, the Teutonic Knights reserved the right of free passage through these lands for members of the order and enlisted troops going to Malbork. The official transfer of power to the Elector took place at Świdwin castle on 24 October 1455. During this ceremony Friedrich II took over the castle and the town from the Teutonic Knights' governor Christoph Eglinger; he also took the oath of allegiance from the inhabitants of Świdwin, confirming that all previous municipal privileges had been preserved. From then on the stronghold served as the seat of the governor of New March, who, in return for revenues from court fees and rents from farms and mills, was obliged to defend the Świdwin district, maintain a permanent castle garrison, and host the elector and his court at his own expense. The first to hold this office was Dinnies von Der Osten (d. 1477) called the Wise Knight, a respected commander of the Kalmar army, owner of the castle in Płoty. In the second decade of the 16th century, during the reign of Mayor Kerstian von Borcke and his successor, Joachim von Schulenburg , the castle was extended, as evidenced by electoral documents, which mention the employment of four masons. At that time, a new residential wing was erected and the entrance gate system was modernized.
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WEST WING IN CA. 1900 AND TODAY
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WAR FOR THE COW
In the autumn of 1468, a peasant from Niemierzyn village, which lay within the borders of the New March, lent a cow for the winter time to one of the inhabitants of the village situated in the Białogard land, which territorially belonged to Pomerania. When spring came, however, the animal did not return to its owner, and its tenant did not respond to any urgings and threats. In this situation, the owner of the cow and a group of other peasants broke into the Białogard homestead, from where they took his property and several cattle as restitution. In response, peasants from Pomerania attacked Niemierzyno, from where they brought out even more animals, herding them to the other side of the border. When the villagers complained to the mayor Jakob von Polenz, he demanded an explanation directly from the Białogard governor Karsten Wopersnow. These demands remained unanswered, so a military unit composed of peasants and townsmen from Świdwin was organized, which invaded the land of Białogard and seized the cattle that were on the pastures belonging to it. In retaliation, on July 15, 1469 the citizens of Białogard, led by the mayor Karsten of Oparzno, marched on Świdwin. The inhabitants of both regions met near the village of Łęgi, on the Pomeranian-Marchian border, and there they clashed in a battle, in which, according to one witness, 300 citizens of Białogard were killed and 100 more were taken prisoner. The inhabitants of Świdwin also captured the flag of Białogard and 300 carts with loot.
To commemorate this incident, alternately, one year in Białogard and the other in Świdwin, fitness competitions between the inhabitants of both towns are organized. The winner of the competition receives a transferable trophy, which is...
cow horns .
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VIEW OF THE SOUTH WING AND THE CASTLE TOWER FROM THE COURTYARD, AS SEEN IN THE 1920S AND TODAY
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In June 1540 margrave
Johann von Brandenburg-Küstrin (d. 1571) forced Veit von Thümen (d. 1543), the Master of the Brandenburg Bailiwick, to exchange the commandry in Chwarszczany for the properties of Świdwin. This way Świdwin came into the hands of the Order of St. John and its first administrator was Melchior von Barfuss (d. 1544), the last commander of Chwarszczany. It is worth mentioning that against the will of the authorities of the Great Priory of Germany, some members of the order officially converted to Lutheranism and in the 1640s there were already three married komturs in the bailiwick, among them the aforementioned von Barfuss (his wife was Esther von Damitz). In 1545 he was succeeded by Franz von Neumann from Żagań, who in 1564 took over the position of bailiwick master. Although von Neumann owed his promotion to the strong support of Margrave von Hohenzollern, already as head of the Order he was reluctant to carry out his orders and sometimes even tried to sabotage them; as a consequence he was arrested and imprisoned. Probably due to his old age, he was disregarded, thanks to which this 80-year-old man managed to escape to Głogów, where he started a campaign against his former superior. During the Thirty Years' War, after a three-day siege, the castle was taken by the Swedish troops in 1635 and permanently garrisoned. The then Commandant Georg von Winterfeld (d. 1657) left for Poland, from where he returned after the peace treaty was signed and the foreign army was withdrawn from Świdwin, which took place as late as in 1650. The Hospitallers did regain their property, but due to the damage done by the occupants, it required considerable repair and renovation work. Also subsequent wars, especially the Third Northern War (1700-21), severely damaged the castle and its equipment. The first major investments were initiated in the first half of the 18th century by Commander
Heinrich Fleming (d. 1728) and continued in the years ca. 1740-90 under the supervision of Friedrich Wilhelm von Kalckstein,
Alexander Count von Wartensleben (d. 1775) and finally Karl Wilhelm Count Finck von Finckenstein (d. 1800). As a result, the entire complex was thoroughly rebuilt, which lost its defensive features and received a character of a representative Baroque residence.
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CASTLE GATE WITH COATS OF ARMS OF THREE COMMANDERS, EARLY 20TH CENTURY POSTCARD
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n 1803 king
Friedrich Wilhelm III , in recognition of their services to the Kingdom of Prussia, ordered to place above the entrance gate
the family crests of three commanders of the Order : Alexander Count von Wartensleben, Friedrich Wilhelm von Kalckstein and Karl Wilhelm Finck von Finckenstein. However, his respect for the Order and its superiors did not prevent him from signing in 1808 an edict requiring the cassation of church property in Prussia, including estates belonging to the Hospitallers, which caused the liquidation of the Świdwin Commandery. Its last, fifteenth commander was Fryderyk Leopold Count Kalenin, a former colonel in the Polish army. A granary was set up in the castle, and after the end of Napoleonic wars, some of the rooms were used as battalion headquarters and an armory. Since 1818 it housed a police unit, then the Tax Office, as well as the County and Municipal Court with a jail. Over the next few decades, the building was not properly maintained, which negatively affected its technical condition, described as bad at the end of 19th century. Even before the outbreak of World War II, a women's educational camp was organized at the castle under the supervision of NSDAP. After 1945, the relatively minor damage caused by warfare was quickly removed, and the former residence of Hospitallers became the seat of Agricultural High School. Much greater losses were caused by the fire that broke out in the Gothic north wing in 1953, devastating practically all the residential buildings. Paradoxically, this unfortunate event became a catalyst for beneficial changes for the historic building, as it was soon decided to undertake its thorough restoration. Renovation work was completed in 1968, and soon afterwards municipal cultural and educational institutions began operating in the castle.
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CASTLE AFTER THE FIRE IN THE 1950S
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he brick castle was erected in the immediate vicinity of a wide flowage of the Rega river, on a sandy bank, fortified by erratic stones. Originally, it consisted of a fortified stone perimeter measuring about 12 meters high and 2.5 meters thick, creating an irregular trapezoidal plan, and a non-basemented stone residential building with a base measuring 14x38 meters, standing by the northern curtain. The simple spatial layout of residential part included a large hall (knight's hall), 22 meters long, and one smaller chamber. The irregular layout of the stronghold demonstrates its Mecklenburg origin, where polygonal or circular castles were the prevailing model for defensive architecture at the time. In the first decades of the 14th century, to the west of the gate, a tower was built on a square plan with a side of about 8 meters. It was protruding beyond the perimeter of the walls and slightly higher than them. Defense capability of the castle was improved by a moat fed by the waters of the Rega river and a stone fence placed 6-8 meters outside the walls, which also protected the castle from being washed away by the current of the river.
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PLANS OF THE FIVE STOREYS OF THE CASTLE TOWER BY ZBIGNIEW RADACKI
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XIV CENTURY BASE OF THE CASTLE TOWER, ADJACENT TO IT IS THE WESTERN UTILITY WING ERECTED IN THE XVIII CENTURY
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fter the castle was taken over by Teutonic Order, a long and costly process of its modernization was initiated. To the east of the gate, a southern residential wing was built as a temporary residence for the mayor and castle staff. At the same time, the existing north wing was demolished and replaced by a new brick building, the length of which corresponded to the length of the northern section of the walls. This new building had a basement and three stories above ground. The second floor was the most impressive here, where the chapel and private rooms of the chaplain and mayor were located, as well as the refectory and rooms for guests of the order. The first floor of the building housed a kitchen, a room for servants and stables, while the top floor was used as a grain warehouse and in times of danger it could also be used as a convenient military position. The gables of the Gothic house were finished with rich brick decoration, while its interiors were illuminated by small windows with profiled frames and narrow window niches closed with arches. Works carried out in the first half of the 15th century also included the improvement of military qualities of the castle, as exemplified by modernization of the tower, which was first demolished to half its height, and then rebuilt as a brick cylinder with a diameter of 8 and a total height of 26 meters. The tower was prepared for the use of firearms, as evidenced by the beams for attaching the harquebuses and gunpowder chamber. Chambers for the castle guards were located on the lower floors, and deep prison cells were placed at the very bottom of the tower.
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RECONSTRUCTION OF TEUTONIC CASTLE FROM 1ST HALF OF THE XV CENTURY BY A. KĄSINOWSKI AND H. PASZUN
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THE OLDEST, GOTHIC WING OF THE CASTLE
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he castle was developed again in the second decade of the 16th century, during the reign of the Elector of Brandenburg. An irregularly shaped eastern wing was built then, based on the wall of the southern wing and the facade of the Gothic house. Defence capacity of the castle was also improved by modernizing the gate system. From then until the 18th century major construction projects were not carried out at the fortress, and only in the years 1704-58 the Gothic house was thoroughly rebuilt. At that time, the eastern and southern wings were also demolished and replaced with two architecturally similar residential buildings, the facades of which were decorated with Baroque ornamentation and the interiors received a representative decor. The Baroque style of renewed seat of the Order was emphasized by architectural details and ornaments typical for that period, mansard roofs and characteristic onion-shaped topping of the main tower. In second half of the 18th century a branch of the Rega river separating the castle island from the town was filled in, and after 1776 the moats were filled in and part of the fortifications were demolished, thanks to which the already archaic defensive features of the castle were lost. In 1784, as a result of too shallow foundations and swampy ground, the west wing collapsed. It was rebuilt soon as a single-storey building.
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PLAN OF ŚWIDWIN CASTLE, MEDIEVAL WALLS MARKED WITH BLACK:
1. GOTHIC NORTH WING, 2. BAROQUE EAST WING, 3. BAROQUE SOUTH WING,
4. WESTERN WING, 5. TOWER, 6. ENTRANCE TO THE COURTYARD
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BIRD'S EYE VIEW OF THE CASTLE ON A PHOTOGRAPH FROM THE 1930S
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D
uring the recent renovation most of preserved fragments of the medieval castle were exposed: the walls, the tower and the northern house
with Gothic details of window and door frames . The original cross-ribbed vaults of the basement in the Gothic house have survived, as well as the vaults of the upper levels of the tower, and the stairs and portholes in its walls. Currently, the castle houses the Tourist Information Center and the town's cultural institutions: a library, art workshops and a small movie theater. The medieval tower and the oldest, Gothic part of the fortress with a large auditorium and the historical knights' hall are open to the public. The castle courtyard is available during the opening hours of municipal institutions.
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Ś
widwin is located in the northern part of the Drawskie Lake District, by the railroad line connecting Szczecin and Koszalin. The town can also be reached by bus from Drawsko, Koszalin and Gryfice. After leaving the train station, turn south (right). Following Kościuszko Street and then 1 Maja Street we will reach the castle.
A small parking lot is located directly at the castle gate , a larger one is located on a square on 1 Maja Street, about 200 meters north of the fortress.
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1. M. Haftka: Zamki krzyżackie w Polsce, 1999
2. D. Hein: Zamki joannitów w Polsce, 2009
3. L. Kajzer, J. Salm, S. Kołodziejski: Leksykon zamków w Polsce, Arkady 2001
4. K. Kwiatkowski: Nowa Marchia w działaniach militarnych 1410-1411 roku, Muzeum Lubuskie 2012
5. K. Stępińska: Pałace i zamki w Polsce dawniej i dziś, KAW 1977
6. K. Wasilkiewicz: Templariusze i joannici w biskupstwie lubuskim (XIII-XVIw.), UAM Poznań 2016
7. K. Wasilkiewicz: Zarys dziejów baliwatu brandenburskiego..., Studia Europaea Gnesnensia 18/2018
8. A. Wagner: Murowane budowle obronne w Polsce X-XVIIw., Bellona 2019
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Castles nearby:
Lipie - relics of the bishop's castle from the 14th century, 16 km
Połczyn-Zdrój - knight's castle from the 14th century, rebuilt, 24 km
Resko - relics of the knight's castle from the 14th century, 24 km
Strzemiele - manor house from 16th-17th centuries, 30 km
Płoty - residential tower from the 13th-16th centuries, 36 km
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text: 2021
photographs: 2004, 2018
© Jacek Bednarek
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