[edit]
Truso[edit]
Main article: Truso
Historical affiliations
Teutonic Order 1246–1454
Kingdom of Poland 1454–1569
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth 1569–1772
Kingdom of Prussia 1772–1871
German Empire 1871–1918
Weimar Germany 1918–1933
Nazi Germany 1933–1945
People's Republic of Poland 1945–1989
Republic of Poland 1989–present
The settlement was first mentioned as "Ilfing" in The Voyages of Ohthere and Wulfstan, an Anglo-Saxon chronicle written in King Alfred's reign using information from a Viking who had visited the area.
During the Middle Ages, the Viking settlement of Truso was located on Lake Drużno, near the current site of Elbląg in historical Pogesania; the settlement burned down in the 10th century. Early in the 13th century the Teutonic Knights conquered the region, built a castle, and founded Elbing on the lake, with a population mostly from Lübeck (today the lake, now much smaller, no longer reaches the city). After the uprising against the Teutonic Knights and the destruction of the castle by the inhabitants, the city successively came under the sovereignty of the Kingdom of Poland (1454), the Kingdom of Prussia (1772), and Germany (1871). Elbing was heavily damaged in World War II, and its remaining German citizens were expelled upon the war's end in accordance with the Potsdam Agreement. The city became again part of Poland in 1945 and was repopulated with Polish citizens.
Early-3rd-century silver bracelet in the Archaeological and Historical Museum in Elbląg
The seaport of Truso was first mentioned c. 890 by Wulfstan of Hedeby, an Anglo-Saxon sailor, travelling on the south coast of the Baltic Sea at the behest of King Alfred the Great of England. The exact location of Truso was not known for a long time, as the seashore has significantly changed, but most historians trace the settlement inside or near to modern Elbląg on Lake Drużno. Truso was located at territory already known to the Roman Empire and earlier.
It was an important seaport serving the Vistula River bay on the early medieval Baltic Sea trade routes which led from Birka in the north to the island of Gotland and to Visby in the Baltic Sea. From there, traders continued further south to Carnuntum along the Amber Road. The ancient Amber Road led further southwest and southeast to the Black Sea and eventually to Asia. The east–west trade route went from Truso, along the Baltic Sea to Jutland, and from there inland by river to Hedeby, a large trading center in Jutland. The main goods of Truso were amber, furs, and slaves.
Archaeological finds in 1897 and diggings in the 1920s placed Truso at Gut Hansdorf. A large burial field was also found at Elbląg. Recent Polish diggings have found burned beams and ashes and thousand-year-old artifacts in an area of about 20 hectares. Many of these artifacts are now displayed at the Muzeum w Elblągu.
Prussian Crusade[edit]
Main article: Prussian Crusade
Ancient amber necklaces in the Archaeological and Historical Museum in Elbląg
Attempts to conquer Prussian land began in 997, when Bolesław I the Brave, at the urging of the Pope, sent a contingent of soldiers and a missionary (Adalbert of Prague) to the pagan Prussians, a non-Slavic people, on a crusade of conquest and conversion. The crusade encompassed much of the Baltic Sea coast east of the Polish city of Gdańsk, up to Sambia. Starting in 1209 additional crusades were called for by Konrad of Masovia, who mainly sought to conquer Prussian territory, rather than actually convert the indigenous Prussians. Despite heroic efforts, Old Prussian sovereignty would eventually collapse after a succession of wars instigated by Pope Honorius III and his frequent calls for crusade.
Before the Prussians were finally brought to heel, Polish rulers and the Duchy of Masovia, both by then Christianised peoples, would be continually frustrated in their attempts at northern expansion. Aside from minor border raids, major campaigns against the Prussians would be launched in 1219, 1220, and 1222. After a particularly sound defeat by Prussian forces in 1223, Polish forces in Chełmno, the seat of Christian of Oliva and the Duchy of Masovia, were forced onto the defensive.
In 1226 Duke Konrad I of Masovia summoned the Teutonic Knights for assistance; by 1230 they had secured Chełmno (Culm) and begun claiming conquered territories for themselves under the authority of the Holy Roman Empire, although these claims were rejected by the Poles, whose ambition had been to conquer Prussia all along. The Teutonic Order's strategy was to move down the Vistula and secure the delta, establishing a barrier between the Prussians and Gdańsk. The victorious Teutonic Knights built a castle at Elbing.
The Chronicon terrae Prussiae describes the conflict in the vicinity of Lake Drużno shortly before the founding of Elbing:
Omnia propugnacula, que habebant in illo loco, qui dicitur (list) ... circa stagnum Drusine ... occisis et captiis infidelibus, potenter expugnavit, et in cinerem redigendo terre alteri coequavit.
"All the little redoubts that they had in that place, which are said to be (list) ... and around the Drusine marsh ... he (frater Hermannus magister) assaulted and levelled by rendering them into ash, after the infidels had been killed or captured."
Truso did not disappear suddenly to be replaced with the citadel and town of Elbing during the Prussian Crusade. It had already burned down in the tenth century, with the population dispersed in the area.
Teutonic Order[edit]
The Chronicon terrae Prussiae describes the founding of Elbing under the leadership of Hermann Balk. After building two ships, the Pilgerim (Pilgrim) and the Vridelant (Friedland), with the assistance of Margrave Henry III of Margraviate of Meissen, the Teutonic Knights used them to clear the Vistula Lagoon (Frisches Haff) and the Vistula Spit of Prussians:
... et recens mare purgatum fuit ab insultu infidelium ...
... "and the Vistula Spit was purged of the insult of the infidels..."
Apparently the river was in Pomesania, which the knights had just finished clearing, but the bay was in Pogesania. The first Elbing was placed in Pogesania:
Magister ... venit ad terram Pogesanie, ad insulam illam ... que est in media fluminis Elbingi, in illo loco, ubi Elbingus intrat recens mare et erexit ibi castrum, quod a nomine fluminis Elbingum appellavit, anno dominice incarnacionis MCCXXXVII. Aliqui referunt, quod idem castrum postea ab infidelibus fuerit expugnatum, et tunc ad eum locum, ubi nunc situm est, translatum, et circa ipsum civitas collocata.
"The master ... came to the region of Pogesania, to that island which is in the middle of the Elbing river, in that place where the Elbing enters the Vistula Lagoon, and built there a fort, which he called by the name of the Elbing River, in the year of the incarnation of the Lord, 1237. Others report that the same fort was attacked by the infidels and then was moved to the place where it is now situated, and the city gathered around it."
Medieval Church Path between tenements connecting the churches of the Old Town
Both landings were amphibious operations conducted from the ships. The Chronicon relates that they were in use for many years and then were sunk in Lake Drużno. In 1238 the Dominican Order was invited to build a monastery on a grant of land. Pomesania was not secured, however, and from 1240 to 1242 the order began building a brick castle on the south side of the settlement. It may be significant that Elbing's first industry was the same as Truso's had been: manufacture of amber and bone artifacts for export. In 1243 William of Modena created the Diocese of Pomesania and three others. They were at first only ideological constructs, but the tides of time turned them into reality in that same century.
The foundation of Elbing was perhaps not the end of the Old Prussian story in the region. In 1825 a manuscript listing a vocabulary of the Baltic Old Prussian language, commonly known in English as Elbing Vocabulary, was found among some manuscripts from a merchant's house. It contained 802 words in a dialect now termed Pomesanian with their equivalents in an early form of High German.
The origin of the vocabulary remains unknown. Its format is like that of modern travel dictionaries; i.e., it may have been used by German speakers to communicate with Old Prussians, but the specific circumstances are only speculative. The manuscript became the Codex Neumannianus. It disappeared after a British bombing raid destroyed the library at Elbing but before then facsimiles had been made. The date of the MSS was estimated at ca. 1400, but it was a copy. There is no evidence concerning the provenance of the original, except that it must have been in Pomesanian.
Seal of the city from 1350
In 1246 the town was granted a constitution under Lübeck law, used in maritime circumstances, instead of Magdeburg rights common in other cities in Central Europe. This decision of the Order was in keeping with its general strategy of espousing the trade association that in 1358 would become the Hanseatic League. The Order seized on this association early and used it to establish bases throughout the Baltic. The Order's involvement in the League was somewhat contradictory. In whatever cities they founded the ultimate authority was the commander of the town, who kept office in the citadel, typically used as a prison. Lübeck law, on the other hand, provided for self-government of the town.
In 1255, Sambor II, Duke of Pomerania and Jaromar II, Prince of Rügen allowed local merchants to trade within their duchies. In 1278, King Magnus the Lawmender of Norway also granted privileges to local merchants. The privileges of the Pomeranian dukes were later confirmed by Władysław I Łokietek and subsequent Polish kings. In 1294, King Philip IV of France allowed local merchants to sell their goods in Flanders. He also recruited the city's fleet to serve as French mercenaries in the event of a war. Membership in the Hanseatic League meant having important trading contacts with England, Flanders, France, and the Netherlands. The privilege of the Old Town was upgraded in 1343, while in 1393 it was granted an emporium privilege for grains, metals, and forest products.
St. Nicholas Cathedral, the oldest church of Elbląg
Except for the citadel and churches, Elbing at the time was more of a small village by modern standards. Its area was 300 m × 500 m (984.25 ft × 1,640.42 ft). It featured a wharf, a marketplace and five streets, as well as a number of churches. The castle was completed in 1251. During the Great Prussian uprising of 1260–1274, in 1261, the inhabitants of Lidzbark took refuge here, bringing with them 12 Prussian prisoners of war, who were subsequently blinded and released. Afterwards, the Prussians unsuccessfully attacked the city twice. In 1288 fire destroyed the entire settlement except for the churches, which were of brick. A new circuit wall was started immediately. In 1313 and 1315, half of the population died to an epidemic. From 1315 to 1340 the city was rebuilt. A separate settlement called New Town was founded ca. 1337 and received Lübeck rights in 1347. In 1349 the Black Death struck the town, toward the end of the European plague. After the population recovered it continued building up the city and in 1364 a crane was built for the port.
The German-language Elbinger Rechtsbuch, written in Elbing documented among other laws for the first time Polish common law. The German-language Polish laws are based on the Sachsenspiegel and were written down to aid the judges. It is thus the oldest source for documented Polish common law and is in Polish referred to as the Księga Elbląska (Book of Elbląg). It was written down in the second half of the 13th century.
In 1367, the city's ships took part in the Hanseatic war against Denmark and Norway.
In 1410, during the Polish–Lithuanian–Teutonic War, the inhabitants of the city rebelled against the Teutonic Knights and expelled them, while welcoming Polish troops and paying homage to Polish King Władysław II Jagiełło, who afterwards vested Elbląg with new privileges. As the castle was lightly defended by a Polish garrison, the Teutonic Knights managed to retake it, promising the Polish defenders that they will be given free passage back to Poland. After the castle was taken, the Knights broke their promise and subsequently murdered a number of the captured defenders while imprisoning the rest. In 1414, Polish forces returned, but did not capture the city.
Kingdom of Poland[edit]
Renaissance relief with the coat of arms of Poland and the monogram of King Sigismund II Augustus from the facade of the former town hall
In February 1440, the city hosted a convention at which delegates from various cities (including Elbing itself) and nobility from the region decided to establish the anti-Teutonic Prussian Confederation. In April and May 1440, further meetings were held in Elbing, at which more towns and noblemen joined the organisation. In 1454, the organisation led the revolt against the rule of the Teutonic Knights, and then its delegation submitted a petition to King Casimir IV of Poland asking him to include the region within the Kingdom of Poland. The King agreed and signed the act of incorporation of the region (including Elbing) to the Kingdom of Poland in March 1454 in Kraków, which sparked the Thirteen Years' War, the longest of all Polish–Teutonic wars. The local mayor pledged allegiance to the Polish King during the incorporation in March 1454, and the burghers of Elbing recognized Casimir IV as rightful ruler. After paying homage to the King, the city was granted great privileges, similar to those of Thorn (Toruń) and Danzig (Gdańsk). Since 1454, the city was authorized by King Casimir IV to mint Polish coins. In June 1454, King Casimir IV was enthusiastically welcomed by the townspeople and he accepted the city's oath of allegiance. The war ended in a Polish victory in 1466, with the Second Peace of Thorn, in which the Teutonic Order renounced any claims to the city and recognised it as part of Poland.
Within the Kingdom of Poland, the city was administratively part of the Malbork Voivodeship in the newly established autonomous province of Royal Prussia, later also within the larger Greater Poland Province. With the creation of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1569, the city was brought under direct control of the Polish crown. As one of the largest and most influential cities of Poland, it enjoyed voting rights during the royal election period in Poland.
Elbląg was often visited by Nicolaus Copernicus between 1504 and 1530.
With the 16th century Protestant Reformation the burghers became Lutherans and the first Lutheran Gymnasium was established in 1535.
The population was hit by epidemics in 1549, 1564, 1602, 1620 and 1625.
From 1579 Elbląg had close trade relations with England, to which the city accorded free trade. English, Scottish, and Irish merchants settled in the city. They formed the Scottish Reformed Church of Elbing and became Elbing citizens. English merchants enjoyed extensive liberties in the city, including the right to their own courts, their own schools, freedom of religion, and many purchased houses and properties. They lost most of these privileges as a result of the Swedish occupation in 1628, and many left the city. The rivalry of nearby Danzig interrupted trading links several times. By 1618 Elbing had left the Hanseatic League owing to its close business dealings with England.
Polish publications from Elbląg from 1650–1831
The city was invaded and occupied by Swedish troops in 1626. The Swedes seized the St. Nicholas Church from the Catholics and held their own services there, and imposed contributions on the city's residents. The St. Nicholas Church was restored to the Catholics after the end of Swedish occupation. During the Thirty Years' War, Swedish Chancellor Axel Oxenstierna brought the Moravian Brethren refugee John Amos Comenius to Elbing for six years (1642–1648). In 1642 Johann Stobäus, who composed with Johann Eccard, published the Preussische Fest-Lieder, a number of evangelical Prussian songs. In 1646 the city recorder Daniel Barholz noted that the city council employed Bernsteindreher, or Paternostermacher, licensed and guilded amber craftsmen who worked on prayer beads, rosaries, and many other items made of amber. Members of the Barholz family became mayors and councillors.
During the Swedish invasion of Poland in 1655, the city was captured by Sweden after a battle, and over 3,000 people died to an epidemic the following year. Swedish occupation ended in 1660.
During the Swedish invasion of Poland of 1701–1706, Sweden occupied the city in 1703, and King Charles XII of Sweden stopped there for five days. In 1710, the city was occupied by Russia. The city was handed over to Polish King Augustus II in 1712.
View of Elbing from a 1720 atlas by Pieter van der Aa, based on an earlier print by Matthäus Merian
During the War of the Polish Succession, in March 1734, the city was occupied by Russians, who supported Augustus III of Poland. On 19 August Voivode of Chełmno Jan Ansgary Czapski received the city's pledge of allegiance to King Augustus III of Poland, and on 28 August Russians left the city. The city came again under occupation by Russia from 1758 to 1762 during the Seven Years' War.
Kingdom of Prussia[edit]
During the First Partition of Poland in 1772 Elbląg was annexed by King Frederick the Great of the Kingdom of Prussia. Elbing became part of the newly established province of West Prussia in 1773.
During the Napoleonic Wars, the city was occupied without resistance by the French in January 1807. The French set up a military bakery in the local hospital and converted the gymnasium into a military hospital. On 8 May 1807, Napoleon held a military parade in the city. Napoleon stopped once again on 14 July 1807. French troops left on 13 December 1807. In 1812, the French returned during their march to Russia, and on 12 July 1812 Napoleon visited the city.
In the 1815 provincial reorganization following the Napoleonic Wars, Elbing and its hinterland were included within Regierungsbezirk Danzig in West Prussia.
In October and November 1831, various Polish infantry, cavalry and artillery units, engineer corps and sappers of the November Uprising stopped in the city and its environs on the way to their internment locations, whereas the general staff with Commander-in-Chief General Maciej Rybiński and generals Józef Bem, Marcin Klemensowski, Kazimierz Małachowski, Ludwik Michał Pac and Antoni Wroniecki was interned in the city. On 22 December 1831 the Prussian army attempted to pacify the Polish insurgents and launched a charge on the disarmed Poles, who resisted relocation, fearing deportation to the Russian Partition of Poland. Some insurgents eventually left partitioned Poland for the Great Emigration, including Józef Bem, who was expelled by the Prussians in December 1831, and Maciej Rybiński, who left the city in February 1832.
Elbing industrialized. In 1828 the first steamship was built by Ignatz Grunau. In 1837 Ferdinand Schichau started the Schichau-Werke company in Elbing as well as another shipyard in Danzig (Gdańsk) later on. Schichau constructed the Borussia, the first screw-vessel in Germany. Schichau-Werke built hydraulic machinery, ships, steam engines, and torpedoes. After the inauguration of the railway to Königsberg in 1853, Elbing's industry began to grow. Schichau worked together with his son-in-law Carl H. Zise, who continued the industrial complex after Schichau's death. Schichau erected large complexes for his many thousands of workers.
Panorama from Granary Island in 1930
Georg Steenke, an engineer from Königsberg, connected Elbing near the Baltic Sea with the southern part of Prussia by building the Oberländischer Kanal (Elbląg Canal).
Elbing became part of the Prussian-led German Empire in 1871 during the unification of Germany. As Elbing became an industrial city, the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) frequently received the majority of votes; in the 1912 Reichstag elections the SPD received 51% of the vote. After World War I, as most of the province of West Prussia was reintegrated with the reborn Polish Republic, Elbing was joined to the German province of East Prussia, and was separated from Weimar Germany by the so-called Polish Corridor.
Nazi Germany[edit]
Memorial at the site of a subcamp of the Stutthof concentration camp
During World War II, under Nazi Germany, a Nazi prison, a forced labour subcamp of the Stalag I-A POW camp, a forced labour subcamp of the Stalag XX-B POW camp, and three subcamps of the Stutthof concentration camp were operated in the city. The Germans also enslaved Poles as forced labour in the city. The Polish resistance was active and infiltrated the German arms industry. Dozens of Polish resistance members were held in the local prison, and at least 15 were sentenced to death in the city in 1942.
The prison and forced labour camps were closed and many of the German inhabitants forced to flee as the Soviet Red Army approached the city toward the end of the war. Laid under siege since 23 January 1945, about 65% of the city infrastructure was destroyed, including most of the historical city center. The town was captured by the Soviet Red Army during the night of 9–10 February 1945. During the first days of the siege most of the population of approximately 100,000 persons fled. After the end of war, in spring 1945, the region together with the city became again part of Poland, although with a Soviet-installed communist regime, as a result of the Potsdam Conference. As of 1 November 1945 16.838 Germans remained in the town. Polish rule over the town was implemented on 1 April 1945, hence, much before the Allies' decisions at the later Potsdam Conference. Many of Elbings' residents were interned and eventually expelled. The Polish authorities made a determined effort to establish a demographic fait accomplit before the Allies would take decisions on Germany's future.
History after 1945[edit]
Out of the new inhabitants, 98% were Poles expelled from former eastern Polish areas annexed by the Soviet Union. In the following years, the Polish anti-communist resistance was active in Elbląg, including a local youth organisation and Konfederacja Ruch Oporu (Resistance Movement Confederation) based in Kwidzyn.
EB, Polish beer produced by the Elbrewery Company in Elbląg
Parts of the damaged historical city center were completely demolished, with the bricks being used to rebuild Warsaw and Gdańsk. The Communist authorities had originally planned that the Old Town, utterly destroyed during the fighting since 23 January 1945, would be built over with blocks of flats; however, economic difficulties thwarted this effort. Two churches were reconstructed and the remaining ruins of the old town were torn down in the 1960s.
Along with Tricity and Szczecin, Elbląg was the scene of the Polish 1970 protests. Since 1990 the German minority population has had a modest resurgence, with the Elbinger Deutsche Minderheit Organization counting around 450 members in 2000[citation needed].
Restoration of the Old Town began after 1989. Since the beginning of the restoration, an extensive archaeological programme has been carried out. Most of the city's heritage was destroyed during the construction of basements in the 19th century or during World War II, but the backyards and latrines of the houses remained largely unchanged, and have provided information on the city's history. In some instances, private investors have incorporated parts of preserved stonework into new architecture. By 2006, approximately 75% of the Old Town had been reconstructed.
Elbląg is also home to the Elbrewery, Poland's largest brewery, which belongs to the Żywiec Group (Heineken). The history of the Elblag Brewing Tradition dates back to 1309, when Teutonic Master Siegfried von Leuchtwangen granted brewing privileges to the city. The present brewery was founded in 1872 as the Elbinger Aktien-Brauerei. In the early 1900s, the brewery was the exclusive supplier of Pilsner beer to the court of German Emperor Wilhelm II.
