Braniewo

Coordinates: 54°23′N 19°50′E / 54.383°N 19.833°E / 54.383; 19.833
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Braniewo
Saint Catherine Basilica
Holy Cross Sanctuary
Old granary
Municipal office
  • From top, left to right: Saint Catherine Basilica
  • Holy Cross Sanctuary
  • Old granary
  • Municipal office
Car plates
NBR
ClimateDfb
National road
Voivodeship roads
Websitehttp://www.braniewo.pl/

Braniewo (

Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, with a population of 16,907 as of June 2021.[1] It is the capital of Braniewo County
.

Braniewo is the second biggest city of Warmia after Olsztyn and one of the historical centers of the region.

Location

Braniewo lies on the Pasłęka River about 5 km from the Vistula Lagoon, about 35 km northeast of Elbląg and 55 km (34 mi) southwest of Kaliningrad (Polish: Królewiec). The Polish border with Russia's Kaliningrad Oblast lies 6 km north, and may be reached from Braniewo via National road 54.

History

Middle Ages

Remains of the Braniewo Castle

According to the German geographer

Teutonic Knights against the Old Prussians.[2]
It has also been suggested that the name Braunsberg might stem from Brusebergue ("camp of the Prussians"), but this notion is not documented.

In 1243, the settlement and the surrounding region of

Prussian Uprisings. It was rebuilt in a new location in 1273 and settled by colonists from Lübeck. In 1284, it was given a new town charter, again based on that of Lübeck. However, the next bishop, Heinrich Fleming (1278–1300), transferred the chapter from Braunsberg to Frauenburg (now Frombork
).

In 1296, a

Franciscan abbey was built, and in 1342, a "new town" was added. As the most important trading and harbor city in Warmia, the town prospered as member of the Hanseatic League
, which it remained until 1608. In 1440, the town was one of the founding members of the Prussian Confederation, which opposed Teutonic rule,[3] and upon the request of which King Casimir IV Jagiellon incorporated the territory to the Kingdom of Poland in 1454. The town pledged allegiance to the Polish King and recognized his rule in March 1454 in Kraków.[4] After the subsequent Thirteen Years' War, the Teutonic Knights renounced any claims to the town in the Second Peace of Thorn in 1466.[5] Administratively, it was part of the Prince-Bishopric of Warmia in the new autonomous province of Royal Prussia, later on also in the Greater Poland Province.

Modern era

After the secularization of the Teutonic Order in 1525, a large part of its residents converted to

Prince-Bishops of Warmia, who were subjects of the popes. Additionally, it had to denounce all Lutheran teachings and hand over Lutheran writings. Thereafter Warmia remained predominantly Roman Catholic (even after the Partitions of Poland, when it became part of Prussia
in 1772).

17th-century view of the town (from Altes und neues Preussen, Christoph Hartknoch)

Braniewo was occupied by

Antonius Possevinus
was instrumental in enlarging the Collegium Hosianum in the 1580s to counter the growing Protestant movement.

Potocki Palace

The Polish, and mainly Catholic town was annexed by the mostly Protestant Kingdom of Prussia in 1772 during the First Partition of Poland and made part of the newly formed province of East Prussia the following year.

19th and 20th centuries

Collegium Hosianum in the 1840s

Braunsberg obtained its first railway connection with the rest of the kingdom via the

Jesuit
college became the State Academy of Braunsberg (German: Staatliche Akademie Braunsberg). Prior to World War II, the population of Braunsberg had grown to more than 21,000, of whom 59 percent were listed as Catholic and 29 percent Protestant.

The Second World War turned much of the town into ruins. After three and a half years of savage warfare, Soviet forces began their assault on German land by attacking East Prussia on Jan. 13, 1945. Red Army formations reached the Vistula Lagoon north of Braunsberg on Jan. 26. In early February, German civilians began fleeing from Braunsberg across the ice of the frozen lagoon to the Vistula Spit, from which many journeyed to either Danzig (Gdańsk) or Pillau (Baltiysk), and managed to board German ships that made the perilous voyage westward. Braunsberg was captured by Soviet troops on March 20, 1945.

Historic architecture of Braniewo (examples)
Defensive walls and towers
Holy Cross Sanctuary
Courthouse
Old granary
Monastery of Saint Catherine
Saint Anthony church

Heavy fighting and wanton destruction afterwards had left the town about 80 percent destroyed, including much of its historic town center, largely consumed by fire. Under the Soviet Union's re-drawing of borders within the Potsdam Agreement, the town became again part of Poland, and was partially repopulated by Polish settlers, many of whom came from areas of eastern Poland annexed by the Soviet Union.

In 2001 the St. Catherine Church, built in 1346, destroyed in 1945, and rebuilt after 1979, was declared a Basilica Minor. This Gothic Hall church was built on a site which had held a previous wooden Church of St. Catherine since 1280. Prince-Bishop

Lucas Watzenrode
of Warmia (1447–1512) had added extensively to the original building.

Number of inhabitants by year

Year Number
1782 4,370
1831 7,144
1900 12,497
1925 13,900
1939 21,142
2004 18,068
2021[1] 16,907

Political timeline

Economy

The Browar Braniewo ("Braniewo Brewery") is located in the town.

Sports

The local football team is Zatoka Braniewo [pl], which competes in the lower leagues.

Notable residents

Collegium Hosianum and defensive walls

International relations

Twin towns — sister cities

Braniewo is

twinned
with:

Former twin towns:

In March 2022, Braniewo terminated its partnership with the Russian city of Zelenogradsk as a reaction to the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.[11]

References

  1. ^ a b c "Local Data Bank". Statistics Poland. Retrieved 2022-06-01. Data for territorial unit 2802011.
  2. ^ Bruno von Schauenburg is also known as the founder of the village of Brušperk in Bohemia, the German name of which also is Braunsberg.
  3. ^ Górski, Karol (1949). Związek Pruski i poddanie się Prus Polsce: zbiór tekstów źródłowych (in Polish). Poznań: Instytut Zachodni. p. 11.
  4. ^ Górski, p. 72
  5. ^ Górski, p. 99
  6. ^ "Dzieje Rodu Zebrzydowskich". Kalwaria.eu (in Polish). Retrieved 11 July 2020.
  7. ^ Maciej Kazimierz Sarblewski, Epigrammatum liber/Księga epigramatów, Wydawnictwo IBL, 2003, p. 6 (in Polish)
  8. ^ Ludwik Grzebień. "Jan Mikołaj Smogulecki h. Grzymała". Internetowy Polski Słownik Biograficzny (in Polish). Retrieved 11 July 2020.
  9. ^ "Gabriel Podoski". Prymas Polski (in Polish). Retrieved 1 July 2020.
  10. ^ Mike Pincombe "Life and Death on the Habsburg–Ottoman Frontier: Bálint Balassi's 'In Laudem Confiniorum' and Other Soldier-sings', in "Borders and Travellers in Early Modern Europe", edited by Thomas Betteridge, Ashgate, 2007, p. 85
  11. ^ "Braniewo zrywa współpracę z rosyjskimi miastami partnerskimi" (in Polish). Retrieved 14 March 2022.

External links