Bytów Castle is a

gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

Teutonic castle and a former stronghold for

Pomeranian dukes This is a list of the duchies and dukes of Pomerania. Dukes of the Slavic Pomeranian tribes (All Pomerania) The lands of Pomerania were firstly ruled by local tribes, who settled in Pomerania around the 10th and 11th centuries. Non-dynastic ...

History

Teutonic Castle

The

Teutonic Knights The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem, commonly known as the Teutonic Order, is a Catholic religious institution founded as a military society in Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem. It was formed to aid Christians o ...

began building the castle in 1390 on a hill in southeast

Bytów Bytów (; csb, Bëtowò; formerly german: Bütow ) is a town in the Gdańsk Pomerania region of northern Poland with 16,730 inhabitants as of December 2021. It is the capital of Bytów County in the Pomeranian Voivodeship. The origins of Byt ...

. Mikołaj Fellenstein directed the castle's construction works in 1398–1406. The castle was raised on the plan of a rectangle out of stone and brick with dimensions 49 metres by 70 metres. In the corners of the castle, three cylindrical and one square tower was built. The northwestern castle wing was a three-floor building that served as living quarters. The most important rooms were in this building, including the

refectory A refectory (also frater, frater house, fratery) is a dining room, especially in monasteries, boarding schools and academic institutions. One of the places the term is most often used today is in graduate seminaries. The name derives from the Lat ...

, the chapel and the prosecutor's office. Warehouse space was located on the third floor. The castle's southwest wing housed a kitchen and food storage, and nearby stood a water well. The gate was raised from the northeastern side of the castle. Near the gate, were a moat and drawbridge that served as the entranceway. The four towers in each corner of the castle served as defensive structures, housing weaponry. The

Kingdom of Poland The Kingdom of Poland ( pl, Królestwo Polskie; Latin: ''Regnum Poloniae'') was a state in Central Europe. It may refer to: Historical political entities * Kingdom of Poland, a kingdom existing from 1025 to 1031 * Kingdom of Poland, a kingdom exi ...

under the command of

Władysław Jagiełło Władysław is a Polish given male name, cognate with Vladislav. The feminine form is Władysława, archaic forms are Włodzisław (male) and Włodzisława (female), and Wladislaw is a variation. These names may refer to: Famous people Mononym * ...

seized by the castle in 1410.

Pomeranian Dukes Castle

The

took control of the castle during the Thirteen Years' War. In 1466, King Kazimierz Jagiellończyk ceded the castle to the

fiefdom A fief (; la, feudum) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form of f ...

Duchy of Pomerania The Duchy of Pomerania (german: Herzogtum Pommern; pl, Księstwo Pomorskie; Latin: ''Ducatus Pomeraniae'') was a duchy in Pomerania on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea, ruled by dukes of the House of Pomerania (''Griffins''). The country ha ...

, then ruled by

Eric II, duke of Pomerania Eric II or Erich II (between 1418 and 1425 – 5 July 1474) was a member of the House of Pomerania (also known as the House of Griffins) and was the ruling Duke of Pomerania-Wolgast from 1457 to 1474. He was the son of Wartislaw IX of Pomeran ...

. In 1500, the stronghold was surrounded with fortifications and bastions. In the second half of the 16th century, the castle was the residence of the

House of Pomerania The House of Griffin or Griffin dynasty (german: Greifen; pl, Gryfici, da, Grif) was a dynasty ruling the Duchy of Pomerania from the 12th century until 1637. The name "Griffins" was used by the dynasty after the 15th century and had been tak ...

, which in the years 1560-1570 had their living quarters in the southeastern wing. The

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of battle ...

wrought little damage to the stronghold. Along with the death last member of the

in 1638, the castle was made the residence of the starosta. The Swedish army razed the castle during the

Deluge A deluge is a large downpour of rain, often a flood. The Deluge refers to the flood narrative in the Biblical book of Genesis. Deluge may also refer to: History *Deluge (history), the Swedish and Russian invasion of the Polish-Lithuanian Com ...

, . In the 19th century the castle was partly rebuilt after Frederick William I of Prussia,

elector of Brandenburg This article lists the Margraves and Electors of Brandenburg during the period of time that Brandenburg was a constituent state of the Holy Roman Empire. The Mark, or ''March'', of Brandenburg was one of the primary constituent states of the Hol ...

, took over. The castle housed a court and a prison. First conservation works were conducted in between the years of 1930 and 1939. The castle was later rebuilt at intervals between the years of 1957 to 1962 years and between the years of 1969 to 1990, when the castle housed the Western Pomeranian Museum (''Museum Zachodnio Pomorskie''), a hotel with a restaurant and a library. Bytow zamek panorama

History

Teutonic Castle

Pomeranian Dukes Castle

See also