Marianowo (german: Marienfließ in Pommern) is a

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred ...

Stargard County __NOTOC__ Stargard County ( pl, powiat stargardzki) is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in West Pomeranian Voivodeship, north-western Poland. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local ...

West Pomeranian Voivodeship The West Pomeranian Voivodeship, also known as the West Pomerania Province, is a voivodeship (province) in northwestern Poland. Its capital and largest city is Szczecin. Its area equals 22 892.48 km² (8,838.84 sq mi), and in 2021, it was ...

, in north-western Poland. It is the seat of the gmina (administrative district) called Gmina Marianowo. It lies approximately east of Stargard and east of the regional capital Szczecin. The village has a population of 910.

Marienfließ Abbey

The origins of the village go back to the foundation of Cistercian monastery in 1228 by the region's Slavic ruler, Duke of Pomerania, Barnin I the Good (c. 1217/1219 – 13 November 1278) from the Griffin dynasty (ducis Slauorum et Cassubie). In 1228, Cistercian nuns arrived and founded an abbey in Marienfließ (also Marienfliess, Marienflies). After the

Protestant Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and ...

, the nunnery was secularized in 1569, but its purpose, to harbour unmarried or widowed noble women from the

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 ...

, continued as a Lutheran convent (damsels' foundation) for noble women. One of these noble women was

Sidonia von Borcke Sidonia von Borcke (1548–1620) was a Pomeranian noblewoman who was tried and executed for witchcraft in the city of Stettin (today Szczecin, Poland). In posthumous legends, she is depicted as a '' femme fatale'', and she has entered English l ...

, famous for her trial for

witchcraft Witchcraft traditionally means the use of magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually women who were believed to have ...

in 1620. On 28 June 1643 Gustavus Adolphus' daughter,

Christina of Sweden Christina ( sv, Kristina, 18 December ( New Style) 1626 – 19 April 1689), a member of the House of Vasa, was Queen of Sweden in her own right from 1632 until her abdication in 1654. She succeeded her father Gustavus Adolphus upon his death ...

, leased the estates of Marienfließ nunnery to Francis Henry of Saxe-Lauenburg for 10 years, after which it reverted to the new ruler of Pomerania, Frederick William, the Great elector, on 12 December 1653, rewarding Francis Henry's improvements to the estate.Christian Friedrich Wutstrack
''Nachtrag zu der Kurzen historisch-geographisch-statistischen Beschreibung des königlich-preussischen Herzogthums Vor- und Hinter-Pommern''
Stettin: Johann Samuel Leich, 1795, p. 179. Under Brandenburg rule the damsels' foundation was restituted, but dissolved in 1945, when Marienfließ was handed over to Poland.

Notable people

Eleonore Charlotte of Saxe-Lauenburg-Franzhagen Eleonore Charlotte of Saxe-Lauenburg-Franzhagen (german: Eleonore Charlotte von Sachsen-Lauenburg; born: 8 August 1646 in Marienfließ in Pomerania; died: 26 January 1709 in Franzhagen Castle, Schulendorf) was a duchess of Saxe-Lauenburg by birt ...

(Marienfließ, 8 August 1646 – 26 January 1709,

Franzhagen Castle The Franzhagen Castle - also known as ''Franzgarten'' or ''Franzhof'' was a castle near the present-day Schulendorf in southern Schleswig-Holstein. Before its destruction in 1716 it was owned by the dukes of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg. The c ...

), princess of Saxe-Lauenburg and heiress of Franzhagen estates. * Manfred Swarsensky (1906 – 1981), German-American rabbi

References

Marianowo {{Stargard-geo-stub