Pieniężno (former ; ) is a

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

in northern

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, located on the Wałsza River in

Warmia Warmia ( ; Latin: ''Varmia'', ''Warmia''; ; Warmian subdialect, Warmian: ''Warńija''; Old Prussian language, Old Prussian: ''Wārmi'') is both a historical and an ethnographic region in northern Poland, forming part of historical Prussia (reg ...

, in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship. It is located in

Braniewo County __NOTOC__ Braniewo County () is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, northern Poland, on the border with Russia. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local ...

and had a population of 2,801 in 2010.

History

Middle Ages

During the Middle Ages, an

Old Prussian Old Prussian is an extinct West Baltic language belonging to the Baltic branch of the Indo-European languages, which was once spoken by the Old Prussians, the Baltic peoples of the Prussian region. The language is called Old Prussian to av ...

fort called ''Malcekuke'', loosely translated as "woods of the subterraneous" or "devil's ground", was located near the current site of Pieniężno. This was linguistically corrupted by German settlers to ''Mehlsack'', meaning "

flour Flour is a powder made by Mill (grinding), grinding raw grains, List of root vegetables, roots, beans, Nut (fruit), nuts, or seeds. Flours are used to make many different foods. Cereal flour, particularly wheat flour, is the main ingredie ...

sack", and then by

Poles Pole or poles may refer to: People *Poles (people), another term for Polish people, from the country of Poland * Pole (surname), including a list of people with the name * Pole (musician) (Stefan Betke, born 1967), German electronic music artist ...

to ''Melzak''. In the 14th century it was founded as a town west of Heilsberg (Lidzbark) in

. The town's

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

depicts three bags of flour spaced in between a golden sword and a silver key, all on a blue background. The website recalls a story that the inhabitants defied a Swedish siege in the 17th century by spilling their last sack of flour as a deception to convince them that they still had plenty of food left. The

Teutonic Knights The Teutonic Order is a Catholic religious institution founded as a military society in Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem. The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem was formed to aid Christians on their pilgrimages to t ...

built an ''

Ordensburg ''Ordensburg'' (plural ''Ordensburgen'') is a German language, German term meaning a "castle of a (military) order". It is used specifically for the fortified structures built by Crusades, crusading German Military order (religious society), m ...

'' castle near Malcekuke in 1302. Dutchman Frederick from Pasłęk became the

lokator The ''lokator'' (lat. ''locator'': landlord, land allocator, from Latin to allocate, rent, establish, settle or locate; also ''magister incolarum''; in Mecklenburg and Pomerania also or , similar to the ''Reutemeister'' in South Germany) was a ...

and mayor of the town, and

Dutch people The Dutch, or Netherlanders (Dutch language, Dutch: ) are an ethnic group native to the Netherlands. They share a common ancestry and culture and speak the Dutch language. Dutch people and their descendants are found in migrant communities wor ...

from Pasłęk were probably its first settlers. Both the castle and the town which developed nearby were destroyed during warfare between the Teutonic Order and the

Kingdom of Poland The Kingdom of Poland (; Latin: ''Regnum Poloniae'') was a monarchy in Central Europe during the Middle Ages, medieval period from 1025 until 1385. Background The West Slavs, West Slavic tribe of Polans (western), Polans who lived in what i ...

in 1414. In 1440, the town joined the anti-Teutonic Prussian Confederation, upon the request of which it was incorporated to Poland by King

Casimir IV Jagiellon Casimir IV (Casimir Andrew Jagiellon; ; Lithuanian: ; 30 November 1427 – 7 June 1492) was Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1440 and King of Poland from 1447 until his death in 1492. He was one of the most active Polish-Lithuanian rulers; under ...

in 1454. During the subsequent Thirteen Years' War, Mehlsack surrendered to the Order, and the castle burned down during Poland's recapture of the town. In 1466, the town was recaptured by Poles led by Jan Skalski, then unsuccessfully besieged by the Teutonic Knights,''Słownik geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego i innych krajów słowiańskich, Tom VI'', p. 252 and with the end of the war in 1466, Melzak decisively passed to Poland.

Modern era

Nicolaus Copernicus Nicolaus Copernicus (19 February 1473 – 24 May 1543) was a Renaissance polymath who formulated a mathematical model, model of Celestial spheres#Renaissance, the universe that placed heliocentrism, the Sun rather than Earth at its cen ...

was an administrator for the districts of

Olsztyn Olsztyn ( , ) is a city on the Łyna River in northern Poland. It is the capital of the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, and is a city with powiat rights, city with county rights. The population of the city was estimated at 169,793 residents Olsz ...

and Melzak for a few years in the early 16th century. From October 1518 to March 1519 Copernicus was based out of the castle while he settled nearby villages. In 1520, the town was captured by the Teutonic Knights during the last Polish–Teutonic War. From 1589-1599, Prince Andrew Cardinal Báthory of

Transylvania Transylvania ( or ; ; or ; Transylvanian Saxon dialect, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Siweberjen'') is a List of historical regions of Central Europe, historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and ...

, nephew of Polish King

Stephen Báthory Stephen Báthory (; ; ; 27 September 1533 – 12 December 1586) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania (1576–1586) as well as Prince of Transylvania, earlier Voivode of Transylvania (1571–1576). The son of Stephen VIII Báthory ...

, was the administrator for the castle. The town was captured by Swedish troops in 1626 during the Polish-Swedish War of 1625-29, recovered by

Hetman ''Hetman'' is a political title from Central and Eastern Europe, historically assigned to military commanders (comparable to a field marshal or imperial marshal in the Holy Roman Empire). First used by the Czechs in Bohemia in the 15th century, ...

Stanisław Rewera Potocki, and then had its castle partially destroyed by Swedish troops in 1627. The

town hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or municipal hall (in the Philippines) is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses the city o ...

, dating from the 14th century and rebuilt in the 15th century, was destroyed during the Swedish occupation in 1626. It was rebuilt in 1666, but burnt in a fire the same year, only to be rebuilt again in 1770. The castle was restyled in 1640 with

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

s, and its function changed from being a fortress to being a

château A château (, ; plural: châteaux) is a manor house, or palace, or residence of the lord of the manor, or a fine country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally, and still most frequently, in French-speaking re ...

. The town was annexed by the

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (, ) was a German state that existed from 1701 to 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Rev. ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1946. It played a signif ...

during the

First Partition of Poland The First Partition of Poland took place in 1772 as the first of three partitions that eventually ended the existence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth by 1795. The growth of power in the Russian Empire threatened the Kingdom of Prussia an ...

in 1772, and administered in the

Province of East Prussia East Prussia was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1772 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 1871); following World War I it formed part of the Weimar Republic's Free State of Prussia, ...

the following year. It became part of the

German Empire The German Empire (),; ; World Book, Inc. ''The World Book dictionary, Volume 1''. World Book, Inc., 2003. p. 572. States that Deutsches Reich translates as "German Realm" and was a former official name of Germany. also referred to as Imperia ...

in 1871 during the Prussian-led

unification of Germany The unification of Germany (, ) was a process of building the first nation-state for Germans with federalism, federal features based on the concept of Lesser Germany (one without Habsburgs' multi-ethnic Austria or its German-speaking part). I ...

. During the 19th and 20th centuries the castle lost some of its Gothic and Baroque features, and in 1870 its eastern and southern wings were demolished after extensive deterioration. The remainder of the castle was used as administrative offices for

Prussian Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, the House of Hohenzoll ...

officials. From 1920-31 the western wing was renovated so the castle could be used as a school and museum. In 1945, near the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Mehlsack, including its castle, was mostly destroyed by the war and was occupied by the

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

and the youngest-ever Soviet General,

Ivan Chernyakhovsky Ivan Danilovich Chernyakhovsky (; ; – 18 February 1945) was the youngest-ever Soviet General of the army. For his leadership during World War II he was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union twice. He died from wounds received outside K� ...

, died in the area. After German surrender, sovereignty over the town was ceremoniously transferred to Polish authorities on August 11, 1945, by the Soviets. The town later fell within the newly redrawn borders of Poland under the terms of the

Potsdam Agreement The Potsdam Agreement () was the agreement among three of the Allies of World War II: the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Soviet Union after the war ended in Europe that was signed on 1 August 1945 and published the following day. A ...

. The town was renamed from Mehlsack to Pieniężno after

Seweryn Pieniężny Seweryn may refer to: * Seweryn Berson (1858–1917), Polish lawyer and composer * Seweryn Bialer (1926–2019), emeritus professor of political science at Columbia University, expert on the Communist parties of the Soviet Union and Poland * Sewe ...

(1890-1940), an editor for the Polish-language newspaper ''

Gazeta Olsztyńska ''Gazeta Olsztyńska'' (English: ''Olsztyn Daily'') is a Polish language newspaper published in Olsztyn. History The newspaper was first published in the years 1886–1939, in what was then East Prussia. Its first editor in chief was an ethnic W ...

'' in

, imprisoned and murdered by the Germans during World War II.

Demographics

References

External links

Municipal website
{{Authority control Braniewo County Cities and towns in Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship Populated riverside places in Poland Warmia