Znamensk (; ; lt, Vėluva; pl, Welawa) is a

rural locality In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry typically are describ ...

(a settlement) in

Gvardeysky District Gvardeysky District (russian: Гварде́йский райо́н) is an administrative district (raion), one of the fifteen in Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia. It is located in the center of the oblast. The area of the district is . Its administrati ...

Kaliningrad Oblast Kaliningrad Oblast (russian: Калинингра́дская о́бласть, translit=Kaliningradskaya oblast') is the westernmost federal subject of Russia. It is a semi-exclave situated on the Baltic Sea. The largest city and admin ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

, located on the right bank of the Pregolya River at its confluence with the Lava River east of

Kaliningrad Kaliningrad ( ; rus, Калининград, p=kəlʲɪnʲɪnˈɡrat, links=y), until 1946 known as Königsberg (; rus, Кёнигсберг, Kyonigsberg, ˈkʲɵnʲɪɡzbɛrk; rus, Короле́вец, Korolevets), is the largest city and ...

. Population figures:

History

The site of today's Znamensk was originally an

Old Prussian Old Prussian was a Western 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 avoid con ...

fort, with a settlement named ''Velowe'' nearby. The site featured an unusually large oak tree, considered sacred by the local Prussians. It survived at least until 1595, when it was mentioned by Caspar Hennenberger. Around 1255 the locality was fortified, but the castle was surrendered to 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 ...

by its mayor, Tirslo. The Teutons continued to use the castle and began to colonize the region with

Germans , native_name_lang = de , region1 = , pop1 = 72,650,269 , region2 = , pop2 = 534,000 , region3 = , pop3 = 157,000 3,322,405 , region4 = , pop4 = ...

, giving the settlement the name ''Wehlau''. It received its civic charter in 1335 and in 1339 and became a centre for horse stables and horse trade. Until the late 19th century the town was allowed to organise a six-day linen fair, a three-day horse fair and two additional horse and cattle fairs every year. In 1349 Grand Master of the Teutonic Order Heinrich Dusemer founded a

Franciscan , image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans , abbreviation = OFM , predecessor = , ...

Monastery there to commemorate his victory over the Prussians in the battle of Streba River. In 1380 the St. Jacob's church was erected. AGAD Stany pruskie oddaja swe ziemie krolowi polskiemu Kazimierzowi Jagiellonczykowi i koronie polskiej

AGAD Stany pruskie oddaja swe ziemie krolowi polskiemu Kazimierzowi Jagiellonczykowi i koronie polskiej

Since 1440, the town was a founding member of the

Prussian Confederation The Prussian Confederation (german: Preußischer Bund, pl, Związek Pruski) was an organization formed on 21 February 1440 at Kwidzyn (then officially ''Marienwerder'') by a group of 53 nobles and clergy and 19 cities in Prussia (region), Prussi ...

, which opposed Teutonic rule. In 1454, the Confederation asked Polish King

Casimir IV Jagiellon Casimir IV (in full Casimir IV Andrew Jagiellon; pl, Kazimierz IV Andrzej Jagiellończyk ; Lithuanian: ; 30 November 1427 – 7 June 1492) was Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1440 and King of Poland from 1447, until his death. He was one of the m ...

to incorporate the region into 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 ...

, to which the King agreed and signed the act of incorporation in

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...

, and the castle and the city joined the Kingdom of Poland. During the subsequent Thirteen Years' War, in 1460 the Teutonic Order besieged the town and successfully retook it. The war ended in 1466 with a

peace treaty A peace treaty is an agreement between two or more hostile parties, usually countries or governments, which formally ends a state of war between the parties. It is different from an armistice An armistice is a formal agreement of warring ...

signed in

Toruń )'' , image_skyline = , image_caption = , image_flag = POL Toruń flag.svg , image_shield = POL Toruń COA.svg , nickname = City of Angels, Gingerbread city, Copernicus Town , pushpin_map = Kuyavian-Pom ...

, according to which the town became a part of Poland as a

fief 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 ...

held by the Teutonic Knights.Górski, pp. 96-97, 214-215 In 1490 Grand Master

Johann von Tiefen Johann von Tiefen (died 25 August 1497) was the 35th Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights, serving from 1489 to 1497. Von Tiefen's date of birth is unknown, although it is believed he hailed from Switzerland. His beginnings in the Teutonic Order ...

restored (or founded, the sources are unclear) another Franciscan monastery in the town. However, it was destroyed in 1519 in the course of

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 ...

, when the burghers converted to Protestantism and decided that such a small town is not able to bear the burden of sustaining two monasteries. In 1540 the town was destroyed by a large fire and only the St. Jacob's church was left standing. Wehlau was successfully rebuilt, although natural disasters struck it repeatedly, notably in 1542 and 1593. The town finally recovered and by the end of 16th century Margrave Georg Friedrich considered moving the

University of Königsberg The University of Königsberg (german: Albertus-Universität Königsberg) was the university of Königsberg in East Prussia. It was founded in 1544 as the world's second Protestant academy (after the University of Marburg) by Duke Albert of Pruss ...

to Wehlau, which however never materialised. In the

Treaty of Wehlau The Treaty of Bromberg (, Latin: Pacta Bydgostensia) or Treaty of Bydgoszcz was a treaty between John II Casimir of Poland and Elector Frederick William of Brandenburg-Prussia that was ratified at Bromberg (Bydgoszcz) on 6 November 1657. The tr ...

signed in the town in 1657,

Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg Frederick William (german: Friedrich Wilhelm; 16 February 1620 – 29 April 1688) was Elector of Brandenburg and Duke of Prussia, thus ruler of Brandenburg-Prussia, from 1640 until his death in 1688. A member of the House of Hohenzollern, he is ...

, received sovereignty over the

Duchy of Prussia The Duchy of Prussia (german: Herzogtum Preußen, pl, Księstwo Pruskie, lt, Prūsijos kunigaikštystė) or Ducal Prussia (german: Herzogliches Preußen, link=no; pl, Prusy Książęce, link=no) was a duchy in the region of Prussia establish ...

In 1818, it became the seat of

Landkreis Wehlau In all German states, except for the three city states, the primary administrative subdivision higher than a '' Gemeinde'' (municipality) is the (official term in all but two states) or (official term in the states of North Rhine-Westphalia ...

in East Prussia within the

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (german: Königreich Preußen, ) was a German kingdom that constituted the state of Prussia between 1701 and 1918. Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. ...

. In 1871 Wehlau joined the German Empire. By the end of the 19th century the town had roughly 4000 inhabitants, mostly German

Lutherans Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched ...

. The town had a station of the Prussian Eastern Railway connecting

Königsberg Königsberg (, ) was the historic Prussian city that is now Kaliningrad, Russia. Königsberg was founded in 1255 on the site of the ancient Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teutonic Knights during the Northern Crusades, and was name ...

and

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

to the Saint Petersburg–Warsaw Railway, as well as a Lutheran church, a regional courthouse and a school. Near the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, on 23 January 1945, the town was taken by the

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army ( Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, afte ...

. The old town center was almost completely destroyed, and the German population fled during the evacuation of East Prussia or expelled. It became part of the Kaliningrad Oblast and was renamed Znamensk, losing its civic rights in the process. It was demoted to a rural settlement in 2006.

Notable people

* George von Kunheim (1523–1611) married Margaretha Luther, grandchild of Martin Luther in 1555. * Johann Christoph Strodtmann (1717–1756) a German author, writing on theology, philology, classical studies, history of law and history of scholarship * Gustav Neumann, (1838 – 1881), chess master * Ernst Vanhöffen (1858–1918), zoologist * David Hilbert (1862–1943), mathematician * Walter Schütz (1897–1933), politician * Herbert Pilch (1927–2018), linguist *

Roza Shanina Roza Georgiyevna Shanina (russian: link=no, Ро́за Гео́ргиевна Ша́нина, ; 3 April 1924 – 28 January 1945) was a Soviet sniper during World War II who was credited with 59 confirmed kills, including twelve sol ...

(1924–1945): Soviet sniper during World War II

History

Notable people

References

Citations

Bibliography

See also