Barczewko is a

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

in the administrative district of

Gmina Barczewo __NOTOC__ Gmina Barczewo is an urban-rural gmina (administrative district) in Olsztyn County, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, in northern Poland. Its seat is the town of Barczewo, which lies approximately north-east of the regional capital Olsztyn ...

, within

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

, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, in northern Poland. It lies approximately west of

Barczewo Barczewo (until 1946 ''Wartembork''; ) is a town in Olsztyn County, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, Poland. It is situated 20 km northeast of Olsztyn, in the historic region of Warmia. As of December 2021, the town has a population of 7,483. ...

and north-east of the regional capital

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 ...

. It is situated on the northern shore of Lake Wadąg in the historic region of

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 ...

History

Barczewko was established in the 1320s by

vogt An , sometimes simply advocate, (German, ), or (French, ), was a type of medieval office holder, particularly important in the Holy Roman Empire, who was delegated some of the powers and functions of a major feudal lord, or for an institutio ...

Friedrich von Liebenzelle. It had an associated

castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...

, but its location has not been established. The settlement was established on a promontory to northeast of Lake Wadag. Bounded by ditches and earthen ramparts, the site of the medieval village was roughly oval and measured along its axes. Barczewko was a

planned settlement A planned community, planned city, planned town, or planned settlement is any community that was carefully planned from its inception and is typically constructed on previously undeveloped land. This contrasts with settlements that evolve ...

, with organised streets, a central

square In geometry, a square is a regular polygon, regular quadrilateral. It has four straight sides of equal length and four equal angles. Squares are special cases of rectangles, which have four equal angles, and of rhombuses, which have four equal si ...

, a church and cemetery, and a bathhouse. The main construction material used at Barczewko was timber, with little use of stone or brick. The village is mentioned in written sources for the first time on 26 December 1329. The

Grand Duchy of Lithuania The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a sovereign state in northeastern Europe that existed from the 13th century, succeeding the Kingdom of Lithuania, to the late 18th century, when the territory was suppressed during the 1795 Partitions of Poland, ...

and the

Order of 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 ...

were frequently in conflict with each other in the 14th century with 138 raids conducted against each other between 1345 and 1382. The 14th-century chronicler Wigand von Marburg recorded that in 1354 "Kęstutis and Algirdas, along with their nobles etc., rushed to Wartenberg in the land of Gunelauken, which they destroyed in a hostile manner with fire, etc. and nobody escaped their hands". Kęstutis and Algirdas were brothers and joint

Grand Dukes of Lithuania The article is a list of heads of state of Lithuania over historical Lithuanian state. The timeline includes all heads of state of Lithuania as a sovereign entity, legitimately part of a greater sovereign entity, a client state, or a Republics o ...

. The destruction of Barczewko and its population was typical of the conflict between the two parties. Archaeological evidence indicates the destruction of Barczewko was a surprise attack, with no signs of a siege. Extensive burning was found, along with bodies amongst the remains of the buildings. The fire may have been deliberately spread across the town as the buildings were not densely arranged. The village was later rebuilt but further to the east of the original location. The village church dates from 1582. It formed part of the Kingdom of Poland until it was annexed by

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

in 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. In the late 19th century, it had a population of 650, solely

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

by nationality. In 1920, the Germans attacked and disrupted Polish rallies held in the village.

References

{{Authority control Populated lakeshore places in Poland Villages in Olsztyn County