Lidzbark () is a town with 8,670 inhabitants in the Warmia-Masurian Voivodeship in

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 ...

. It is located on the Wel river and Lake Lidzbark. The postal code for the entire area is 13-230. The town is popularly referred to as Lidzbark Welski, to distinguish it from

Lidzbark Warmiński Lidzbark Warmiński (; , ), often shortened to Lidzbark, is a historical town located within the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, in northern Poland. It is the capital of Lidzbark County. Lidzbark Warmiński was once the capital of Warmia and fo ...

History

Lidzbark was founded in 1301. The town's

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

parish church was constructed in 1350.

Władysław II Jagiełło Jogaila (; 1 June 1434), later Władysław II Jagiełło (),Other names include (; ) (see also Names and titles of Władysław II Jagiełło) was Grand Duke of Lithuania beginning in 1377 and starting in 1386, becoming King of Poland as well. ...

led his army through Lidzbark on July 9, 1410 before the

Battle of Grunwald The Battle of Grunwald was fought on 15 July 1410 during the Polish–Lithuanian–Teutonic War. The alliance of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, led respectively by King Władysław II Jagiełło (Jogaila), a ...

. On September 29, 1413, some of the Teutonic Knights in the town revolted against

Heinrich von Plauen the Elder Heinrich von Plauen (the Elder) ( – 1429) was the 27th Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights, serving from November 1410 to October 1413. Having becoming grandmaster in the wake of the Battle of Grunwald, he was a stern proponent of prolonging ...

; they were only appeased with Plauen's replacement with Michael Küchmeister von Sternberg. The town joined the

Prussian Confederation The Prussian Confederation (, ) was an organization formed on 21 February 1440 at Marienwerder (present-day Kwidzyn) by a group of 53 nobles and clergy and 19 cities in Prussia, to oppose the arbitrariness of the Teutonic Knights. It was based o ...

, which opposed Teutonic rule, and upon the request of which 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 ...

reincorporated the territory to 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 1454. In May 1454 Lidzbark pledged allegiance to the Polish King in

Toruń Toruń is a city on the Vistula River in north-central Poland and a World Heritage Sites of Poland, UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its population was 196,935 as of December 2021. Previously, it was the capital of the Toruń Voivodeship (1975–199 ...

.Karol Górski, ''Związek Pruski i poddanie się Prus Polsce: zbiór tekstów źródłowych'', Instytut Zachodni, Poznań, 1949, p. 76 (in Polish) At the

Second Peace of Thorn (1466) The Peace of Thorn or Toruń of 1466, also known as the Second Peace of Thorn or Toruń (; ), was a peace treaty signed in the Hanseatic city of Thorn (Toruń) on 19 October 1466 between the Polish king Casimir IV Jagiellon and the Teutonic K ...

the Teutonic Knights renounced claims to the town and recognized it as part of Poland. Administratively it was located in the

Chełmno Voivodeship The Chełmno Voivodeship () was a unit of administrative division and local government in the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, Kingdom of Poland since 1454/1466 until the Partitions of Poland in 1772/1793. Its capital was at Chełmno. Together wi ...

in the province of

Royal Prussia Royal Prussia (; or , ) or Polish PrussiaAnton Friedrich Büsching, Patrick Murdoch. ''A New System of Geography'', London 1762p. 588/ref> (Polish: ; German: ) became a province of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, which was annexed follow ...

in the

Greater Poland Province of the Polish Crown Greater Poland Province () was an administrative division of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland from 1569 until 1795. The name of the province comes from the historic land of Greater Poland. The Greater Poland Province consisted initially of twel ...

. A large portion of the city was destroyed by fire in 1764. 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 ...

, 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 ...

in 1772. During the

Napoleonic Wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...

it was part of the Polish

Duchy of Warsaw The Duchy of Warsaw (; ; ), also known as the Grand Duchy of Warsaw and Napoleonic Poland, was a First French Empire, French client state established by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1807, during the Napoleonic Wars. It initially comprised the ethnical ...

from 1807 to 1815, but was reannexed by Prussia afterwards. In 1772, the town had 510 inhabitants and 83 timbered buildings. Agriculture was common in the area along with crafting. In 1789, the population reached 802 of which 41 families were craftsmen. In the beginning of the 20th century, the city had breweries, sawmills, iron mill, engine works and dairy products. In 1920, the area was reintegrated with

after it regained independence. During

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 ...

, it was under

German occupation German-occupied Europe, or Nazi-occupied Europe, refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly militarily occupied and civil-occupied, including puppet states, by the (armed forces) and the government of Nazi Germany at ...

. The population in 1943 was 4,329. 70% of the city was destroyed during the war.

Sports

The local

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

team is , which competes in the lower leagues.

Twinnings

Oebisfelde Oebisfelde () is a town and a former municipality in the Börde district in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Since 1 January 2010, it is part of the town Oebisfelde-Weferlingen. It is accessed by Bundesstraße (German federal highway) 188. Geography ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

* Co op municipality: Guttau,

Sovetsk, Kaliningrad Oblast Sovetsk (; ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, town in Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the south bank of the Neman River which forms the border with Lithuania. History Early history Tilsit, which received German town law, c ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

Address of administration

:Urząd Miasta i Gminy :13-230 Lidzbark :ul. Sądowa 21 :Tel.: (+48 23) 696-15-05 :Fax.: (+48 23) 696-21-07

Notable people

* Roman Antoszewski (1935–2017), plant physiologist

References

External links

Homepage of Lidzbark
(in Polish and German)

(in German) {{Authority control Cities and towns in Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship Działdowo County