History Frombork

1 history

1.1 history
1.2 copernican era
1.3 modern history

history
early history

the town founded defensive stronghold on old prussian site. in 1224 @ catania, emperor frederick ii declared prussia directly subordinate church , holy roman empire. later in same year pope assigned bishop william of modena papal legate prussia. imperial golden bull of rimini, teutonic knights granted control of region, subsequently conquered. according local legend, old prussian inhabitants baptised anselm of meissen, priest of teutonic knights , first bishop of bishopric of warmia created in 1242 william of modena.

supposedly when stronghold s lord died, widow gertruda offered settlement bishop, , in honor named frauenburg (german our lady s fortress , castrum dominae nostrae in latin). name not unique in german, originates in construction of fortified chapel, church, or monastery dedicated virgin mary or inhabited nuns. several places named frauenburg or marienburg, nearby marienburg castle , city (now malbork).

the village first mentioned in 1278 document signed bishop heinrich fleming. on 8 july 1310, bishop eberhard of neisse granted town lübeck city rights, used many member cities of hanseatic league. described, still rather unspecifically, civitas warmiensis (warmian city).

in 1329-1388, magnificent brick gothic cathedral (now archcathedral basilica of assumption of blessed virgin mary , saint andrew) built, , dedicated virgin mary, or our lady (in latin, domina nostra; in german, unsere frau). hence, town called frauenburg.

over centuries, cathedral has been expanded , rebuilt repeatedly. there several other historic churches, dedicated st. nicholas, st. george, , st. anne, built in 13th century.

copernican era

copernicus



frawenburg @ frisch haff in 1684

altes und neues preussen, christoph hartknoch



frombork part of polish province royal prussia 1466 1772

in 1414 city plundered , burned during hunger war between teutonic knights , poland. in 1454, during thirteen years war, hill , cathedral occupied jan skalski. second peace of thorn (1466), became important city of prince-bishopric of warmia , part of polish province of royal prussia. city devastated after raid albrecht of brandenburg in 1520.

in middle ages, inhabitants merchants, farmers , fishermen. famous resident astronomer , mathematician nicolaus copernicus, lived , worked here canon (1512–16 , 1522–43). copernicus said have jokingly called weiberstadt ( wives town ) or gynepolis (in medieval greek). in 1519 copernicus wrote king of poland, asking against teutonic knights threatening city. letter intercepted, , teutonic knights took , burned city (copernicus , other canons had left city shortly before).

the astronomer wrote epochal work, de revolutionibus orbium cœlestium in frombork, northeastern poland. in book, written in latin, copernicus used latin name of town , region - frueburgo prussiae shortly after 1543 publication, copernicus died there , buried in town s cathedral, grave thought have been found archaeologists in 2005. subsequently confirmed in november 2008 publication of results of dna tests on fragments of bone , hair found on skeleton: hair matched 2 strands of hair belonged copernicus , located in uppsala university.

in northwest corner of cathedral grounds copernicus tower, , in southwest corner octagonal building square bell tower , small planetarium , foucault s pendulum. atop tower 1 can survey town, tiny harbor, great panorama of baltic sea, , of warmia s countryside.

the city suffered destruction , heavy population losses during polish–swedish wars. between 1626 , 1635 occupied gustavus adolphus of sweden looted cathedral , shipped many cultural artifacts, including copernicus manuscripts sweden. further destruction followed during deluge (swedish invasion of poland), great northern war , war of fourth coalition.

modern history

after first partition of polish-lithuanian commonwealth (1772) town taken on kingdom of prussia. subsequently, in 1871 frauenburg became part of german empire. preußische ostbahn railway line opened in 1899 connecting elbing (elbląg) , braunsberg (braniewo) via frauenburg, leading further russian border @ eydtkuhnen (chernyshevskoye). passenger services on railway line ceased in 2006.

towards , after end of world war ii german inhabitants either evacuated or expelled of german population of east prussia. @ end of world war ii, 173 years after partitions, city along rest of southern east prussia became again part of poland decisions of potsdam conference. town resettled poles, many of whom expellees polish areas annexed soviet union.

in 1959 frombork regained city rights. having been heavily (70%) damaged in world war ii, rebuilt polish boy scouts in 1966-1973, in time 500th anniversary of copernicus birth.

today, frombork regaining importance tourist destination, abetted key location south of frontier russian district of kaliningrad. although railway through frombork closed in 2006, port has seasonal ferry connections elbląg, krynica morska , kaliningrad.

frombork s small port on vistula lagoon