Chełmno Land Ziemia chełmińska | |
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 Chełmno Land (medium green) on the map of Poland | |
| Coordinates:53°25′N18°50′E / 53.417°N 18.833°E /53.417; 18.833 | |
| Country |  Poland |
| Historical capital | Chełmno |
| Largest city | Toruń |
| Time zone | UTC+1 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+2 (CEST) |
Chełmno land (Polish:ziemia chełmińska,German:Culmer Landⓘ or Kulmerland) is a part of the historical region ofPomerelia, located in central-northernPoland.[1]
Chełmno land is named after the city ofChełmno. The largest city in the region isToruń; another bigger city isGrudziądz.
It is located on the right bank of theVistula river, from the mouth of theDrwęca (southern boundary) to theOsa (northern). Its eastern frontier isLubawa Land.[1]
The region, depending on the period and interpretation, may be included in other larger regions:Mazovia,Pomerania orPrussia. Currently in Poland it is classified as part of Pomerania, due to strong connections withGdańsk Pomerania in recent centuries, with which it is collectively called the Vistula Pomerania (Pomorze Nadwiślańskie), although it also has close ties with neighboringKuyavia. As a result it forms part of theKuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodship, although a small part of the Chełmno Land is located in theWarmian-Masurian Voivodeship. Initially it was the westernmost part of Mazovia within medieval Poland, especially after thefragmentation of Poland. According to German historiography, it is classified as part of Prussia, although it did not form part of pre-Christian Prussia and was not inhabited by theOld Prussians, but bySlavicLechites,[2] who in the 10th century became part of the emerging Polish state.[3]
Chełmno Land bordersKociewie,Bory Tucholskie, andPowiśle in the north,Masuria in the north-east,Dobrzyń Land in the south-east, andKuyavia in the west.
The first historical account of Chełmno and Chełmno Land dates back to 1065 whenBolesław II of Poland granted a tax privilege to an abbey in a nearbyMogilno. The document lists Chełmno ("Culmine") along with other towns which then belonged to the Duchy of Masovia. The area, being closest to thePolans, came to be populated by theLechitic Kuyavians and tribes from Greater Poland[citation needed]. TheMasovians were led by Masos, who left the Polish duke Boleslaw I[citation needed] and sought refuge with thePrussians. When this area was subdued by the rulers of thePolans Chełmno became a local centre ofcastellany (kasztelania). Chełmno Land wasChristianised in the 11th century.
According to the will of DukeBolesław III Wrymouth, Chełmno Land, after his death in 1138 became a part of theDuchy of Masovia governed by his sonBolesław IV the Curly and his descendants during the feudalfragmentation of Poland.
By the 13th century the territory was subject to raids by paganOld Prussians, who sackedChełmno, the province's main town, in 1216. In 1220Conrad I of Masovia, with the participation of the other dukes of Poland, led a partial reconquest of the province, but the project of establishing a Polish defense of the province failed due to conflicts between the dukes. He brought the crusadingKnights of Dobrzyń to Masovia, where they built a castle atDobrzyń in 1224 as a base for attacks against the Prussians. As a result, the territory was again sacked and devastated by Prussian raids, which led to depopulation of the province.[4]
Being involved in dynastic struggles elsewhere and too weak to deal with the Prussians alone, Conrad needed to safeguard and establish borders against the heathenOld Prussians, because his territory of Masovia was also in danger after the Prussians besiegedPłock. Conrad awarded the already devastated Chełmno Land to theTeutonic Knights, giving themNieszawa at first[citation needed]. He also brought inGerman settlers toPłock.[5]
In 1226 DukeConrad I of Masovia enlisted the aid of theTeutonic Order to protectMasovia and help convert the Prussians to Christianity. In return, the knights were to keep Chełmno Land as afief[citation needed]. The land constituted the base of theMonastic State of the Teutonic Knights, and its later conquest ofPrussia.[4]
The Teutonic Order obtained an Imperial bull from EmperorFrederick II before entering Prussia. In 1243 thepapal legateWilliam of Modena divided Prussia into four dioceses under thearchbishop of Riga, with the town becoming the nominal see of theRoman Catholic Diocese of Chełmno (however, the cathedral and the residence of the bishop were located actually in the adjacentChełmża).
The Teutonic Knights occupied the region, despite papal verdicts to restore the region to Poland.[6] The region witnessed strong opposition to Teutonic wars of1414 and1431–1435 against Poland, with the nobility refusing to serve in the Teutonic army, some Polish nobles fighting on the side of Poland, and the city ofToruń refusing to pay taxes to the Teutonic Knights, not wanting to finance their war.[7]
In 1440 the anti-TeutonicPrussian Confederation was founded, and among its founders were cities of the Chełmno Land, includingToruń,Chełmno,Grudziądz andBrodnica. The city councils of Chełmno and Toruń, and the knights of Chełmno Land were the official representatives of the confederation.[8] In 1454 the confederation started an uprising against the Teutonic Order and turned to Polish KingCasimir IV Jagiellon with a request to reunite the region with Poland. The king agreed and signed the incorporation act, after which theThirteen Years' War broke out. The representatives from the region, incl. nobility, knights, mayors and local officials, solemnly swore allegiance to the Polish King and theKingdom of Poland in an official ceremony held inToruń in 1454.[9] The war ended in a Polish victory and by theSecond Peace of Toruń in 1466, the return of Chełmno Land to the Polish Crown was confirmed. It administratively formed theChełmno Voivodeship, located in theRoyal Prussia province, later also in the largerGreater Poland Province. Its capital was Chełmno, while the largest city was Toruń, which as aroyal city became one of the largest and wealthiest cities of Poland, and was the site of numerous significant events in thehistory of Poland.
Toruń was the birthplace of the renowned astronomerNicolaus Copernicus in 1473, and place of death of Polish KingJohn I Albert in 1501.[10]Lubawa was the place where the decision was made to publish Copernicus' groundbreaking workDe revolutionibus orbium coelestium. In 1528, the royal mint started operating in Toruń. Toruń was the location of theSejm of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (parliament) in 1576 and 1626,[11] and theColloquium Charitativum, a three-month congress of European Catholics,Lutherans, andCalvinists, considered an important event in the history of interreligious dialogue, held in 1645 on the initiative of KingWładysław IV Vasa at a time when religious conflicts occurred in many other European countries and the disastrousThirty Years' War was fought west of Poland.[12]
The most prominent educational institutions of the Chełmno Land were the Academic Gymnasium in Toruń, founded in 1594 from a former municipal school, and theChełmno Academy in Chełmno, transformed from a local gymnasium in 1692, which in 1756 became a branch of theJagiellonian University inKraków, the oldest and leading Polish university.[13][14]Grzegorz Gerwazy Gorczycki, one of the greatest PolishBaroque composers, was a lecturer at the Chełmno Academy in the 1690s.[15]
In 1772 as a result of theFirst Partition of Poland, Chełmno Land (with the exception ofToruń, annexed in 1793) was seized by theKingdom of Prussia. Between 1807 and 1815 Chełmno Land was a part of the PolishDuchy of Warsaw and Toruń was even the duchy's temporary capital in April and May 1809.[16] In 1815 it was annexed by Prussia again, first it became part of theGrand Duchy of Posen, but in 1817 was incorporated into the province ofWest Prussia.[17] The local Polish population organizedresistance against theGermanisation policies of Prussia. Also as part ofanti-Polish policies, the Prussians expelled the Kraków professors from Chełmno[14] and abolished the Chełmno Academy.Pan Tadeusz,epic poem byAdam Mickiewicz, was first printed in partitioned Poland in Toruń in 1858. In 1875 the Polish Scientific Society in Toruń was founded, one of the leading such organizations in partitioned Poland.
In 1878, renowned Polish surgeonLudwik Rydygier opened his private clinic in Chełmno, where he conducted pioneering surgical operations, including the first in Poland and second in the world surgical removal of the pylorus in a patient suffering from stomach cancer in 1880 and the first in the world peptic ulcer resection in 1881, however, in 1887, he sold the clinic to one of his employees, Leon Polewski, due to harassment from the Prussian authorities.[18]
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Following theTreaty of Versailles, Chełmno Land was returned to Poland in January 1920, after the Poles regained independence in 1918. In August 1920, Poland repulsed aSoviet invasion atBrodnica [pl]. In theinterwar period it formed the southern part of thePomeranian Voivodeship with the capital inToruń.
Following theinvasion of Poland, which startedWorld War II in September 1939, it was occupied byNazi Germany and unilaterally annexed in October, however, lacking any international recognition. During theoccupation, thePolish population was subjected tovarious crimes, incl. mass arrests, imprisonment,slave labor,kidnapping of children, deportations toNazi concentration camps and extermination. The Germans carried out theIntelligenzaktion, a planned mass murder of the local Polish elites. Major sites of massacres of Poles in the region includedKlamry,Łopatki,Barbarka,Brzezinki,Małe Czyste,Płutowo andNawra.[19] Already in autumn of 1939, about 23,000Poles of the pre-war Pomeranian Voivodeship were murdered.[20] In 1940–1943, Toruń was the location of a transit camp for Polesexpelled from the region, which became infamous for inhuman sanitary conditions.[21]
Nevertheless, thePolish resistance movement was still organized in the region, with Toruń being the seat of one of the six main commands of theUnion of Armed Struggle in all of occupied Poland.[22] In January 1945 it was captured by theRed Army and theGerman occupation of this part of Poland ended.[23]
The region is currently inhabited by around 650,000 people. There are 14 cities and towns in the region. The largest areToruń andGrudziądz.
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In 1997 theMedieval Town of Toruń was designated aUNESCOWorld Heritage Site and in 2007 Toruń's historic center was added to the list ofSeven Wonders of Poland.[24] Other most valuable heritage sites include the Old Town of Chełmno and theGrudziądz Granaries, both listed alongside Toruń asHistoric Monuments of Poland, the most important cultural heritage monuments in the country.[25][26][27]
The region is rich in historic architecture ranging fromGothic architecture toRenaissance,Baroque,Neoclassical andArt Nouveau. There are also several castles, includingGolub,Radzyń Chełmiński,Świecie,Zamek Bierzgłowski, and palaces, includingJabłonowo andOstromecko. Locations of historic monasteries includeChełmno,Grudziądz andRywałd.
TheDistrict Museum in Toruń is a major museum with several branches, including theCopernicus House in Toruń, museum dedicated toNicolaus Copernicus, the Museum ofToruń Gingerbread, the Museum of Far Eastern Art in theStar Tenement and theTony Halik Museum of Travelers. The Museum of Chełmno Land with historical and art collections is located in Chełmno.[28] The palace inOstromecko contains the Andrzej Szwalbe Collection of Historical Pianos, one of two largest such collections in Poland.
There are numerous World War II memorials in the Chełmno Land, including memorials at the sites of Nazi massacres of Poles, including the largest massacres atKlamry,Łopatki,Barbarka,Brzezinki andMałe Czyste.
In Chełmno, there is a memorial to surgeonLudwik Rydygier, the first surgeon in the world to carry out a peptic ulcer resection.
The most successful and popular sports clubs in the region includemotorcycle speedway teamsKS Toruń andGKM Grudziądz,ice hockey teamTKH Toruń andbasketball teamsTwarde Pierniki Toruń (men) andEnerga Toruń (women). TheSpeedway Grand Prix of Poland, part of theSpeedway Grand Prix, is held annually at theMotoArena Toruń inToruń.
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