The relics of the Teutonic commanders’ castle in Kowalewo Pomorskie

The first stronghold in Kowalewo was constructed by Teutonic knights, probably shortly after they received these lands from the hands of Christian, a missionary bishop from Oliwa, which happened in 1231. In 1269, this guard tower, which was made of wood and earth, stopped a siege of a Prussian tribe of Barts, but the archaic construction, which was based on weak building materials, wasn’t able to guarantee safety to its defendors in later years. The Teutonic Order understood it

only three years later, when the pagan tribe of Yotvingians under the leadership of Skomand invaded, and later burned the Teutonic bridgehead. Shortly after these events, a commandry was established in Kowalewo, and construction began on the brick-made defensive building, located within the area of a hill, which were protected from the north by swamps and waters of a lake, that doesn’t exist anymore.

During the wars between Poland and the Teutonic Order and the period directly before those events, the castle was a well-fortified, self-sufficient unit, which is proven by the message from an inspection organized in 1399. According to that message, the castle armory had 56 helmets,

39 units of armors of various types, 51 crossbows and 9000 bolts. There was a total of 81 horses living in the stables, including 4 very expensive war horses, 7 mail horses and 12 cart horses for the war camp. In the castle grange lived 2111 pigs, 1250 sheep and 224 cattle. The warfare was the cause of the increase of the cost of armament, thanks to which in 1421 the castle was equipped with 8 cannons and 800 bullets.