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Chelmno Land
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- Not to be confused with Chelm land. See also Kulmerland (ship).
Kulmerland (Culmerland, Culm land, , ) is a German name of a historical region in central Poland bounded by the Vistula and Drweca rivers.
Kulmerland is named after the city of Chelmno (also known as Culm). The largest cities in the region are Torun, Grudziadz, Chelmno, and Chelmza. Sometimes it was considered to be part of the neighbouring provinces of Masovia, Kuyavia, Greater Poland, Prussia, and Pomerania; it is currently part of the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodship.
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Encyclopedia
- Not to be confused with Chelm land. See also Kulmerland (ship).
Kulmerland (Culmerland, Culm land, , ) is a German name of a historical region in central Poland bounded by the Vistula and Drweca rivers.
Kulmerland is named after the city of Chelmno (also known as Culm). The largest cities in the region are Torun, Grudziadz, Chelmno, and Chelmza. Sometimes it was considered to be part of the neighbouring provinces of Masovia, Kuyavia, Greater Poland, Prussia, and Pomerania; it is currently part of the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodship. The Culmerland or Kulmer Land was in Latin named Culmigeria (Holmrugier), referring to the ancient people of the Baltic Sea. Culmigerier was one of the names of the Prussians in general.
It is located on the right bank of the Vistula river, from the mouth of the Drweca river to Chelmno. Where the Vistula river takes a sharp turn northward, the Drweca forms the eastern border of the region, while its southern and western border is the Vistula river.
History
By the 10th century the Prussians had come under attack by the Polans, who had spread to the area and, with their first duke, Mieszko I, sought to conquer numerous peoples. Culmigeria, being closest to the Polans, came to be populated by the Lechitic Kuyavian and Masovian tribes as well. The Masovians were lead by Masos, who left the Polish duke Boleslaw I and sought refuge with the Prussians. When this area was subdued by the rulers of the Polans Chelmno became a local centre of administration (kasztelania). Chelmno Land was Christianised in the 11th century.
According to the will of Duke Boleslaus III of Poland, Culmigeria after his death in 1137 became a part of the Duchy of Masovia governed by his son Boleslaus IV the Curly and his descendants during the feudal fragmentation of Poland. However the Prussians as well as the Pomeranians many times managed to regain their freedom from subjugation by the expanding Polish dukes.
By the 13th century the territory was subject to raids by Prussians, who sacked Chelmno, the province's main town, in 1216. In 1220 Conrad I of Masovia, with the participation of the other princes 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 princes. He brought the crusading Knights of Dobrin to Masovia, where they built a castle at Dobrzyn 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.
Being involved in dynastic struggles elsewhere and too weak to deal with the Prussians alone, Conrad needed to safeguard and establish borders against the heathen Old Prussians, because his territory of Masovia was also in danger after the Prussians sieged Plock. Conrad awarded the already devastated Chelmno Land to the Teutonic Knights, giving them Nieszawa at first. He also brought in German settlers to Plock.
In 1226 Duke Conrad I of Masovia enlisted the aid of the Teutonic Order to protect Masovia and help convert the Prussians to Christianity. In return, the knights were to keep Chelmno Land as a fief, although some allege the grant to have been a forgery. The land constituted the base of the Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights, and its later conquest of East Prussia, marking the German Ostsiedlung.
The Teutonic Order obtained an Imperial bull from Emperor Frederick II before entering Prussia, although this document is also disputed. In 1243 the papal legate William of Modena divided Prussia into four dioceses under the archbishop of Riga, one of which was Chelmno Land.
After the Thirteen Years War between the Prussian cities and the Teutonic Knights ended with the Second Peace of Thorn (1466), Chelmno Land returned to the Polish crown as a part of autonomous Royal Prussia (see Chelmno Voivodship).
In 1772 as a result of the First Partition of Poland, Chelmno Land (with the exception of Torun) was seized by the Kingdom of Prussia. Between 1807 and 1815 Chelmno Land was a part of the Duchy of Warsaw. In 1815 it become part of the Grand Duchy of Poznan, but in 1817 was incorporated into West Prussia.
Following the Treaty of Versailles, Chelmno Land was returned to Poland in January 1920. It was occupied in the the Invasion of Poland in September 1939 by Nazi Germany and annexed in October. In January 1945 it was captured by Red Army and returned to Poland.
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