Activity and Composition of Houses of the St John Knights in the Duchy of Pomerania in the First Half of the Fourteenth Century

Abstract

The article focuses on the history of the Pomeranian Hospitallers of St John after such an important period for them as taking over most of the estates and properties of the Knights Templars in Pomerania and Neumark after the order was dissolved by the pope in 1312. For better understanding, it is necessary to present in a concise way the history of houses of the Order of St John of Jerusalem in Western and Central Pomerania (at Stargard, Copam, Suchań Sławno) before they acquired the former estates and possessions of the Templars. Because only then it is possible to see such elements of the Hospitallers’ everyday life as: financial transactions between the Hospitallers and members of feudal elites in Pomerania, their new gains, but also some losses of financial substance suffered by the knights at some later time. A greater number of preserved sources than in the earlier period made it also possible to study contacts between local officials of the Order and the local inhabitants of Pomerania. Of special interest is also the history of former Templar commanderies taken over by the Hospitallers (Rurka, Czaplinek/Tempelburg, Chwarszczany). Their management was very difficult, also due to claims of Pomeranian dukes to the lands that formally were to be taken over by the Hospitallers after the Templar Order was dissolved. This gave rise to many problems and bitter conflicts, occasionally aggravated by fights between the Pomeranians and Brandenburgians or Poles. All this was accompanied by disagreements over the ownership rights to the town of Banie or the establishment of a commandery at Kolin and dissolution of the Hospitaller posts at Czaplinek and Drahim at some later time.

The rich history of the Hospitallers in medieval Pomerania is also evidenced by conflicts not only between the Knights of St John and the dukes of the House of Griffin but also with Pomeranian nobles. A good example of those is a dispute with a mighty family of the Wedels in 1373–1377. The Wedels invaded Rurka belonging to the Hospitallers whose diplomacy tried to gain the support of the papacy or the emperor himself. Those conflicts forced the Knights to attempt to establish their new houses in Pomerania. After Rurka was plundered and destroyed, the Hospitallers decided in 1377 to build a new, well-fortified seat at the village of Swobnica (Wildenbruch) located in a small island in the marshes between Bania, Trzcińsko (Schönfliess) and Chojna. In November that year the building plans were approved by Dukes Świętobór I and Warcisław VII. In 1382 the commander moved ceremoniously to his new seat and Swobnica (Wildenbruch), besides Suchań and Kolin, became one of the most important places of the Knights in this part of the Reich.

Another acquisition of the Hospitallers of those times was a castle at Pęzin (Pansin) near Stargard, bought in 1382 by the preceptor of the Knights Bernard von Schulenburg from the Borka family of Strzmiele (Wulfsberg, Stramehl) near Łobez.

All in all, after various events of the first and part of the second half of the fourteenth century, the Hospitallers succeeded in keeping to the early modern period and the Reformation only a few commanderies in the territories of the Duchy of Pomerania and borderlands of Neumark, namely: Suchań, Kolin, Swobnica, Pęzino (to 1493), Chwarszczany and the town of Banie, as well as a certain number of villages belonging to them.