Labiau Castle

Labiau Castle is a Teutonic castle located in the town of Polessk in the Kaliningrad region. According to some information about the Prussian village of Labigov, the Order was already aware of it in 1249, based on reports from their scouts. However, the first reliable mention of a Prussian fortification on the banks of the Laba is dated to 1258, as evidenced by a charter from Landmeister Gerhard von Hirtzberg regarding the division of Sambia between the Order and the bishop.

By 1277, the Order began gradually building stone fortifications, and during this period, the Labigov fortress was used by the Prussian Landmeister Konrad von Thierberg as a foothold for a military operation to capture the fortress of Raganita (Neman). A detachment led by the Sambia Vogt Dietrich von Lidelau flawlessly executed the order: Ragnit was captured, the men killed, and the women and children taken prisoner. Subsequently, Labiau became part of the Ragnit commandery and remained somewhat in the shadow of this new Teutonic fortress.

The land was divided, the settlement captured, and the small wooden-earth fortification previously on the site was slightly rebuilt. It was intended to protect the approaches to the Memel fortress. However, the Prussians did not submit immediately; in 1274 they revolted and burned the fortress. Between 1277 and 1280, a stone castle was built on the site of the Prussian fortress and the Teutonic wooden-earth fortification, named Labiau in 1330 after the river Laba (the former name of the Deima).

The stone castle itself was constructed between 1360 and 1374 after several attacks by Lithuanians in 1347 and 1352, led by Kęstutis and Algirdas. During the first attack, the Lithuanians did not storm the fortress but devastated the surrounding areas extensively, burning peaceful settlements, killing peasants, and taking women captive. Livestock was also taken, naturally. During those years, the castle provided refuge to many people seeking protection from fire and sword. In 1454, the Prussian Confederation began a siege of the fortress, but the defenders, led by Albrecht Sparruke, repelled all attacks.

In 1352, one of the Lithuanian leaders was Patirke (in Belarusian Patrykey), son of Kęstutis, brother of Algirdas, and, like the latter, Grand Duke of Lithuania. For Patirke, the end of the campaign was quite unfortunate. Pleased with the captured trophies, he was returning to his homeland. However, from Labiau Castle, the Komtur Henning Schindekopf advanced with his troops and pushed Patirke’s detachment into the swamps, where about fifteen hundred Lithuanians drowned. Patirke himself was captured but, for some reason, not killed and was soon sent to his father. Possibly Schindekopf did not want to provoke Kęstutis’s blood feud.

In 1360, Labiau Castle was rebuilt, this time using stone as the building material. The small island where the castle was erected was fortified with a wide, arc-shaped moat through which a navigable fairway passed. A pier was arranged at the castle walls. Its four wings, with a later neo-Gothic facade, a palisade of chimney stacks, large windows, and gates, resembled a civilian building. Only the barely noticeable attic loopholes, embrasures of artillery casemates of later construction facing the Königsberg road, and massive boulders in the Gothic masonry revealed its military purpose.

As mentioned, the consequences of these attacks led to the castle’s reconstruction in stone, and the first floors of the northern and western wings of the surviving castle date back to the 1374 construction.

The castle was built up and fortified, and a forecourt appeared. Gradually, the settlement around the castle grew. By 1400, there were about five hundred residents, and by 1437, the settlement had nine taverns where the inhabitants of Labiau liked to spend long evenings discussing the latest news from Teutonic reports.

In May 1519, a meeting took place here between the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order, Albrecht, and envoys of Vasili III. After the secularization of the Order, the castle passed into the possession of Duke Albrecht. In 1526, Albrecht gave the castle as a gift to his fiancée, Dorothea of Denmark. After Dorothea’s death, the castle’s mistress became Albrecht’s second wife, Anna Maria of Brunswick. In 1564, the knight’s hall was painted by the court artist, the Italian Johann Baptist.

The 16th century marked a new era. Albrecht of Brandenburg-Ansbach came to power, one of the most significant figures in Prussian history. The last Grand Master of the Teutonic Order and great-grandson of the Polish king and Grand Duke of Lithuania Jogaila. Jogaila, in turn, was the son of the Grand Duke of Lithuania Algirdas, mentioned above, and Uliana Alexandrovna, who was of the Rurik dynasty by origin. Such are the intricate twists of history and dynastic marriages.

In 1526, Duke Albrecht gave Labiau Castle to his first wife, the Danish princess Dorothea, as a wedding gift. In the eastern part of the southern wing, a knight’s hall was created, which was later, in 1565, decorated with heraldic motifs by the court painter Johannes Baptist.

After Dorothea’s death, the castle was given to Duke Albrecht’s second wife, Anna Maria of Brunswick-Lüneburg, under whom the castle continued to be improved and beautified.

On November 20, 1656, a landmark treaty in Prussian history was signed at the castle. The Great Elector Frederick William managed to secure recognition of his state’s independence from the Swedes. This treaty was signed in Labiau because at that time the plague was raging in Königsberg.

However, Labiau itself could not escape the calamities of the plague; in 1709-1710, the epidemic claimed more than half of the inhabitants. Fires, which frequently broke out for various reasons, brought the residents no less trouble than the epidemics.

On January 17, 1758, Russian troops entered Labiau, and the castle surrendered without a fight. This was the time when East Prussia came under the rule of the Russian crown during the conquests of the Seven Years’ War.

The governor-general of Prussia became Vasily Suvorov, father of the famous commander. In 1761, the coastal dams in Labiau were severely damaged by a strong storm, and responding to the residents’ requests, Suvorov organized the restoration of the dams, for which forces from the Perm Regiment were brought in.

In 1860, the castle was rebuilt and later used as a prison. In 1917, the castle caught fire.

From 1948 to 1953, it served as the headquarters of one of the aviation units of the Soviet Army, later transferred to the Yantar PZS. When it was a factory, the interior rooms, staircases, and corridors were altered. In 1968, a short circuit caused a fire that destroyed the roof and part of the upper floors. In the early 2000s, the factory was closed, and the castle began to be leased out. Only the walls and basements of the castle remain.

Sources:

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labiau_Castle

https://masterok.livejournal.com/5339700.html

https://ren-ar.livejournal.com/26265.html