Editing Elbląg (section)

=== Teutonic Order ===
The [[Chronicon terrae Prussiae]]<ref>3.15</ref> describes the founding of Elbing under the leadership of [[Hermann Balk]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Heckmann |first=Dieter |date=2006-06-01 |title=Kriegstechnische Innovationen in den mittelalterlichen Deutschordenslanden Preußen und Livland |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1524/mgzs.2006.65.1.113/html |journal=Militärgeschichtliche Zeitschrift |language=en |volume=65 |issue=1 |pages=120 |doi=10.1524/mgzs.2006.65.1.113 |issn=2196-6850}}</ref> After building two ships, the Pilgerim (Pilgrim) and the Vridelant (Friedland), with the assistance of Margrave [[Henry III, Margrave of Meissen|Henry III]] of [[Margraviate of Meissen]], the Teutonic Knights used them to clear the Vistula Lagoon (''Frisches Haff'') and the [[Vistula Spit]] of Prussians:
:... {{Lang|la-x-medieval|et recens mare purgatum fuit ab insultu infidelium}} ...
:... "and the Vistula Spit was purged of the insult of the infidels..."

Apparently the river was in [[Pomesania]], which the knights had just finished clearing, but the bay was in [[Pogesania]]. The first Elbing was placed in Pogesania:
:{{Lang|la-x-medieval|Magister ... venit ad terram Pogesanie, ad insulam illam ... que est in media fluminis Elbingi, in illo loco, ubi Elbingus intrat recens mare et erexit ibi castrum, quod a nomine fluminis Elbingum appellavit, anno dominice incarnacionis MCCXXXVII. Aliqui referunt, quod idem castrum postea ab infidelibus fuerit expugnatum, et tunc ad eum locum, ubi nunc situm est, translatum, et circa ipsum civitas collocata.}}<ref>Notes on the passage. [[Medieval Latin]] often used e for ae: {{Lang|la-x-medieval|Pogesanie}} for {{Lang|la|Pogesaniae}}, {{Lang|la-x-medieval|que}} for {{Lang|la|quae}}, etc. {{Lang|la|Recens mare}} is "the [[fresh water|fresh-water]] sea". [[Castrum]] is citadel, not yet of brick.</ref>

:"The master ... came to the region of Pogesania, to that island which is in the middle of the Elbing river, in that place where the Elbing enters the Vistula Lagoon, and built there a fort, which he called by the name of the Elbing River, in the year of the incarnation of the Lord, 1237. Others report that the same fort was attacked by the infidels and then was moved to the place where it is now situated, and the city gathered around it."

[[File:Elbląg, kostelní ulička III.JPG|thumb|Medieval Church Path between tenements connecting the churches of the Old Town]]
Both landings were amphibious operations conducted from the ships. The ''Chronicon'' relates that they were in use for many years and then were sunk in Lake Drużno. In 1238 the [[Dominican Order]] was invited to build a monastery on a grant of land. Pomesania was not secured, however, and from 1240 to 1242 the order began building a brick castle on the south side of the settlement. It may be significant that Elbing's first industry was the same as Truso's had been: manufacture of amber and bone artifacts for export. In 1243 [[William of Modena]] created the Diocese of Pomesania and three others. They were at first only ideological constructs, but the tides of time turned them into reality in that same century.

The foundation of Elbing was perhaps not the end of the Old Prussian story in the region. In 1825 a manuscript listing a vocabulary of the [[Baltic languages|Baltic]] [[Old Prussian|Old Prussian language]], commonly known in English as ''Elbing Vocabulary'', was found among some manuscripts from a merchant's house. It contained 802 words in a dialect now termed Pomesanian with their equivalents in an early form of High German.

The origin of the vocabulary remains unknown. Its format is like that of modern travel dictionaries; i.e., it may have been used by German speakers to communicate with Old Prussians, but the specific circumstances are only speculative. The manuscript became the Codex Neumannianus. It disappeared after a British [[Strategic bombing|bombing raid]] destroyed the library at Elbing but before then facsimiles had been made. The date of the MSS was estimated at ca. 1400, but it was a copy. There is no evidence concerning the provenance of the original, except that it must have been in Pomesanian.

[[File:Siegel Elbing 1350.jpg|thumb|upright|Seal of the city from 1350]]
In 1246 the town was granted a constitution under [[Lübeck law]], used in maritime circumstances, instead of [[Magdeburg rights]] common in other cities in [[Central Europe]]. This decision of the Order was in keeping with its general strategy of espousing the [[Industry trade group|trade association]] that in 1358 would become the [[Hanseatic League]]. The Order seized on this association early and used it to establish bases throughout the Baltic. The Order's involvement in the League was somewhat contradictory. In whatever cities they founded the ultimate authority was the commander of the town, who kept office in the citadel, typically used as a prison. Lübeck law, on the other hand, provided for self-government of the town.

Membership in the Hanseatic League meant having important trading contacts with [[England]], [[Flanders]], [[France]], and the [[Netherlands]]. The city received numerous merchant [[Privilege (law)|privileges]] from the [[List of the monarchs of the Kingdom of England|rulers of England]], Poland, Pomerania, and the Teutonic Order. For instance, the privilege of the Old Town was upgraded in 1343, while in 1393 it was granted an emporium privilege for grains, metals, and forest products.

Except for the citadel and churches, Elbing at the time was more of a small village by modern standards. Its area was {{convert|300|x|500|m|2|abbr=on|lk=out}}. It featured a wharf, a marketplace and five streets, as well as a number of churches. The castle was completed in 1251. In 1288 fire destroyed the entire settlement except for the churches, which were of brick. A new circuit wall was started immediately. From 1315 to 1340 Elbląg was rebuilt. A separate settlement called New Town was founded ca. 1337 and received [[Lübeck rights]] in 1347. In 1349 the [[Black Death]] struck the town, toward the end of the European plague. After the population recovered it continued building up the city and in 1364 a [[crane (machine)|crane]] was built for the port.

The German-language ''Elbinger Rechtsbuch'', written in Elbing documented among other laws for the first time Polish common law. The German-language Polish laws are based on the [[Sachsenspiegel]]<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8NYNAAAAYAAJ&q=elbing+vocabular&pg=PA337 |title=Archiv für das Studium der neueren ... - Google Books |date=September 21, 2007 |access-date=July 8, 2009}}</ref> and were written down to aid the judges. It is thus the oldest source for documented Polish [[common law]] and is in Polish referred to as the ''Księga Elbląska'' (Book of Elbląg<ref>Towarzystwo Naukowe Warszawskie: The Journal of Juristic Papyrology, 1946</ref>). It was written down in the second half of the 13th century.

In 1410, during the [[Polish–Lithuanian–Teutonic War]], the inhabitants of the city rebelled against the Teutonic Knights and expelled them, while welcoming Polish troops and paying homage to Polish King [[Władysław II Jagiełło]], who afterwards vested Elbląg with new privileges.<ref>{{cite book|last=Potkowski|first=Edward|year=1994|title=Grunwald 1410|language=pl|location=Kraków|publisher=Krajowa Agencja Wydawnicza|pages=61–62}}</ref> As the castle was lightly defended by a Polish garrison, the Teutonic Knights managed to retake it, promising the Polish defenders that they will be given free passage back to Poland. After the castle was taken, the Knights broke their promise and subsequently murdered a number of the captured defenders while imprisoning the rest.<ref>{{cite book|last=Gierszewski|first=Stanisław|year=1978|title=Elbląg: przeszłość i teraźniejszość|language=pl|publisher=Wydawnictwo Morskie na zlec. Wydziału Kultury i Sztuki Urzędu Wojewódzkiego w Elblągu|page=49}}</ref>