Warmia
Warmia is both a historical and an ethnographic region in northern Poland, forming part of historical Prussia. Its historic capitals were Frombork and Lidzbark Warmiński and the largest city is Olsztyn.
Warmia is currently the core of the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship. The region covers an area of around and has approximately 350,000 inhabitants. Important landmarks include the Cathedral Hill in Frombork, the bishops' castles at Olsztyn and Lidzbark, the medieval town of Reszel and the sanctuary in Gietrzwałd, a site of Marian apparitions. Geographically, it is an area of many lakes and lies at the upper Łyna river and on the right bank of Pasłęka, stretching in the northwest to the Vistula Bay. Warmia has a number of architectural monuments ranging from Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque to Classicism, Historicism and Art Nouveau.
Warmia is part of a larger historical region called Prussia, which was inhabited by the Old Prussians and later on was populated mainly by Germans and Poles. Warmia has traditionally strong connections with neighbouring Masuria, but it remained Catholic and belonged directly to Poland between 1454/1466 and 1772, whereas Masuria was a part of Poland as a fief held by the Teutonic Order and Ducal Prussia, which became predominantly Protestant. Warmia has been under the dominion of various states over the course of its history, most notably the Old Prussians, the Teutonic Knights, the Kingdom of Poland and the Kingdom of Prussia. The history of the region is closely connected to that of the Archbishopric of Warmia. The region is associated with the Prussian tribe, the Warmians, who settled in an approximate area. According to folk etymology, Warmia is named after the legendary Prussian chief Warmo, and Ermland derives from his widow Erma.
Warmia is bordered by Powiśle in the west, Masuria in the south and east, and Bartia and Natangia in the north.
Geography
Warmia occupies a 100 kilometer long strip of land along the right bank of the Pasłęka River, approximately 20 kilometers wide in the north and increasing to over 70 kilometers wide in the south. The Łyna River drains the southern portion of the region, flowing to the northeast to join with the Pregolya. The terrain is composed of gentle hills and wide plains, and has a humid continental climate, with milder temperatures found at lower elevations in the north near the coast.With the exception of the far northern and southern ends of the region, the Pasłęka constitutes its western border. That river flows into the Vistula Lagoon just after passing the town of Braniewo. The historically important port town of Frombork lies west of the Pasłęka, near the mouth of the. Further south, the Pasłęka is joined by the tributaries and Drwęca Warmińska, with the headwaters of the river located near the southern end of Warmia.
The source of the Łyna river is found just south of the southern tip of the region, near the eponymous town of Łyna. The river flows through several lakes on the western end of the Masurian Lake District, passing through the cities of Olsztyn and Lidzbark Warmiński as it takes in numerous tributaries on its journey north. This southern portion of Warmia is more heavily forested and historically had many towns with Polish-speaking majorities, while the rest of the region was almost entirely German-speaking prior to the flight and expulsion of the German population following the Second World War.
History
Early times
By the early Middle Ages the Warmians, an Old Prussian tribe, inhabited the area.Beginning of the Northern Crusades
In the 13th century the area became a battleground in the Northern Crusades. Having failed to gather an expedition against Palestine, Pope Innocent III resolved in 1207 to organize a new crusade; beginning in 1209, he called for crusades against the Albigenses, against the Almohad dynasty of Spain, and, also around that time, against the pagans of Prussia. The first Bishop of Prussia, Christian of Oliva, was commissioned in 1209 to convert the Prussians, at the request of Konrad I of Masovia.Teutonic Order
In 1226 Duke Konrad I of Masovia invited the Teutonic Knights to Christianize the pagan Prussians. He supplied the Teutonic Order and allowed the usage of Chełmno Land as a base for the knights. They had the task of establishing secure borders between Masovia and the Prussians, with the assumption that conquered territories would become part of Masovia. The Order waited until they received official authorisation from the Empire, which Emperor Frederick II granted by issuing the Golden Bull of Rimini. The papal Golden Bull of Rieti from Pope Gregory IX in 1234 confirmed the grant, although Konrad of Masovia never recognized the rights of the Order to rule Prussia. Later, the Knights were accused of forging these land grants.By the end of the 13th century the Teutonic Order had conquered and Christianized most of the Prussian region, including Warmia. The Teutonic Order recruited mostly German-speaking settlers to develop the land. The new régime reduced many of the native Prussians to the status of serfs and gradually Germanized them.. Native Prussians were also reported as holders of estates. Over several centuries the colonists, native Prussians and immigrants gradually intermingled. Until the early 13th century, also the southern parts of Warmia were German-speaking. Polish settlers arrived later, particularly after 1410, mainly to southern Warmia, so that German was replaced by Polish in this area.
In 1242 the papal legate William of Modena set up four dioceses, including the Archbishopric of Warmia. The bishopric was exempt and was governed by a prince-bishop, confirmed by Emperor Charles IV. The Bishops of Warmia were usually Germans or Poles, although Enea Silvio Piccolomini, the later Pope Pius II, served as an Italian bishop of the diocese.
After the 1410 Battle of Grunwald, Bishop Heinrich Vogelsang of Warmia surrendered to King Władysław II Jagiełło of Poland, and later with Bishop Henry of Sambia paid homage to the Polish king at the Polish camp during the siege of Marienburg Castle. After the Polish army moved out of Warmia, the new Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights, Heinrich von Plauen the Elder, accused the bishop of treachery and reconquered the region.
Kingdom of Poland
In February 1440 the nobility of Warmia and the town of Braniewo co-founded the Prussian Confederation, which opposed Teutonic rule, and most towns of Warmia joined the league in May 1440. In February 1454, the confederacy asked Polish King Casimir IV Jagiellon to incorporate the region to the Kingdom of Poland, to which the king agreed and signed the act of incorporation in Kraków on 6 March 1454, and the Thirteen Years' War broke out. During the war Warmia was recaptured by the Teutonic Knights, however, in 1464 Bishop Paweł Legendorf vel Mgowski sided with Poland and the Prince-Bishopric came again under the overlordship of the Polish King. In the Second Peace of Thorn the Teutonic Knights renounced any claims to Warmia, and recognized Polish sovereignty over the region, which was confirmed to be part of Poland. It remained administratively a Prince-Bishopric with several privileges, part of the larger provinces of Royal Prussia and Greater Poland Province.Soon after, in 1467, the Cathedral Chapter elected Nicolas von Tüngen against the wish of the Polish king. The Estates of Royal Prussia did not take the side of the Cathedral Chapter. Nicholas von Tüngen allied himself with the Teutonic Order and with King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary. The feud, known as the War of the Priests, was a low scale affair, affecting mainly Warmia. In 1478 Braniewo withstood a Polish siege which was ended in an agreement in which the Polish king recognized von Tüngen as bishop and the right of the Cathedral Chapter to elect future bishops, which however would have to be accepted by the king, and the bishop as well as Cathedral Chapter swore an oath to the Polish king. Later in the Treaty of Piotrków Trybunalski, conceded to the king of Poland a limited right to determine the election of bishops by choosing four candidates from Royal Prussia. The region retained autonomy, governing itself and maintaining its own laws, customs, rights and German language.
File:Jan Matejko-Astronomer Copernicus-Conversation with God.jpg|thumb|Nicolaus Copernicus, Warmian Cathedral Chapter canon and famous astronomer, with the Frombork Cathedral in the background, on a painting by Jan Matejko
Warmia was invaded by the Teutonic Knights during the Polish–Teutonic War of 1519–1521, however, the Poles, led by renown astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus, repulsed the Teutonic siege of Olsztyn in 1521. Copernicus spent more than half of his life in Warmia, where he wrote many of his groundbreaking works and conducted astronomical observations and mathematical calculations, which became the basis for his heliocentric model of the universe. After the war of 1519–1521, he coordinated the reconstruction and resettlement of the devastated southern Warmia.
In 1565, Cardinal Stanislaus Hosius founded the Collegium Hosianum in Braniewo, which became the leading institution of higher learning in the region.
File:2024-08 Lidzbark Warmiński.jpg|left|thumb|The Grabowski Palace in Lidzbark Warmiński, the capital of Warmia until the Partitions of Poland
After the Union of Lublin in 1569, the Prince-Bishopric of Warmia was integrated more directly into the Polish Crown within the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. At the same time, the territory continued to enjoy substantial autonomy, with many legal differences from neighbouring lands. For example, the bishops were by law members of Polish Senat and the land elected MP's to the Sejmik of Royal Prussia as well as MP's to the Sejm of Poland.
Warmia was under the Church jurisdiction of the Archbishopric of Riga until 1512, when Prince-Bishop Lucas Watzenrode received exempt status, placing Warmia directly under the authority of the Pope, which remained until the resolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806.