DOI issue:
Część 2: Konteksty architektury
DOI article:Torbus, Tomasz: „Król się ślini na myśl o Gdańsku…” – cztery odsłony walki o symbole między miastem a władzą zwierzchnią z zamkiem krzyżackim w tle
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.54671#0254
Tomasz Wiloch-Kozłowska Renata, Relikty zamku krzyżackiego odkryte w czasie badań archeolo-
Torbus gicznych przy ulicy Grodzkiej 19 i 9, „Biuletyn Konserwatorski Pomorza Gdańskiego”
2014, t. 2,s. 83-96
Woziński Andrzej, Późnogotycki obraz Okręt Kościoła z Dworu Artusa w Gdańsku. Kilka
spostrzeżeń na temat ikonografii i koncepcji ideowej [w:] W epoce żaglowców. Morze
od antyku do XVIII wieku, red. Beata Możejko, współpraca Ewa Bojaruniec-Król,
Gdańsk 2016, s. 141-153.
Zbierski Andrzej, Port Gdańsk na tle miasta w X-XIII wieku, Gdańsk 1964.
Zrenka Joachim, Urzędnicy miejscy Gdańska w latach 1342-1792 i 1807-1814, t. 2,
Biogramy, Gdańsk 2008.
'The King Is Drooling at the Thought of Gdańsk..Four Scenes in the Struggle
for Symbols between the City and the Sovereign against the Teutonic Castle
in the Background
I draw the historical background with the ąuestion of how the city has for centuries
been communicating with visual signs with its so different external sovereigns. After
generał remarks, I focus on the rulers relationship with the city during the Teutonic
Knights’ era, as the example serving the Teutonic castle in Gdańsk, from the beginning
of its construction to the story of its demolition.
The Teutonic castle was built, according to the message of Wigand of Marburg, dur-
ing the time of Grand Master Dietrich von Altenburg around 1340. Unlike the dating, its
form disappears in the darkness of history. Archaeologists have proven the existence of
a castle complex consisting of the main castle and two baileys on the site of the former
castle of the Pomeranian dynasty of Samborids. The convent house: a sąuare with sides
of about 53 m, had four residential wings grouped around the courtyard, three towers
at the corners, and a high guard tower.
The article then deals with the castle as a kind of a protagonist of the drama in the
war for symbols, developing in four scenes. The first took place after the Battle of Grun-
wald in 1410, when the town paid homage to Polish King Władysław Jagiełło, but in the
autumn of 1410 it returned to the rule of the Teutonic Order. In the following months,
the city authorities reacted negatively to the attempt of the Grand Master Henry von
Plauen to raise taxes. Mayors and members of the City Council: Konrad Letzkau, Arnold
Hecht, and Bartholomew (Bartholomaus) Gross, were invited to the Teutonic Knights’
Castle in spring 1411 under the pretext of negotiations, and there they were murdered
in unclear circumstances. The town responded by burying both mayors, and probably
Gross as well, in the ambulatory of St Mary’s Church, (possibly) in St Hedwig’s Chapel
belonging to the Letzkau family. The tombstone (nowadays destructed after the tire of
1734), which preserved anti-Teutonic sentiments, became an attraction for visitors,
and was excluded from the normal burial practice of St Mary’s Church in the early
modern times.
Another part of our dispute occurred in 1453, when the Gdańsk delegates com-
plained at the Reich’s conciliatory assembly in Vienna about the Gdańsk Commander
forbidding to continue the construction of the tower of St John s Church. On this basis,
Olaf Asendorf constructed a theory on the generał prohibition of building high towers
254
Torbus gicznych przy ulicy Grodzkiej 19 i 9, „Biuletyn Konserwatorski Pomorza Gdańskiego”
2014, t. 2,s. 83-96
Woziński Andrzej, Późnogotycki obraz Okręt Kościoła z Dworu Artusa w Gdańsku. Kilka
spostrzeżeń na temat ikonografii i koncepcji ideowej [w:] W epoce żaglowców. Morze
od antyku do XVIII wieku, red. Beata Możejko, współpraca Ewa Bojaruniec-Król,
Gdańsk 2016, s. 141-153.
Zbierski Andrzej, Port Gdańsk na tle miasta w X-XIII wieku, Gdańsk 1964.
Zrenka Joachim, Urzędnicy miejscy Gdańska w latach 1342-1792 i 1807-1814, t. 2,
Biogramy, Gdańsk 2008.
'The King Is Drooling at the Thought of Gdańsk..Four Scenes in the Struggle
for Symbols between the City and the Sovereign against the Teutonic Castle
in the Background
I draw the historical background with the ąuestion of how the city has for centuries
been communicating with visual signs with its so different external sovereigns. After
generał remarks, I focus on the rulers relationship with the city during the Teutonic
Knights’ era, as the example serving the Teutonic castle in Gdańsk, from the beginning
of its construction to the story of its demolition.
The Teutonic castle was built, according to the message of Wigand of Marburg, dur-
ing the time of Grand Master Dietrich von Altenburg around 1340. Unlike the dating, its
form disappears in the darkness of history. Archaeologists have proven the existence of
a castle complex consisting of the main castle and two baileys on the site of the former
castle of the Pomeranian dynasty of Samborids. The convent house: a sąuare with sides
of about 53 m, had four residential wings grouped around the courtyard, three towers
at the corners, and a high guard tower.
The article then deals with the castle as a kind of a protagonist of the drama in the
war for symbols, developing in four scenes. The first took place after the Battle of Grun-
wald in 1410, when the town paid homage to Polish King Władysław Jagiełło, but in the
autumn of 1410 it returned to the rule of the Teutonic Order. In the following months,
the city authorities reacted negatively to the attempt of the Grand Master Henry von
Plauen to raise taxes. Mayors and members of the City Council: Konrad Letzkau, Arnold
Hecht, and Bartholomew (Bartholomaus) Gross, were invited to the Teutonic Knights’
Castle in spring 1411 under the pretext of negotiations, and there they were murdered
in unclear circumstances. The town responded by burying both mayors, and probably
Gross as well, in the ambulatory of St Mary’s Church, (possibly) in St Hedwig’s Chapel
belonging to the Letzkau family. The tombstone (nowadays destructed after the tire of
1734), which preserved anti-Teutonic sentiments, became an attraction for visitors,
and was excluded from the normal burial practice of St Mary’s Church in the early
modern times.
Another part of our dispute occurred in 1453, when the Gdańsk delegates com-
plained at the Reich’s conciliatory assembly in Vienna about the Gdańsk Commander
forbidding to continue the construction of the tower of St John s Church. On this basis,
Olaf Asendorf constructed a theory on the generał prohibition of building high towers
254