Tapiau Castle in Gvardeisk

This fortress of the Order (called Sugurbi by the Prussians) was founded by the Order presumably in 1265. After the Prussian uprising in Sambia had been supressed, the Order marched to Nadrovia and the Prussian troops came to the area of Tapiau. The fortress served as protection of the borderland, which at that time was also used to protect the approaches to Konigsberg. Its exact location cannot be determined without proper archaeological excavations. It is possible that it was located at the place of the Central Square of Gvardeisk. The Lithuanians attempted an unsuccessful attack on the castle in 1275. Five years later the castle was moved to a low-lying area on the right bank of the Pregeli River and to a peninsula surrounded by marshes on three sides. From 1280 to 1301 the castle was a centre of Tapiau council. The castle was the seat of the council and the convent. The first commander was Ulrich Bauvarus (1280–1281). He was killed in 1281 in a battle with the Prussian tribe of the Sudavas, led by the chief of the Skamande. A total of three commanders of Tapiau are known during this period.

As the Order moved deeper into Prussia, the commandery was relocated to Insterburg and the territory of Tapiau and the castle became a part of the Königsbergcommandery, administered by the Order marshal. The Order’s pfleger remained in the castle.

After moving the seat of the Grandmaster from Venice to Marienburg (today’s Malbork in Poland) it was decided to establish a state of the Order in Prussia, and massive castles, including Tapiau,were built in stone. The reason for that was the canal Tapiau-Labiau, which was being used for supplies for the border castle of Ragnit and campaigns against Lithuania. A ditch separating the peninsula, on which the castle was situated, was the beginning of the canal, which was connected to a smaller and later widened and deepened rivulet Labiau that flowed into the Labiau castle bay. A lock was built on the site of the original moat and was protected by a new castle built after 1340. A second gateway was located at Labiau Castle.

The castle played an important role as one of the bases of the Order’s Lithuanian campaigns in the 14th century. According to chronicles, Duke Albrecht of Austria, Duke of Lorraine, Count Henry of Derby and the future English King Henry IV all stayed at the castle. When Vitautas, the Grand Duke of Lithuania, fled from his brother Jagiello to Prussia in 1385, as a result of political intrigue, he was baptized in Tapiau Castle chapel in order to gain favour with the Order. The castle had apartments for the higher ranks of the order. The western wing had two government cells in which especially distinguished guests were accommodated. All these features point to the grandeur of the Order’s castle during the 14th and 15th centuries. During the 14th and 15th centuries the castle was the seat of the Waldamt, and the centre of the Order’s horse breeding.

During the Thirteen Years’ War in 1454, members of the Prussian Union seized the castle, but it was recovered by the Order. When Marienburg was sold, the Order’s archive and library were moved to Tapiau. From 1457 until 1758 the Order’s archives were preserved at the castle, when the ducal archives were added. Following the secularisation of the order’s holdings in 1525, the castle was occasionally used as a temporary residence of Duke Albrecht and he died there on 20 March 1568. He was buried here in the castle. Later his remains were moved to the Cathedral in Königsberg.

The castle was subsequently used as a prison from the 19th century until 1945. It’s still being used for the same purposes.

D. I. Veber

Photos

Tapiau Castle

Tapiau Castle

Tags: castles and fortresses, 13 century