History of The Royal Castle in Warsaw - Castle in The Middle Ages

Castle in The Middle Ages

In the 1339 the Papal Legate in Warsaw heard a case brought by the King of Poland, Kazimierz the Great, against the German Teutonic Order. He claimed that they had illegally seized a slice of Polish territory — Pomerania and the Kujawy region. The documents in this case are the earliest written testimony to the existence of Warsaw. At that time a fortified town surrounded by earthen and wooden ramparts, and situated where the Royal Castle now stands, it was the seat of Trojden, Duke of Masovia. At the end of 13th century, during the Duke's Conrad II of Mazovia reign, the wooden-earthen gord called Smaller Manor (Latin: Curia Minor) was built. The following duke, Casimir I, decided to build here the first brick building at the burg-city's area the Great Tower (Latin: Turris Magna). In the middle of the 14th century the Castle Tower, whose structure up to the first storey has survived to our own day, was built, while towards the end of the 14th century, when Masovia was ruled by Duke Janusz I the Elder, the Curia Maior (Big Manor) was erected between 1407 and 1410. Its facade, which was still standing in 1944, was knocked down by the Germans, but has been rebuilt nowadays. The character of the new residence and its size (47,5 m/14,5 m) decided about the change of buildings status, from 1414 functioned as Prince Manor.