About Danzig

Danzig is one of Poland’s oldest cities and has long been a centre of trade and commerce thanks to its location at the mouth of the Vistula River. The city was a member of the Hanseatic League and a major Baltic port. Politically, Danzig came under the rule of the Teutonic Order in 1308. Founded in 1190 in Acre, the Teutonic Knights established themselves in Prussia on the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea after the loss of the Holy Land. The Order’s rule led to repeated political tensions and revolts in the city. The citizens resented the lack of political autonomy and increasing tax burdens, especially in the fifteenth century, when the Teutonic Order was in decline and consistently needed money to pay its mercenaries. The Order also sought to curtail Danzig’s trade and to establish itself as a commercial power.

In 1440, Danzig and other Prussian cities, backed by noble families, formed the Prussian Confederation to oppose the Knights’ oppressive and arbitrary rule. The Confederation sought the protection of the King of Poland. This confrontation led to the Thirteen Years’ War (1454–1466) and the Order’s defeat. In the Second Peace of Thorn in 1466, the Teutonic Order was compelled to relinquish its western territories: part of Pomerania with Danzig, the Kulmerland (Chełmno Land) and Ermland (Warmia). Danzig became part of the Kingdom of Poland and, having supported the Polish Crown during the war, received far-reaching privileges. Apart from acknowledging the Polish king as its sovereign, the city finally achieved autonomy comparable to that of a free city in the Holy Roman Empire.

The Protestant Reformation first took hold in Danzig in 1518, but attempts to establish the new creed were halted by King Sigismund I (1467-1548) in 1526. Only gradually did Protestants receive permission to establish their own parishes. In 1557, St. Mary’s and the other churches stopped celebrating Catholic masses and became Protestant (St. Mary’s became a Catholic church again after 1945).

Danzig, 1575

A view of Danzig appears in volume two of the Civitates Orbis Terrarum. The city is shown in a low-profile view within its surrounding landscape. In the foreground, various people are dressed in local attire, while in the background, on the left, the Vistula flows into the Baltic Sea. Many ships are depicted at sea and on the river. Danzig itself is presented as a large and impressive city. The churches and gates are named on the map. St. Mary’s Church stands out. It is the largest brick church in Europe and is still a popular destination for visitors today.

However, because the view has a broad scope that encompasses much of the surrounding landscape, the city itself is somewhat indistinct. In addition, the depictions of people in local dress occupy almost half of the lower part of the image, so Danzig becomes more of a backdrop than the actual focus.

A more intriguing depiction of the city is a 1615 bird’s-eye view held by the National Archives of Sweden. The view appears to be a preliminary sketch, as it is in pen and ink and has two empty cartouches in the upper corners where the title, artist or a legend would have been added later. The view is an exceptionally detailed depiction of the city. St. Mary’s Church and the town hall are easy to pick out, as is the busy harbour with many ships of different sizes. The large, square complex of buildings just north of St. Mary’s is the Basilica of St. Nicolas and the connected Dominican monastery. The large church to the east of both, close to the harbour, is St. John’s.

Danzig, 1615

The Siege of Danzig

The siege Kiechel mentioned took place in 1577. Stephen Báthory (1533-1586) had been elected King of Poland in 1576. But Danzig had supported his rival, Emperor Maximilian II, and now refused to acknowledge Báthory as its new King.

The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was established by the Treaty of Lublin in 1569. It was an elective monarchy, with the nobility of both Poland and Lithuania selecting their next king. The first elected king of the Commonwealth was Henry of Valois (1551-1589), the brother of Charles IX, King of France. He arrived in Poland in 1574 but left the same year again upon hearing that his brother had died. For Henry, the crown of France was far more prestigious, and his power as king of France was not tied to noble approval. A pro-Habsburg faction in the Commonwealth suggested Emperor Maximilian II (1527-1576) as the new king. But many other nobles feared that picking such a powerful monarch might end the Commonwealth. Instead, Stephen Báthory, the Voivode of Transylvania, was elected and crowned in 1576.

However, Báthory’s position was not safe, and he needed to establish his power quickly. Within the Commonwealth were still many who sympathised with Maximilian and even after his death later the same year, refused to accept Báthory as king, Danzig, for example.

To force Danzig into submission, Stephen Báthory assembled an army and marched north. His Polish-Hungarian troops defeated Danzig’s forces and besieged the city. However, despite heavy bombardment, the fortifications proved too strong, and Báthory’s army failed to capture it.

A contributing factor to the siege’s failure was the inability of the Polish army to seal off the city’s access to the sea. The defensive structure at the mouth of the Vistula, which Kiechel mentioned, was a stone tower fortified with gun positions. As our traveller noted, its role was to guard access to Danzig’s harbour, but the tower also served as a lighthouse to guide ships into the river. Between 1562 and the beginning of the siege in 1577, the towers’ fortifications were extended, and new bulwarks and gun emplacements were added. During the siege, it was badly damaged, but the Polish troops could not take the tower and thereby failed to gain control of the Vistula.⁷ As with many other sieges, a failure to cut off its supply lines meant that the city could not be starved into submission.

The tower at the mouth of the Vistula River, 1625

A compromise to resolve the conflict was reached fairly quickly in December 1577. The citizens of Danzig acknowledged Báthory as king and paid reparations. At the same time, Stephen Báthory agreed to restore the city’s many privileges, thereby granting it the quasi-autonomous status it had held since 1466.

Spending Time in Danzig

It appears that Samuel Kiechel enjoyed his time in the city. He noted that Danzig is an entertaining and pleasant place. It is set in a nice landscape, with summer houses and fine estates nearby. Of the population of Danzig, the men are brave, and the women wear graceful clothing in keeping with current fashion. Ships arrive daily in the summer months, always bringing news and stories.¹⁰

Furthermore, our traveller wrote that Danzig has a splendid fraternity that meets daily in a place called “der hoof” (the yard), a building beside the market square with a large, beautiful hall. Membership in this fraternity can be acquired for a Gulden (gold coin, Guilder) by any man, whether a citizen or foreigner, young or old, provided he is an honest man. In the fraternity hall, various benches are named after specific places, such as the Lübeck Bench, the Hamburg Bench and others.

When someone becomes a member of the fraternity, they can go there every day and sit where they like. Drinks are served from two o’clock in the afternoon until six o’clock in the evening, and again after dinner from eight to ten. Everyone can drink as much beer as they want and pay two Polish Groschen (small silver coin), which is equivalent to about four Kreuzer (a small coin in southern Germany). When a member of the fraternity dies but does not leave enough money for an appropriate funeral, the fraternity will pay for it.¹¹

The market square with the town hall (C) and the Artus Court (B), 1625

The place Kiechel described was the Artus Court (Artushof, Dwór Artusa), a building still open to visitors today. At the Artus Court, nobles, wealthy merchants and foreign guests met and spent their time. As was the custom at the time, members had to be male and, as Kiechel indicated, possess a certain social rank or wealth to be admitted. A gold coin was not an amount of money everyone could afford. Many cities in the Baltic Sea region had an Artus Court or a similar meeting place (such as the House of the Blackheads in Riga).

However, in contrast to Kiechel’s description, the Artus Court was not home to a single fraternity but rather the meeting place for members of several local fraternities. Fraternities in the Middle Ages and early modern period were initially religiously inspired societies of men from certain professional backgrounds, e.g. merchants or ship owners. With the dangers involved in long-distance trade, the fraternities offered a form of social security, a community away from home and salvation. Kiechel mentioned that the fraternity would cover the funeral costs of fraternity members. But with membership strictly limited to aristocrats, wealthy merchants and the occasional visitor, they also held considerable political influence.

The names of the benches in the main hall of the Artus Court in Danzig, Kiechel mentioned, were tied to the various fraternities that met there. The names indicate that they were merchant fraternities engaged in trade with the particular place their bench was named after.

Kiechel seemed to have been able to afford the admission fee, as he wrote about drinking in the Artus Court. Since we are on the topic of alcoholic beverages, Samuel also noted that the beer brewed in Danzig was the best among the Hanseatic cities. In particular, he liked a type of Altbier (old beer) sold in the city. It was many years old, thick and sticky, and called “preüssen” (Prussia). But there was also a wide variety of imported beers available in the city during the summer. Kiechel’s host told him that about twenty different varieties of beer would then be for sale.¹²

After exploring Danzig for twelve days and drinking in the Artus Court, Samuel Kiechel left the city on 6 June, continuing his journey eastward.