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    Published: 2021-05-091
    No. XXII/1 (2021)

    Fortified settlements between the Pisa, Biebrza and Narew Rivers in Mazovia in the 10th–13th centuries

    Jarosław Ościłowski
    Echa Przeszłości
    Section: ARTICLES
    https://doi.org/10.31648/ep.6707

    Abstract

    In the early Middle Ages, the area between the Pisa, Narew and Biebrza Rivers constituted the north-eastern borderland of Mazovia, where a network of strongholds was built to protect transportation routes and settlements against the Prussians and Yotvingians in the north. The area enclosed by the vast marshes of the Biebrza River valley in the east and inaccessible forests west of the Pisa River constituted a natural settlement corridor and a passageway connecting Mazovia with Prussian and Yotvingian lands in the north. Most of the settlements, including Stara Łomża, Mały Płock, Wizna, Ruś-Sambory, Pieńki-Grodzisko (-Okopne) and Truszki-Zalesie, had been known to researchers already in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The settlement in Stawiski was discovered in the mid-20th century. The latest discovery of an early Middle Ages settlement in Ławsk was made as recently as in the beginning of the 21st century.
    In most cases, strongholds were established in locations whose landform offered defensive capabilities. In Ławsk and Truszki-Zalesie, settlements were built on marsh hummocks and in wet, boggy valleys. Swampy locations offered additional protection in warm seasons. The settlements on Narew river in Stara Łomża, Wizna and Ruś-Sambory (at the mouth of Biebrza river) were built on naturally elevated sites. In addition to considerable defense potential, these locations also offered a broad view of the entire area. Mały Płock on the Czetna River was established in a site where wetlands met dry land. Other strongholds, such as the fortresses in Pieńki-Grodzisk and Stawiski, were situated on the banks of small rivers, in a flat or slightly elevated terrain. These settlements were erected in areas with high or very high soil quality. The above implies that these territories had been previously colonized, and the strongholds were built to protect and control local settlements. Another important conclusion that can be drawn from a cartographic analysis is that the spatial regularity of the Mazovian settlement network had been adapted to local topography and the river network. Most settlements formed a grid, which suggests that they were connected by system of linear roads. The entry made in 1253 in the Chronicle of the Greater Poland Province (Kronika Wielkopolska) regarding Wizna Land indicates that north-eastern Mazovia had
    experienced significant population decline as a result of Yotvingian invasions in the 13th century. Wizna was the only settlement to survive into the 14th century, which suggests that not all settlements in the Narew River valley had been exterminated by the Yotvingians. During this period, a new stronghold was established in Nowogród at the mouth of the Pisa River. The old system of roads was significantly modified and rebuilt when the area on the left bank of the Narew River and in Kolno Uplands was recolonized and when towns replacing old settlements were founded in the late 14th century and in the 15th century.

    Keywords:

    settlements, strongholds, early Middle Ages, Mazovia, Kolno Uplands

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    Citation rules

    Ościłowski, J. (2021). Fortified settlements between the Pisa, Biebrza and Narew Rivers in Mazovia in the 10th–13th centuries. Echa Przeszłości, (XXII/1), 29–74. https://doi.org/10.31648/ep.6707

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