Balga

Balga occupies a hill above the Vistula Lagoon in the Warmian country of the southeastern Baltic. The elevation looks across a low coastal plain where water and land meet. Before the Teutonic conquest, the hill held Honeda, a fortress of the Old Prussian Warmians. In 1237 Henry III of Meissen failed to take the stronghold during the Prussian Crusade, but Teutonic forces under Grand Marshal Dietrich von Bernheim captured it in 1239.

The order began building Balga in 1239 to control shipping on the lagoon and the routes into Warmia and Natangia. After the subjugation of the coast led Świętopełk II of Pomerania to join the Prussian uprising, the castle became an instrument of frontier war. From 1250 it served as the administrative centre of Kommende Balga and the seat of a Komtur. Several commanders, including Winrich von Kniprode and Ulrich von Jungingen, later rose to grand master.

Balga’s commandery was dissolved in 1499. After the Prussian Homage in 1525, the castle became the residence of Georg von Polentz, bishop of Samland. During the Polish-Swedish War, Swedish forces under Gustavus Adolphus dismantled parts of it in 1627 to supply the star fort at Pillau. The castle’s rise, adaptation and ruin all followed the narrow passage between the lagoon, the Baltic and the Prussian interior.