Choszczno

Choszczno, known in German as Arnswalde, lies among lakes and marshes on the old frontier between Pomerania and Brandenburg's New March. The Brandenburg margraves founded the medieval town in the later thirteenth century, and it was first recorded in 1269. Its position made it a centre of trade and crafts, but also drew it into disputes between the neighbouring rulers.

The Teutonic Order held the New March from 1402. Choszczno opposed its rule, paying homage to the Polish king in 1433; the order later built a castle in the town during a revolt. Brandenburg recovered the territory in 1454–1455, and the castle was levelled. The town prospered in the sixteenth century, but plague, fire and warfare in the Thirty Years' War left fewer than five hundred inhabitants by 1649.