Nowoszczecin

Nowoszczecin, later called Szczecinek and known in German as Neustettin, was founded beside Lake Trzesiecko in Pomerania. Duke Wartisław IV established the new town and castle in 1310 under Lübeck law, on the site of an earlier Slavic stronghold. Walls and palisades protected it against Brandenburg. After the plague of 1356, the dukes founded the Augustinian monastery of Marientron on a hill across the lake.

Wartisław V made the town the seat of his small duchy from 1368 to 1390. In 1423 Pomeranian dukes, the grand master of the Teutonic Order and King Eric of the northern kingdoms met here to discuss their common military defence. During the Thirteen Years' War, changing alliances brought devastation: Polish troops and Tatars sacked and burned the town in 1461.