Pritzwalk

Pritzwalk grew in the Prignitz as a town of cloth makers and merchants. Its charter of 1256 already mentions a brotherhood of merchants, and trade with Hamburg is recorded in 1288. In 1359 Rostock invited Pritzwalk to a Hanseatic assembly at Lübeck, evidence of its place in the northern network of towns. Its workshops and market served the surrounding countryside as well as more distant customers. The town's buildings and defences grew from the wealth of these traders and artisans, who remained central to its life for centuries.