Pyrzyce

Pyrzyce, historically known in German as Pyritz, stands in the agricultural country of Pomerania south of the Baltic coast. A medieval town grew near the older fortified settlement, with a central marketplace and walls. Duke Barnim I granted it civic rights in 1263; its Szczecin and Bańskie gates guarded the northern and southern approaches.

The town belonged to the duchy ruled by the Pomeranian Griffin dynasty. The Reformation changed religious institutions in the sixteenth century, and the Thirty Years' War disrupted the region. After the ducal line died out, competing claims reshaped Pomerania; Pyrzyce eventually passed into the Brandenburg-Prussian sphere. Its markets and fortifications remained closely tied to the agricultural land around it.