Santok

Santok stands where the Noteć joins the Warta, a crossing long guarded by a fortified settlement. The chronicler Gallus Anonymus called it a key to the Polish realm on the Pomeranian frontier. In the thirteenth century the fortress became a focus of rivalry between Greater Poland and the margraves of Brandenburg; after several changes of hands it passed to Brandenburg in 1296.

King Casimir III recovered Santok temporarily in 1365, but its old fortress later lost much of its importance to nearby Landsberg. In 1402 the Neumark was sold to the Teutonic Order, and Hussite troops devastated Santok in 1433. A great flood changed the course of the Warta in 1751, leaving the old stronghold separated from the river's new channel; Russian troops plundered the settlement in 1758.