Sasna
Encyclopedia
Prussia (region)
Prussia is a historical region in Central Europe extending from the south-eastern coast of the Baltic Sea to the Masurian Lake District. It is now divided between Poland, Russia, and Lithuania...
. It is now located in northern Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
.
Etymology
Variations of the region's name include Sasna, Sassen, Sasno, Soysim, Sossen, Sassen, Szossen, and Czossin. Its name is traditionally derived from sasnis or sasins, the Old Prussian word for rabbit; the village Sassendorf was later renamed Hasendorf (German for "rabbit village"). Another theory derives the name from the Old Prussian word sause, meaning dry, although the region was abundant with water.Alternatively, the region was named by the Saxons
Saxons
The Saxons were a confederation of Germanic tribes originating on the North German plain. The Saxons earliest known area of settlement is Northern Albingia, an area approximately that of modern Holstein...
who colonized it, as Sassen is a Low German
Low German
Low German or Low Saxon is an Ingvaeonic West Germanic language spoken mainly in northern Germany and the eastern part of the Netherlands...
name for Saxony. The Prussian region reminded the colonists of the surroundings of Osterode am Harz
Osterode am Harz
For the town in East Prussia formerly called Osterode, see Ostróda.Osterode am Harz often simply called Osterode, is a town in south-eastern Niedersachsen on the south-western edge of the Harz mountains. It is the seat of government of the district of Osterode. The town is twinned with Scarborough,...
in the Duchy of Saxony
Duchy of Saxony
The medieval Duchy of Saxony was a late Early Middle Ages "Carolingian stem duchy" covering the greater part of Northern Germany. It covered the area of the modern German states of Bremen, Hamburg, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, and Saxony-Anhalt and most of Schleswig-Holstein...
. The colonial town of Osterode in Ostpreußen
Ostróda
Ostróda is a town in Ostróda County in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship in Poland, with 33,603 inhabitants as of January 1, 2005. It lies in the Masurian Lake District and is a growing tourist site owing to its relaxing natural surroundings.-History:...
was named after Osterode am Harz.
A vallum
Vallum
Vallum is a term applied either to the whole or a portion of the fortifications of a Roman camp. The vallum usually comprised an earthen or turf rampart with a wooden palisade on top, with a deep outer ditch...
probably dating from the crusading era built on Sasna's western border was known by the Old Prussians
Old Prussians
The Old Prussians or Baltic Prussians were an ethnic group, autochthonous Baltic tribes that inhabited Prussia, the lands of the southeastern Baltic Sea in the area around the Vistula and Curonian Lagoons...
as Sassenpils (also Sassenpil(e)). The Saxon explanation relates that the Prussians combined the regional German name Sassen with the Prussian word for castle, pils. Believing that the Prussian name was a reference to rabbits instead, folk etymology led German colonists to call the palisade and its environs Hasenberg, Hasenburg, and Haasenberg, meaning "rabbit hill/castle".
In 1569 Hannibal Nullejus, rector of a school in Hamelin
Hamelin
Hamelin is a town on the river Weser in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Hamelin-Pyrmont and has a population of 58,696 ....
, mentioned Nova Saxonia ("New Saxony"); this is a possible reference to Saxons settling in Sassen, as the village of Kurken near Osterode in Ostpreußen had a legend similar to the Pied Piper of Hamelin
The Pied Piper of Hamelin
The Pied Piper of Hamelin is the subject of a legend concerning the departure or death of a great many children from the town of Hamelin , Lower Saxony, Germany, in the Middle Ages. The earliest references describe a piper, dressed in pied clothing, leading the children away from the town never...
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History
The region is not mentioned by Peter von Dusburg among his list of eleven Prussian lands, or in a 1233 ledger of King Valdemar II of DenmarkValdemar II of Denmark
Valdemar II , called Valdemar the Victorious or Valdemar the Conqueror , was the King of Denmark from 1202 until his death in 1241. The nickname Sejr is a later invention and was not used during the King's own lifetime...
. It is first mentioned as terra Soysim in a 1267 document written by King Ottokar II of Bohemia
Ottokar II of Bohemia
Ottokar II , called The Iron and Golden King, was the King of Bohemia from 1253 until 1278. He was the Duke of Austria , Styria , Carinthia and Carniola also....
recognizing the Teutonic Knights
Teutonic Knights
The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem , commonly the Teutonic Order , is a German medieval military order, in modern times a purely religious Catholic order...
' claim to it. It was a small and scarcely inhabited territory roughly between Galindia and Lubavia. Before the arrival of the Teutonic Knights, it was plundered by Masovians
Masovians
The Masovians or Mazovians are a Lechitic tribe or an ethnic group associated with the region of Mazovia. They were first referenced by Nestor the Chronicler in the 11th century. Originally, their main settlements were in the area of Płock, Łomża, Wizna, Czersk, Ciechanów, Płońsk, Zakroczym and...
and its inhabitants moved northward. The territory was disputed by the Teutonic Knights, the Duchy of Masovia
Duchy of Masovia
The Duchy of Masovia with its capital at Płock was a medieval duchy formed when the Polish Kingdom of the Piasts fragmented in 1138. It was located in the historic Masovian region of northeastern Poland...
, and Kuyavia
Kuyavia
Kujawy , is a historical and ethnographic region in the north-central Poland, situated in the basin of the middle Vistula and upper Noteć Rivers, with its capital in Włocławek.-Etymology:The origin of the name Kujawy was seen differently in history...
, eventually being incorporated into the monastic state of the Teutonic Knights
Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights
The State of the Teutonic Order, , also Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights or Ordensstaat , was formed in 1224 during the Northern Crusades, the Teutonic Knights' conquest of the pagan West-Baltic Old Prussians in the 13th century....
. The new territory of Sassen was created from parts of Pomesania
Pomesania
Pomesanians were one of the Prussian clans. They lived in Pomesania , a historical region in modern northern Poland, located between the Nogat and Vistula Rivers to the west and the Elbląg River to the east. It is located around the modern towns of Elbląg and Malbork...
, Pogesania
Pogesania
Pogesanians were one of the eleven Prussian clans mentioned by Peter von Dusburg. The clan lived in Pogesania , a small territory stretched between the Elbląg and Pasłęka rivers. It is now located in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, northern Poland. Pogesanians, as the rest of the Prussians, were...
, and Galindia. It was first governed from Christburg
Dzierzgon
Dzierzgoń is a town in the Pomeranian Voivodeship in Poland. It is located in Sztum County east of Malbork and south of Elbląg on the river Dzierzgoń...
before its own administrative center was set up at Osterode
Ostróda
Ostróda is a town in Ostróda County in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship in Poland, with 33,603 inhabitants as of January 1, 2005. It lies in the Masurian Lake District and is a growing tourist site owing to its relaxing natural surroundings.-History:...
.
Intensive colonization
Ostsiedlung
Ostsiedlung , also called German eastward expansion, was the medieval eastward migration and settlement of Germans from modern day western and central Germany into less-populated regions and countries of eastern Central Europe and Eastern Europe. The affected area roughly stretched from Slovenia...
of the forest region began under the direction of Low Saxon
Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony is a German state situated in north-western Germany and is second in area and fourth in population among the sixteen states of Germany...
nobles in 1320, reaching its peak in 1325. This process was especially led by the Landkomtur of Kulm, Count Otto von Lauterberg-Scharzfeld, and the Komtur
Komtur
Komtur was a rank within military orders, especially the Teutonic Knights. In the State of the Teutonic Order, the Komtur was the commander of a basic administrative division called Kommende . A Komtur was responsible for the alimentation of the Knights by the yield from the local estates, he...
of Christburg, Duke Luther von Braunschweig
Luther von Braunschweig
Luther von Braunschweig was the 18th Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights, serving from 1331-35....
. In the north near Liebemühl Luther founded the villages Groß Altenhagen, Nikelshagen, and Hagen (later Bienau), which were modeled after those in Schaumburg-Lippe
Schaumburg-Lippe
Schaumburg-Lippe was until 1946 a small state in Germany, located in the present day state of Lower Saxony, with its capital at Bückeburg.- History :...
. The towns Osterode and Gilgenburg
Dabrówno
Dąbrówno is a village and the seat of a gmina in Ostróda County, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship in northern Poland. It lies approximately south of Ostróda and south-west of the regional capital Olsztyn....
also began to develop soon afterward. By the time Luther became Grand Master in 1331, western Sassen had been colonized in a range of 25-30 km southward until Soldau. Other villages with Lower Saxon names included Wonsin (named after Wense), Ülsen (Uelzen
Uelzen
Uelzen is a town in northeast Lower Saxony, Germany, and capital of the county of Uelzen. It is part of the Hamburg Metropolitan Region, a Hanseatic town and an independent municipality....
), and Sachse.
The 1343 Treaty of Kalisz granted southern Sassen to the Duchy of Masovia
Duchy of Masovia
The Duchy of Masovia with its capital at Płock was a medieval duchy formed when the Polish Kingdom of the Piasts fragmented in 1138. It was located in the historic Masovian region of northeastern Poland...
; it is unknown if that territory had been controlled by Masovia prior to its conquest by the Teutonic Knights. This southern region was documented as Zakrże in 1384.
Sassen was included within the Duchy of Prussia in 1525 and later composed the Kreise Osterode and Neidenburg of East Prussia
East Prussia
East Prussia is the main part of the region of Prussia along the southeastern Baltic Coast from the 13th century to the end of World War II in May 1945. From 1772–1829 and 1878–1945, the Province of East Prussia was part of the German state of Prussia. The capital city was Königsberg.East Prussia...
. In 1945 the region was placed under Polish administration according to the Potsdam Agreement
Potsdam Agreement
The Potsdam Agreement was the Allied plan of tripartite military occupation and reconstruction of Germany—referring to the German Reich with its pre-war 1937 borders including the former eastern territories—and the entire European Theatre of War territory...
following World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.