Starostwo of Draheim

Eldership of Draheim or Drahim (Polish: starostwo drahimskie, German: Starostei Draheim) was a starostwo (crown territory) of the Polish kingdom from the 15th century, seated in Draheim. Pawned to Brandenburg-Prussia in 1657, it was directly incorporated into the Kingdom of Prussia in 1772 as Amt Draheim and the Town of Tempelburg.

In the High Middle Ages, the region of the later starostwo was a borderland of the Piast Kingdom of Poland with Duchy of Pomerania and Margraviate of Brandenburg. In 1268, the largely unsettled area was given to the Knights Templar by the Polish duke Przemysł II. The order invited German settlers (Ostsiedlung). The German name Tempelburg for present-day Polish Czaplinek dates back to that era, and derives from the German name of the Knights Templar, Templer.

In 1312, the order was dissolved, and its possessions were taken over by the Knights Hospitaller. Draheim Castle (in the area of modern Stare Drawsko) was built in the mid-14th century at the crossing of the trade route via marchionis from Pomeranian Stargard to Danzig and the via regalis from Kolberg to Poznań. In 1368, during an exchange of territories, Margrave Otto VII of Brandenburg gave the areas around Czaplinek and Wałcz (Deutsch Krone) to the Polish king Casimir III the Great, who in 1370 established Wałcz County (powiat Wałcz) from these accessions: part of the Poznań Voivodeship (palatinate), it consisted of seven loosely connected regions in royal or noble possession subordinate to the judicum castrensis in Wałcz.

Draheim was made one of three (sub-)starosties of the county, the other ones being Usz-Pila (Schneidemühl) and Wałcz. In addition to the three starosties, four regions consisting of allodial possessions of the von Wedell, von der Goltz and Czarnowski families were also part of the county. These noble families were also in possession of areas in Pomerania, the Brandeburgian Neumark and other parts of Poland, and also of areas within the Draheim starosty. Draheim Castle was a royal possession. The starost of Draheim (also tenutarius or capitaneatus tenutae) was appointed for life by the Polish king, who owned a quarter of the starosty's income. The starost was in charge of the local administration, military and jurisdiction.

Text adapted from “Eldership of Draheim” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Starostwo of Draheim ranks #5,203 of 8,133 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #195 of the 374 mapped in Poland. Founded c. 1350, it is older than 57% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 604 atlas entries founded in the 14th century. See how Poland compares in the castle statistics.

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