Schaaken Castle
Schaaken Castle
In 1255-1256, the Samland area was finally conquered. The Prussian fortress Soke located on the coast of the Curonian Lagoon passed under the authority of the Order but remained under the command of the Prussian nobility.
In 1258, in accordance with the agreement on the division of territories between the Order and Bishop of Heinrich von Streitberg, the locality around Shaaken, in the agreement designated as Soke, and later called Shokin (probably from the ancient Prussian shock, grass) remains in the Order’s jurisdiction. Nearby is the border of the episcopal possessions, and six kilometres from Shaaken there is the episcopal castle of Powunden (now Khrabrovo).
The first mention of the Shaaken burg (fortress) in the Order’s chronicles refers to 1270. That is the time of suppression of the Great Prussian Uprising on Samland (1260-1272). The owner of the fortress Soke acted on the side of the insurgents and was expelled (possibly killed). The old fortress was placed at the disposal of the Order, and the Order’s garrison was located in it. The fortress was improved and adapted for the needs of the Order. The rampart was rebuilt; new palisades were built. The defensive ditches were improved, and the old system representing natural streams in a broad swampy channel had to be abandoned. Inside the fortress surrounded by ramparts there were wooden buildings used as a dwelling for the garrison, the Order’s brothers, their squires, bollards and servants, as well as warehouses for various property and stables. Not far from the castle on the shore of the bay, perhaps as early as that time there was a small port, and then the fishing village of Schaakswite (now the village of Kashirskoye). Near the castle soon settled artisans, innkeepers and truck farmers who served the garrison of the castle and travelers who liked to stop under the protection of the castle in those troubled times. These settlements around the castle were called lischke, which, according to some researchers, comes from the Prussian word liskis - (military) camp. Whatever it was, the name was kept until 1945 in the name of the village adjacent to the castle - Liska Schaaken, now Nekrasovo village.
Later in the castle area, a fairly large community was formed, which included the territory of the Shaaken church (now Zhemchuzhnoye village), where in the XIV century the church was built, to the fishing village of Shaakswite (Kashirskoye village).
Initially, the castle was intended for the defence of the coast of the Curonian Lagoon, on the ice of which the Prussian tribes of the Shalauen often conducted their raids. After their powerful raid in 1277, when the castle of Labiau (town of Polessk) was captured and burnt, and the Castle Tapiau (Gvardeisk) fought off with difficulties, Schaaken began to play a more prominent role in protecting the border and coast.
When the conquest of Prussia ended in 1285 and the Order went to the borders with Lithuania, it got a more powerful enemy, pagan Lithuania. By that time, the Prussian population had adopted Christianity, and its nobles quickly adapted to the German culture and vassalage of the Order. Another task of the Order was the Christianisation of the Lithuanians. It was for that purpose that the Order began its campaigns deep into Lithuania. In response to the Order’s invasion, the Lithuanians raided Prussia. One of the convenient routes for those military campaigns was the Curonian Lagoon, on the ice of which they penetrated deep into the Samland Peninsula and directly threatened the castle of Koenigsberg, which was the residence of the Order’s Marshal. To prevent such breakthroughs, the Order and Samland’s bishop built a number of castles along the coast including Rudau (now Melnikovo), Laptau (Muromskoye), Powunden (Khrabrovo), Schaaken (Nekrasovo) and Labiau (the town of Polessk).
After the transfer of the residence of the Hochmeister (Grand Master) from Venice to Marienburg (now Malbork, Poland) in 1309, the massive construction of stone castles began. By that time, the Order had its own tradition of building castles, as well as the commanders’ residences, and for the smallest fortresses. Everything was unified despite the great difference in some outlines and location. It was thanks to the planned and uniform construction that the castles of Prussia formed a firmly defined group of medieval art of building. As a rule, those were quadrangular castles having from one to four outbuildings with Bergfried and high defensive walls. Those castles without fail had outer baileys or outer wards (Vorburg).
But stone building in the S?haaken castle is almost an absolute exception from the planning rules. It had an almost circular perimeter (octagonal or even polygonal) of the castle wall with various internal buildings attached to it from the courtyard. The reason for exclusion from the generally accepted planning is possible only in one, in connection with the Lithuanian threat; some powerful stone fortifications were urgently needed in that direction. Apparently, it was connected with the stone construction of the episcopal castle Powunden, which lies six kilometres to the West. It also had an almost circular shape. The gate of the castle was located in the north, the security of the gate was provided by the zwinger and two narrow towers advanced forward. The towers covered the lifting bridge, which led to the small north-western forburg. Inside the defensive walls of the castle, a large number of buildings including living quarters, a kitchen, farm buildings and a chapel, were added. The bulk of them were located in the north and east as well as south-west. No doubt, the castle had a dansker (toilet), which overlooked the moat on the northern side.
Schaaken had two vorburgs, a small one in the north-west and a large one in the east. Presumably, another vorburg could be in the south-east, today, this can be proved by excavations. The small vorburg was shaped like a triangular island in the extensive system of ditches. It was off the castle by an internal moat and access to it was via the above-mentioned bridge. The vorburg also had two exits through the bridges to the west and to the second vorburg to the east fortified with walls, to the inside of which two long and narrow outbuildings were attached. They were located at right angles to each other and had a tower at the junction point. A much more spacious second vorburg was shaped like a trapezoid and was surrounded by a defensive wall and moats. The eastern part of the wall was fortified by two corner towers. The large vorburg had an exit through a lifting bridge to the south to the mill and Lischka.
In the medieval times, S?haaken was the seat of the Landvogt, the governor of the castle and nearby area of Samland. Since 1397, it became part of the Koenigsberg Commandry. In 1398, a large number of artisans, two taverns (according to documents), two shoemakers, a baker, a merchant, a butcher, a tailor and a gardener were mentioned there. They got land and one horse for all for the morning work. In the middle of the 14th century, a church was built within two kilometres south-east of the castle; around 1425 a kammeramt was arranged (a small administrative unit of the Order’s State).
Today, the names of 21 Order Knights, who used to hold the governor’s post in the castle, are known. The most famous are Henrich Holt, who reached the rank of Supreme Marshal in the time of Hochmeister Paul von Rusdorf, Wilgelm von Eppingen, the fifth Vogt, who in 1471 became the Great Commander and the right hand of Hohmeister Heinrich von Richthenberg. Many Schaaken-related names surfaced in the history of the Order of the State in Prussia as commanders in other castles.
After the colonisation of Prussia, the Prussian customs and language were preserved for several centuries in the area. The church used to take into account the needs of the Prussian population, and with all their missionary zeal they tried to inculcate Christian customs and turn them away from pagan superstitions. It would be wrong to assert that the Prussian language was suppressed. On the contrary, many Samland langvogts knew the Prussian language in view of the need to manage the Prussian witings with which they used to counter Lithuanian attacks and used to repeatedly invade Lithuania themselves. As early as 1569, in an inspection report by the of Bishop Joachim Merlin it follows that in Schaaken, at a divine service, a translator of the Prussian language used to stand next to the pastor.
For the period from the 13th to 16th centuries, nowhere is there any mention of Schaaken’s being taken by an enemy. The Lithuanians repeatedly made attempts to penetrate into the territory of Samland though the lagoon but all of them were repulsed. The most powerful attack was conducted by the large army of Lithuanians in the winter in 1370. Under the leadership of the princes Olgerd and Kinstut, they passed Schaaken and went to Rudau (now Melnikovo settlement). The grand marshal of the Order, Johann Schindekop, who was in his residence in Koenigsberg, waited for reinforcements from Lochstedt (now Baltiysk), struck a blow at the Lithuanian troops. In a difficult battle, the Lithuanians were defeated. The marshal himself was mortally wounded and died on his way to Koenigsberg. On the site of the battle, Hohmeister Winrich von Kniprode installed a commemorative pillar in his honour, which has been well preserved over the centuries.
After the secularisation of the Order in 1525, Prussia became a secular state with Duke Albrecht as the head. At the same time, the castle for a short time fell into the hands of insurgent peasants led by Hans Gericke or Gericke Talau of the Prussians.
In the 16th century, only three Prussian families remained from the local nobility who lived in the Schaaken area, von Talau, von Merikke and von Sallet. From the German nobles, the last of the genus Jagenroyt moved to Sudniken (Pirogovo village). In the castle itself, there used to be the Samland land administration, which was headed by one of the duke’s four advisers.
In 1606, the ancient fortress was destroyed by a strong fire. That was the time when the Prussian opposition sought to free itself from the power of the Brandenburg Elector. The Schaaken District Governor Otto von der Groeben with his supporters fled for help to the Polish king. In 1684, the castle began to be restored. During the works, significant architectural changes were made to the external appearance of the castle’s interior.
During the mission of the Grand Embassy to Europe in 1697, upon arrival in Memel (Klaipeda, Lithuania), they stayed there for two days. The reason for the delay was due to choosing further route. On 10 May, ‘many officials and their embassy people with all sorts of junk to Korolevets (Koenigsberg) with water in ships through the name of Hof-Schaken to the settlement of Schakin, six miles off Korolevets, and they themselves went from Memel on land on the same date on the Electorate carts’. In total, 65 people with luggage and 40 horses arrived in Schaaken.
On 11 November 1711, on his way to Russia, Peter I with Catherine stayed overnight in Schaaken. The next day they sailed on the ship to Memel. The following year (1712), going on business to Pomerania, Peter and Catherine make their way via Riga to Memel, from where they came to Schaaken on the Curonian Lagoon. In 1717, returning from a long overseas trip, Peter chose the route that had already become a traditional route through Prussia. On 23 September, the tsar stayed in transit to have dinner with the mayor in Koenigsberg, then left for Schaaken, where he arrived in the evening. After spending a night in the castle, on the next morning on 24 September, he went on a yacht to Memel.
In the 17th century, the castle and kammeramt (authority) were named after the Old Prussian Schoka; since 1748, the castle was referred to as Schoken; since 1760 the name Schaken was found, and only after 1772 the name Schaaken.
In the description of the Prussian Kingdom for 1774, Schaaken was described as the centre of the Kammeramt. ‘An ancient castle with a village, one and a half miles from the Kurland (Curonian) Lagoon, where people used to go aboard ships when travelling to Memel by sea’. As follows from the report, already at that time there was a port next to Schaaken.
In 1815 - 1819, Schaaken was the seat of the Landratsamt (rural administration). Probably, during that period the main building, through which the gate used to pass during the medieval times, was rebuilt. After the reconstruction, the gate was laid and on the western side of the ancient wall, a new gate stylised on the semi-antique order was arranged.
Before the beginning of the twentieth century, a ferry used to go between Shaakswite and Memel, and from there fresh fish used to go straight away to Koenigsberg on the then narrow-gauge railway.
Until 1918, the Schaaken castle was the domain of the royal dynasty, and since 1871 of the imperial dynasty. After the revolution in 1918, the Schaaken Castle and the land belonging to it became state property and began to be leased to agricultural tenants until 1945. Schaaken did not suffer during the fighting. Until 1948, it housed a post-war children’s home for German orphans. After the repatriation of the German population to Germany and the settlement of that area by Soviet citizens, a collective farm was established in Liska Schaaken. In the castle, there was established the collective farm’s stable, which existed there until the early 1960s of the 20th century. Then, the premises of the main building of the castle were given for accommodation, and utility rooms for housekeeping needs. Neither the castle building nor the medieval walls surrounding the castle courtyard were ever repaired, and therefore they wore out very soon. The lack of timely repairs led to a catastrophic situation. The ceilings and walls began to collapse. In the 1990s of the 20th century, the settlers who fled from Karabakh and then from Kazakhstan lived there temporarily.
In 2010, the castle Schaaken was transferred into the property of the Russian Orthodox Church; it is a listed building of regional importance and is leased.
Today, knight swords are ringing again on the castle grounds, programmes for adults and children are carried out as well as interactive excursions and festivals are held. There is a museum of the medieval inquisition, in the warm season, you can see a knight camp and a tavern. There you can try on medieval dresses and knightly armour, ride a warhorse and chat with pets. After entering the gate of the castle, you will plunge into the atmosphere of the real Middle Ages!
The information obtained from the official site of the museum and history complex Schaaken Castle -schaaken.ru