Ostróda

Ostróda os'truda (; Old Prussian: Austrāti) is a town in northern Poland, in the historic region of Masuria. It is the seat of the Ostróda County within the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship and has approximately 33,191 inhabitants (2009). Ostróda is the largest town in the western part of Masuria, and the second largest in all of Masuria after Ełk. The town lies in the west of the historic Masuria region on the Drwęca river, a right tributary of the Vistula. Lake Drwęca west of the town is part of the Masurian Lake District. Ostróda has become a growing tourist site owing to its relaxing natural surroundings. The National road 7 from Gdańsk to Warsaw, part of European route E77, passes through Ostróda. The Elbląg Canal connects Ostróda with the Baltic coast. At the site of an original settlement of Old Prussians on an island at the river delta where the Drwęca river flows into Lake Drwęca the town of Ostróda evolved. In 1270 the Teutonic Order began constructing wooden earthworks to control the original settlement as well as defend the initial Polish and German settlers. The knights named the new town Osterode after Osterode am Harz in present-day Lower Saxony, Germany (now a sister city with Ostróda). Between 1349-1370 the Order replaced the wood-and-earth fort with a stone castle. The town, whose charter traditionally dates to 1335, quickly became a regional administrative center for the Order. After the Battle of Grunwald in 1410, Claus von Doringe conquered the castle and delivered the town to the victorious Polish King Władysław II Jagiełło. The Polish king brought the body of Ulrich von Jungingen there before travelling to besiege Marienburg (Malbork); the regrouping Teutonic Knights recaptured Osterode a few months later. In 1440, local nobility co-founded the anti-Teutonic Prussian Confederation, upon the request of which the town was incorporated to the Kingdom of Poland by King Casimir IV Jagiellon in 1454. During the subsequent Thirteen Years' War (1454–1466), the town was repeatedly captured by both the Poles and Prussian Confederation on one side and the Teutonic Knights on the other.