Pisz

Pisz (pronounced pJisz, previously also Jańsbork, Johannisburg) is a historic town in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship in northern Poland, with a population of 19,466 (2016). It is the seat of Pisz County. Pisz is situated at the junction of Lake Roś and the Pisa River, in the region of Masuria. The name Pisz originates from the word pisa, meaning "swamp" in the ancient Prussian language, owing to the muddy water from nearby Lake Roś. Johannisburg received the name of the castle in 1645, when it became a city by the decree of Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg. Historic Polish names were Jańsbork and Pisz, and the former was replaced by the latter as official in 1946. The site of today's Pisz was originally inhabited by the indigenous ethnic group of Old Prussians. In 1345 the Teutonic Order began constructing a castle nearby at the southernmost point of the Piska Forest, in the Masurian Lake District. The castle was named Johannisburg, after St. John the Baptist. The settlement nearby held a market as early as 1367, but it was not until 1645 that it received its town charter. The town's first mayor was Fryderyk Adam Czerniewski. The population of the settlement and its environs was almost entirely Polish since its establishment. The official German name of the town was Johannisburg, while the Polish-speaking residents referred to it as Jańsbork. In 1454 it was incorporated to Poland by King Casimir IV Jagiellon and after 1466 it was a part of Poland as a fief. Its early growth owed much to the residents' skill in beekeeping, and it was located on trade routes leading to Gdańsk and to the Vistula and Narew Rivers. The town became part of Ducal Prussia in 1525 and remained under Polish suzerainty until 1657. In 1639 Polish King Władysław IV Vasa visited the town. Later on, the town was part of Brandenburg-Prussia, and, after that it became part of the Kingdom of Prussia in 1701 and Germany in 1871. In 1698, King of Poland Augustus II the Strong and Elector of Brandenburg Frederick I held a meeting in the local castle.