page_title: Pelplin
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Pelplin / History
caption_attribution_description: Bazylika w Pelplinie
context_page_description: Pelplin is a town in northern Poland, in the Tczew County, Pomeranian Voivodship. Population: 8,320.
  Pelplin is located in the ethnocultural region of Kociewie in Pomerania. It is home to one of the finest collections of medieval art in Poland held at the Diocesan Museum in Pelplin. It is known for the landmark Gothic Pelplin Cathedral, former abbey church, one of the largest Gothic churches in Poland. The former Pelplin Abbey is the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pelplin.
context_section_description: Archaeological findings have revealed that human  settlements existed  in the region of the town already during the Stone Age  and the  Bronze Age.
  The history of Pelplin is tightly interwoven with the history of  the Monastery of Pelplin, which according to the monastery's chronicle was founded in 1274 by Mestwin II, Duke of Pomerania.
  The monastery of Pelplin had a forerunner in the monastery of the Cistercians in Pogutken located at the upper course of the Wierzyca, which had been founded in 1258 by Sambor II, Duke of Pomerania. In 1276 the monks, which had come from the Monastery of Doberan in Mecklenburg to Pogutken, begun to transfer their monastery to Pelplin.
  From Pelplin, the German monks organized an extensive settlement campaign. They brought in dispossessed farmers and craftsmen and founded a number of German villages in the area. The initiative came from Duke Sambor II, who wanted to compensate population losses of the past, which had occurred because of wars with Pomeralia's neighbours, the Kingdom of Poland in the south and the Old Prussians in the east. During the 12th century, Polish dukes gained control over Pomeralia.
  The monks also begun to build an impressive Gothic cathedral, now the Pelplin Abbey, using mainly bricks as construction material. According to the monastery's chronicle, work on the building was taken up already prior to 1294 by Mestwin II, Duke of Pomerania, and was completed during the second half of the 14th century, amounting to a building time of almost 200 years. The monastery  was attached to the southern side of the cathedral. It was enlarged considerably during subsequent centuries. The cathedral of the Cistercians, now Pelplin Abbey, is recognized as one of the most important examples of sacral architecture in the Vistula region.
  As far as matters concerning the church were concerned, the region of Pelplin was at that time subordinated to the administration of the Diocese of Gniezno.
  Pelplin was part of the Duchy of Pomerania (Eastern/Gdańsk Pomerania), which in 1227 separated from Poland as a result of the fragmentation of the state. In 1282, Duke Mestwin II and Polish Duke Przemysł II (future King of Poland) signed the Treaty of Kępno, which transferred the suzerainty over Gdańsk Pomerania including Pelplin to Przemysł II and, subsequently, after Mestwin II's death in 1294, Pelplin was reintegrated with Poland. In 1310 the Teutonic Order captured Gdańsk Pomerania and incorporated it into the monastic State of the Teutonic Order. In 1466, after the Second Peace of Thorn, the region was reincorporated into the Kingdom of Poland. Pelplin was since part of the Pomeranian Voivodeship in the autonomous province of Royal Prussia. In the following centuries several Polish Kings visited the Pelplin Abbey, among them Sigismund III Vasa and John III Sobieski. During the reformation, the last abbot of the monastery of Doberan moved in 1552 to the affiliated monastery of Pelplin.
caption: Pelplin Cathedral, cathedral of the former monastery of the Cistercians (1274–1819)
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