Turris latericia destructa – the court of Duchess Anna in Wrocław and the latest research

Radosław Biel

doi:10.37190/arc230406

Abstract

In 2020, architectural relics were identified in the crypts of St Matthias Church in Wrocław, located in the centre of the riverside area of the left bank of the river, known in historiography as the princely grounds, some of which had so far escaped the attention of researchers. However, a synthetic study of the entire hospital and monastery complex of the Knights of the Cross with the Red Star, carried out as part of the author’s doctoral thesis, has shown that the discovered foundations may be the remains of a completely different, older building. On the basis of an analysis of historical records, the specifics of the building, the stratigraphy of the layers, the discovered movable historical material, palaeoenvironmental data and comparisons with other buildings of this type, it was hypothesised that the discovered building may be part of the “court of Princess Anne”, or even identical to the “destroyed tower” (turrem latericam destructa) mentioned in a document from 1253. In addition, it has been hypothesised that the tower may have been destroyed in the 1240s or 1350s, possibly as a result of the Tartar invasion of 1241. It was only after this event that St Matthias Church and other accompanying buildings were erected on the site in question, which were then given to the hospital and the order. This article presents the status of the research to date, the methods used, the interpretation of the discoveries made and the conclusions, shedding new light on the less explored history of the development of this part of medieval Wrocław.

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2024

1(77)

Radosław Biel*

Turris latericia destructa – the court of Duchess Anna in Wrocław

and the latest research

Introduction

The architecture of the riverside area of the Old Town,

referred to in the historiography of medieval Wrocław as

the princely grounds, diered from the typical residential

buildings of a municipal town, especially in the early period

of the development of this urban centre. The buildings there

were distinguished by their scale, material and function, as

well as by their lack of connection to the urban plots.

The constructions undertaken by the Silesian Henrys and

their wives in the area contained approximately between

today’s Piaskowa, Uniwersytecka and Odrzańska Streets

and Bishop Nankier Square and the bank of the Oder Riv-

er have long been of interest to researchers [1]–[4]. Going

DOI: 10.37190/arc240106

Published in open access. CC BY NC ND license

from the west, there were: the oldest left bank ducal castle,

a Jewish settlement with four synagogues, the church of

St. James with a Franciscan monastery, the hospital and

monastery of the Knights of the Cross with the Red Star

with the church of St. Matthias (Fig. 1), the monastic house

of the Poor Clares with the church of St. Clare, numerous

manors, chancels of abbots, bishops or feudal lords.

The reason for writing this article was the discovery

in the summer of 2020 of architectural relics found in the

crypts of St. Matthias Church. As a result of the analysis

of the cultural layers and the stratigraphy of the masonry,

it was established that the fragments of the stone founda-

tions, so far linked by researchers to St. Matthias Church,

may be the remains of a completely dierent building. Its

reconstructed shape was found to be analogous to other

princely towers of the time. This, combined with its lo-

cation in the heart of the left bank of the ducal territory,

in an area associated with the curia of Duchess Anna of

Přemyslid (ca. 1201–1265), points to the possibility of

* ORCID: 0000-0002-1505-1279. Institute of Environmental

Biology, Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences,

Poland, e-mail: radoslaw.biel@upwr.edu.pl

Abstract

In 2020, architectural relics were identified in the crypts of St Matthias Church in Wrocław, located in the centre of the riverside area of the left

bank of the river, known in historiography as the princely grounds, some of which had so far escaped the attention of researchers. However, a syn-

thetic study of the entire hospital and monastery complex of the Knights of the Cross with the Red Star, carried out as part of the author’s doctoral

thesis, has shown that the discovered foundations may be the remains of a completely different, older building.

On the basis of an analysis of historical records, the specifics of the building, the stratigraphy of the layers, the discovered movable historical

material, palaeoenvironmental data and comparisons with other buildings of this type, it was hypothesised that the discovered building may be part

of the “court of Princess Anne”, or even identical to the “destroyed tower” (turrem latericam destructa) mentioned in a document from 1253.

In addition, it has been hypothesised that the tower may have been destroyed in the 1240s or 1350s, possibly as a result of the Tartar invasion of

1241. It was only after this event that St Matthias Church and other accompanying buildings were erected on the site in question, which were then

given to the hospital and the order.

This article presents the status of the research to date, the methods used, the interpretation of the discoveries made and the conclusions, shedding

new light on the less explored history of the development of this part of medieval Wrocław.

Key words: Silesia, Wrocław, Middle Ages, princely grounds, Knights of the Cross with the Red Star, “destroyed tower”

1(77)/2024

50 Radosław Biel

nding a ducal tower mentioned in written sources, the

exact location of which has not yet been identied. This

article aims to present the status of the research to date,

describe the author’s ndings and present evidence that

would support the hypothesis.

The state of research on the princely areas

in Wrocław

Research into the interpretation of texts on the princely

lands along the Oder began as early as the 19

century.

Their precursor was Colmar Grünhagen [5], but the out-

lines of the concept of the existence of a strip of princely

land stretching along the banks of the Oder, 100–180 m

wide, were rst presented in 1935 by Rudolf Stein [6].

Due to the limited number of sources, the hypotheses cre-

ated by the above-mentioned and other German historians

between 1860 and 1948 largely exhausted the possibili-

ties of interpretation. Polish post-war researchers, despite

breaking away from German research, used the earlier

ndings in a modied form. Most of them were presented

and introduced to Polish science through the monograph

History of Wrocław by Karol Maleczyński [7]. After him

– on the occasion of studies on the history of the city – the

subject was dealt with by other researchers, with the most

recent synthesis focused on the princely areas being made

by Mateusz Goliński in his article Pas nadodrzański Star-

ego Miasta we Wrocławiu – dzieje i podstawy pewnej kon-

cepcji (do połowy XX w.) [The Oder Belt of the Old Town

in Wrocław – the history and foundations of a certain

concept (up to the mid-20

century)] [8]. In addition to

historical analyses, research into individual sites located

on the princely grounds has been carried out by numerous

interdisciplinary teams as well as individual researchers,

but this is not directly relevant to the issue addressed in

this article, so the author will limit himself to discussing

research into the hospital and monastery complex of the

Knights of the Cross with the Red Star.

From the group of written sources presenting the pro-

cess of development of the riverside strip of the Old Town

in Wrocław, only a small part refers to the property of the

Knights of the Cross with the Red Star, hereafter abbrevi-

ated as the Crusaders. Among the most important, directly

related to the princely curia, one can mention documents

from 1253, 1268, 1300 and 1309, and these are analysed

in detail later in this article. Nevertheless, the history of

the Crusaders is generally well documented, and the rst

researcher to deal with the subject was already the monas-

tic master Michael Fibiger, who lived in the late 17

and

early 18

centuries. Although many historians’ works have

been devoted to the origins of the Order, their activities and

development [3], [9], [10], in the case of the architectural

history of the Wrocław branch, the focus has been mainly

on Gothic and Baroque alterations [2], [11]–[13].

In terms of architecture and archaeology, the princely

grounds, due to the more urgent needs of the city, were not

investigated for a relatively long time. It was not until the

1980s and 1990s that the activities of architects and archi-

tectural historians, in cooperation with representatives of

other disciplines, brought about many new ndings. The

state of knowledge from that period was compiled in Ed-

mund Małachowicz’s work Książęce rezydencje, fundacje

i mauzolea w lewobrzeżnym Wrocławiu [Ducal residences,

foundations and mausoleums in the left bank of Wrocław]

[3]. This work popularised two concepts: the distinctive-

ness and exceptional importance of the princely grounds

and the original existence of the court of Henryk II and

Duchess Anna on the site of the later Crusader hospital and

monastery complex (Fig. 2). These are present in all sub-

sequent works devoted to the history of the Crusaders in

Wrocław [9], [10], [12]. Eorts to determine the more pre-

cise dating of the various parts of St. Matthias Church have

also continued. In 1999, Romuald Kaczmarek presented

a precise dating of the reconstruction of the chancel to the

years 1310–1330 and of the southern transept of the church

to the period 1380–1390 [11].

Verication of some of the hypotheses put forward so

far, as well as completely new discoveries, were possible

thanks to research already carried out in the 21

centu-

ry. This was conducted as part of various types of rescue

work, the results of which were largely unpublished and

remained in the form of working documentation and con-

servation reports. Of these, the key studies were carried out

in the church crypts [14], then in the building at 17 Bisku-

pa Nankiera Square, located to the east of the church [15],

and – of the greatest extent – during the construction of

Fig. 1. View of St. Matthias Church from the south–west, together

with a map showing the approximate extent of the princely grounds

and the location of the church on a plan of modern Wrocław

(photo and drawing by R. Biel)

Il. 1. Widok od południowego zachodu na kościół św. Macieja,

wraz z mapą przedstawiającą przybliżony zasięg terenów książęcych

i lokalizację świątyni na planie współczesnego Wrocławia

(fot. i rys. R. Biel)

Turris latericia destructa 51

the baroque garden between the church and the Ossoline-

um building. Their conclusions were published in only

two articles. A general overview of the results of the re-

search of the building at 17 Biskupa Nankiera Square was

presented by Rafał Eysymontt, describing the medieval

origins of this building and its traces preserved to this day

[16]. Roland Mruczek, on the other hand, briey present-

ed discoveries from the church crypts in a 2012 publica-

tion when discussing early Silesian castles [17]. A survey

of the hospital buildings to the north of the church did not

receive a separate publication. Jakub Adamski also wrote

about St. Matthias Church in his book Gotycka architek-

tura sakralna na Śląsku w latach 1200–1420 [Gothic sa-

cral architecture in Silesia in the years 1200–1420]. Main

directions of development, in which, among other things,

he favoured the hypothesis of considering the portal in the

southern elevation as secondary and dating it to the last

quarter of the 13

century, or “even rather closer to the

end” of this century [13].

All previous research concepts, results of architectural

and archaeological studies, including unpublished ones,

were collected, analysed and synthesised by Radosław

Biel in his PhD thesis Zespół szpitalno-klasztorny

Rycerskiego Zakonu Krzyżowców z Czerwoną Gwiazdą

na terenach książęcych we Wrocławiu w okresie

średniowiecza [The Hospital and Monastery Complex of

the Knights of the Cross with the Red Star on the Princely

Grounds in Wrocław in the Middle Ages], defended at the

Faculty of Architecture, Wrocław University of Science

and Technology [18].

Among the most important ndings of researchers in the

century, closely related to the subject of this article,

is the question of the original appearance of St. Matthias

Church and the recognition of changes in the development

of the land belonging to the Crusaders. During the 2003

research, Roland Mruczek, who led the study, put forward

the hypothesis that St Matthias Church was originally

a small hall court church with an emporium tower blended

into the body of the church. However, construction of the

tower may have been interrupted at the level of the cor-

nice crowning the perimeter walls before the gables were

formed. This is to be indicated, among other things, by the

extensive recess in the west wall, running to the base of

the gable, and by the truncated shakes probably left for the

walls of the tower [17]. As a result of the same research, the

west elevation was ruled out as the original location of the

portal, now located in the south elevation [19]. In addition,

in 2003, a stone wall relic discovered below the oor of the

crypts, located at the junction of the present chancel and

the body, was considered evidence that the church original-

ly did not have a separate chancel [14], [17].

The southern buildings of the monastic complex of the

Hospitaller Friars were erected in an area that had pre-

viously served as at least an ad hoc cemetery [15], [18].

These buildings included a hospital building, fragmentari-

ly preserved to the present day, measuring approximately

30 × 10 m, which was located to the east of St. Matthias

Church [16], [18], and a compact group of three buildings

to the north of the church. They were all built of brick

faced in a two-carriage weft, and the foundation trench-

es crossed the previously mentioned cultural strata. The

church and the long building to the east of it were distin-

guished by the use of cross buttresses at the corners and by

their combination into a single compositional unit, which

was subordinate to the east–west axis of the church [18].

Characteristics of the discovered

architectural objects

Radosław Biel, in his studies carried out between 2015

and 2021 – although his main focus was on collecting, ana-

lysing, systematising and synthesising the work of earlier

researchers – veried all his ndings in the eld, at least

where this was possible without the need for more exten-

sive invasive research. During one such prospecting in the

crypts of St. Matthias Church, the remains of a building

founded on a rectangular plan measuring at least 16.8 m

in length and 9.5 m in width, with two internal rooms

divided by a massive wall, were identied (Fig. 3). The

thickness of the foundation walls averaged about 1.3 m

and they were constructed of gneiss erratic boulders of

considerable size. Their average width was about 60 cm,

with the largest being over 1 m wide. They were identied

at ve points located in the crypt of St. Matthias Church:

at the junction of the body and the chancel, in the south–

west corner of the vestibule to the crypts, under the east

Fig. 2. Concept for the reconstruction of the court of Duchess Anna according to Edmund Małachowicz, 1994 (drawing by E. Małachowicz [3])

Il. 2. Koncepcja rekonstrukcji dworu księżnej Anny według Edmunda Małachowicza, 1994 (rys. E. Małachowicz [3])

52 Radosław Biel

wall of the north transept, under the north wall of the

choir, and at the site of a fray left over from the south wall

of the rst choir (Fig. 4). Currently, all but the rst of these

points are accessible. As mentioned when discussing the

status of the research, the rst trace of an older building

at the site of the modern church’s rainbow arch was en-

countered in 2003 during research under the supervision

of Roland Mruczek [14]. At that time, however, it was

interpreted as evidence in the discussion on the one- or

two-phase nature of the church (Fig. 5). It was not tak-

en into account that a relic of an older building had been

encountered. The accessible parts were easily visible and

protruded 60 cm above the present level of the crypt. In

addition, they formed protrusions under the higher walls,

in places widening them by up to 30 cm. For many years

they were thought to be osets under the higher parts of

the walls of St. Matthias Church and the sacristy.

It had been missed by earlier researchers that these

lowest parts of the walls were separated by a thick layer

of plastic humus from the fragments above, made of ner

stones and then bricks, which already constituted the walls

of St. Matthias Church. The humus layer dividing them

was 7–12 cm thick and contained signicant amounts of

charcoal, mortar lumps and small brick fragments (Fig. 6).

It was consistently found under all the walls of St. Matthi-

as church and sacristy and throughout the area where the

temple was erected, even where these additional, lowest

parts of the foundations were not recorded, such as under

the west wall of the north transept. It was also surprising

that the lowest parts of the foundations were related to

each other, even though the higher parts constituting the

body and north transept wall of the church were character-

ised by dierent architectural styles. The walls of the body

are in the Vendian motif, while those of the transept are in

the Gothic style, having been built some one hundred and

fty years later [3], [18] (Fig. 7).

During the cleaning of the walls for photographic docu-

mentation, four fragments of pottery similar to monuments

found elsewhere in Wrocław were found in the border

layer of humus (Fig. 8). They are dated to a wide period

from the second half of the 10

century to the rst half of

the 13

century. The oldest fragment, with a dark ring

and dusty admixture with mica and clear pottery marks, is

similar to artefacts found on Ostrów Tumski, dated to the

century [20]. The second, smaller fragment also shows

a dusty admixture. The manufacturing technique of the

other two, larger fragments suggests that they date from

the rst half of the 13

century. Similar nds have been

discovered at Nowy Targ and attributed to a proto-urban

settlement [21]. They are characterised by wide grooves

and an admixture of sand. All fragments show traces of

banding on the outside and smoothing with cloth on the

inside. What is missing, however, is the strongly mould-

ing edging that appeared in monuments from the early 13

century onwards. Although the small number of nds does

not allow certain dating, this does not exclude the hypoth-

esis that they come from a levelling layer created in the

rst half of the 13

century, with older material possibly

appearing secondarily. It would have been after this period

that the construction of the temple would have begun.

Fig. 3. Plan of the uncovered foundation relics of the building

interpreted as Duchess Anne’s curia on the plan of St. Matthias

Church, the dashed lines indicate the reconstructed course of the walls

(elaborated by R. Biel)

Il. 3. Plan odkrytych reliktów fundamentów budynku interpretowanego

jako kuria księżnej Anny na planie kościoła św. Macieja,

przerywanymi liniami zaznaczono rekonstruowany przebieg murów

(oprac. R. Biel)

Fig. 4. Chronological stratification diagram of the crypts of

St Matthias Church and nearby buildings: 1 – the first half of the

century, 2 – from about 1241 to the middle of the 13

century,

3 – the second half of the 13

century, 4 – the years 1310–1330,

5 – the turn of the 14

and 15

centuries, 6 – the turn of the 15

and

centuries, 7 – the second half of the 16

century, 8 – from about

1670 to 1715, 9 – the 19

century, 10 – the 20

and 21

centuries,

11 – inaccessible fragments, 12 – currently visible fragments of the

foundations of the building interpreted as Duchess Anne’s curia,

13 – the location of selected photographs with their numbers

(elaborated by R. Biel)

Il. 4. Schemat rozwarstwienia chronologicznego krypt kościoła

św. Macieja i pobliskich budynków: 1 – pierwsza połowa XIII wieku,

2 – od około 1241 roku do połowy XIII wieku,

3 – druga połowa XIII wieku, 4 – lata 1310–1330,

5 – przełom XIV i XV wieku, 6 – przełom XV i XVI wieku,

7 – druga połowa XVI wieku, 8 – od około 1670 do 1715 roku,

9 – XIX wiek, 10 – XX i XXI wiek, 11 – fragmenty niedostępne,

12 – widoczne obecnie fragmenty fundamentów budynku

interpretowanego jako kuria księżnej Anny, 13 – lokalizacja

wybranych zdjęć wraz z ich numerami (oprac. R. Biel)

Turris latericia destructa 53

The hypothetical older building discovered beneath St

Matthias Church would have been bipartite, rectangular and

located along a north–south axis. The presence of a mas-

sive wall dividing its interior into two parts suggests that it

served as a residence. The closest analogies for plan build-

ings of this type can be found in residential towers in older

castles, such as the one in Ostrów Tumski in Wrocław, but

also in younger ones, such as those in Świdnica, Wierzbna,

Siedlęcin or Świny [22]. In the case of Wrocław, such a tow-

er was probably built of brick on stone foundations, with

only the stone part surviving to the present day. Separated

from it by a layer of humus, the brick walls are the walls of

an already later building – St Matthias Church. It should

also be noted that we do not know the exact dimensions of

this older building and it may represent a type of tripartite

palace, similar to the bishop’s palace in Ostrów Tumski in

Wrocław or the ducal palace in Jelcz near Wrocław [23].

Indirectly, the hypothesis of a ducal curia is supported not

only by written but also by palaeoenvironmental sources.

Curia between two ditches

The church of St Matthias was rst mentioned in 1253,

when it was listed as existing together with a hospital on

the left bank of the ducal curia. This document is regarded

as a foundation act for the Wrocław house [24]. In the

document we read: „[…] Bona autem, quae memorato

hospitali et ministris prelibatis donamus et super quibus

idem hospitale nostrum fundatum est, sun haec: Curia in

qua consistit ipsum hospitale et ecclesia sancti Matthiae in

eadem constructa. Item pars curiae dominae matris nostre

usque ad turrem latericam destructam post obitum eius-

dem relinquam vero partem predicte donamus claustro et

conventu fratrum minorum in Wratislavia”

“[...] The goods, in turn, which we donate to the above-mentioned

hospital and sta, and on which this our hospital is founded, are as fol-

lows: The Curia where the hospital itself is located and the church of St.

Matthias built on it. Likewise, part of our mother’s curia up to the ruined

Fig. 5. Relics of the lowest parts of the foundations discovered during

the 2003 excavations (photo by D. Biernat [12])

Il. 5. Relikty najniższych partii fundamentów odkrytych w trakcie

badań w 2003 roku (fot. D. Biernat [12])

Fig. 6. Clearly visible layer of humus separating the lowest part of the foun-

dations from the proper walls of St Matthias Church (photo by R. Biel)

Il. 6. Wyraźnie widoczna warstwa próchnicy oddzielająca najniższą partię

fundamentów od właściwych murów kościoła św. Macieja (fot. R. Biel)

Fig. 7. Visible in the crypt under the north transept is the central north

buttress of the body to which the transept wall was added with the first

half of the 13

century levelling layer present beneath them, the lowest

parts of the foundations are missing (elaborated by R. Biel)

Il. 7. Widoczna w krypcie pod północnym transeptem środkowa

północna przypora korpusu, do której dostawiono mur transeptu

z obecną pod nimi warstwą niwelacyjną z pierwszej połowy XIII wieku,

brak najniższych partii fundamentów (oprac. R. Biel)

54 Radosław Biel

The ambiguity of the term curia in medieval writings

allows us to assume that in the case of the so-called curia

of Duchess Anna, it also refers, although perhaps not ex-

clusively, to the area where the court of the Piast prince-

ly couple was located. In a similar context, as an area or

plot of land, the term curia was used in the princely priv-

ilege of 1268, in which Bolesław Rogatka gave the curia

belonging to his mother to the Order of the Poor Clares:

“Curia matris nostre que iuncta est claustro sancte Clare”,

which was to be located “inter duo fossata” – between two

ditches. The location of the curia given to the Poor Clares,

on the other hand, was described in later documents as

“located opposite St. Clare and St. Matthias”. At the same

time, texts from 1300 and 1309 report that “curiam suam

sitam contra ecclesiae sancte Clare” and “vnam curiam ex

opposito domus sancte Clare, ubi itur de sancto Matthie

versus sanctam Claram a dextris in acie sytuatam” [25].

This has led many historians, including Mateusz Goliński,

to place it to the south of Bishop Nankier Square [8].

Until recently, attempts to locate the two ditches men-

tioned in the sources on the contemporary plan of the Old

Town were unsuccessful. However, an analysis of his-

torical cartographic studies, the results of archaeological

work and geological-engineering research has shown that

the territory previously thought to be a 5–7 m high ter-

raced area contained sediments formed by the meandering

of the Oder during the Holocene period [26].

From the perspective of the exploration of the two

ditches, the meander arc that surrounded the Nowy Targ

brick tower – after her death, in fact, we donate the remaining part of the

above-mentioned [curia?] to the monastery and convent of Friars Minor

in Wrocław” (translation after Edmund Małachowicz [3], with a slight

correction of the ending).

square to the south and west proved to be of particular

interest. A fragment of it was discovered during archae-

ological investigations carried out at the junction of Wita

Stwosza and Biskupia Streets [27]. This survey revealed

a regulated watercourse 7–12 m wide and 1.1 m deep. The

watercourse was lined with fascine, which was visible as

an intensely brown humus layer. Its banks bore traces of

a fortication that had been made in the 12

or early 13

century. It probably formed the south–western boundary

of the settlement on the left bank of the river [21]. The

continuation of the course of the watercourse in a north-

erly direction led up to a meander spur, on which a left

bank castle was built in the 1330s [28]. This spur was dis-

tinguished by a depression with a clearly marked west-

ern edge meander, exposed in University Square, in the

courtyard between the former ducal castle and the Osso-

lineum building [26]. The researchers do not indicate any

specic function for this meander spur. Assuming that the

western meander spur could have been one of the ditches

surrounding the above-mentioned ducal curia, the eastern

ditch would then have been the oxbow lakes of the Oława,

which connected with the bed of the Oder (Fig. 9).

The area that would have encompassed the ducal cu-

ria described above would have coincided approximately

with the area of the left-bank settlement ad sanctum Adal-

bertum (by the church of St. Adalbert). This settlement,

unlike the town arranged around the rectangular Market

Square, was organised according to an earlier pattern until

the 1360s and was formally under the direct control of

the dukes [21], [29]. However, actual control of the area

slipped away from the rulers at least once in 1241 during

the Mongol invasion, and successively shrank thereafter,

moving from the south–east to the north–west, towards

the castle on the left bank of the Oder and the Oder River

Fig. 8. Photographs and drawings of uncovered ceramic fragments (elaborated by R. Biel)

Il. 8. Zdjęcia i rysunki odkrytych fragmentów ceramiki (oprac. R. Biel)

Turris latericia destructa 55

area. Evidence of the loss of control over part of the area

of the ducal curia can be found in the entry in the deed

of the third location of Wrocław from December 1261,

which mentions the unlawful takeover of the ducal butch-

eries and gardens by the magistrate and burghers. These

events took place in the years 1241–1242, at the time of

the minority of the dukes Henryk III and Władysław, who

issued the foundation document after the death on the bat-

tleeld of their father, Henryk II Pobożny [4]. In addition,

the reduction of the area of the curia occurred as the princ-

es handed over parts of these lands to religious congrega-

tions, who were invited to settle in Wrocław.

It must be acknowledged that there is considerable

doubt about the possibility of identifying the “ruined tow-

er” from the 1253 document with the relics of the building

discovered under St. Matthias Church. Indeed, by analys-

ing the content of this one document, the location of the

church and the ruined tower are not identical. The Crusad-

ers are given the Curia, which contains the hospital and

church built in eadem, and half of the property of Duchess

Anne usque ad turrem latericam destructam. Thus, not

only does the ruined tower still appear visible (or at least

vivid in the memory of the Piasts) at a time when the hos-

pital and church are functioning, but it is also a boundary

point for the part belonging to the Crusaders. Only the

other part of the property was to have been assigned to

the Franciscans after the Duchess’ death, which ultimately

did not materialise due to the Poor Clares being brought

there [4]. However, we do not obtain information as to

what condition this “ruined tower” was to be in. A charac-

teristic feature of analogous examples of court ensembles

of the Silesian Piasts is that they consist of three elements

– a church, a palatium and a tower. This is, moreover, how

Edmund Małachowicz developed his 1994 concept [3]. In

that case, it is possible that we are dealing not with a tow-

er, but with a princely palatium. Although such an inter-

pretation would be consistent with the content of the 1253

document, it raises new questions and doubts.

We are not aware of any other potential structures in the

immediate vicinity that could be interpreted as the remains

of a tower. No similar relics have yet been discovered in

any of the buildings comprising the Crusader hospital and

monastery complex or the nearby Poor Clares. On the other

hand, interpreting as turris latericia destructa the relics of

the oldest left bank castle is all the more inconsistent with

the content of the document, as the Franciscans should then

have been located to the west of the Crusaders. At the same

time, the “ruined tower” as a boundary point could not have

been too far away from St. Matthias Church. Not least if we

were to consider it as part of a typical three-part manor lay-

out. After all, the division of the plots according to the prin-

ciple: part to the west falls to the Crusaders and part to the

east to the Franciscans (and eventually to the Poor Clares),

corresponds to what we know from later centuries. In addi-

tion, palaeoenvironmental studies indicate that the building

discovered under St. Matthias Church in the rst half of the

century, and subsequently the church and hospital itself,

are located exactly at the passage between the two branches

of the western ditch (Fig. 9). And even if the ditch itself was

not a property boundary or was very quickly lled in, the

land suitable for the construction of the future hospital and

monastery complex may have been much more limited than

it may appear to us today. Hence the need to rebuild Princess

Anne’s manor house may have arisen, and the existing foun-

dations were used secondarily to stabilise the new building

on relatively waterlogged ground.

In addition, if we accept as a possible hypothesis the

functioning of a three-aisled manorial complex on the

left bank princely grounds in the rst quarter of the 13

century, the function of the temple there could have been

Fig. 9. Modified plan of Wrocław

before the middle of the 13

century,

with the western ditch marked (based

on the results of geomorphological

research): a – reconstruction of the

road (street), b – wooden surface

of the street, c – cemetery, d – Jewish

cemetery, e – old settlement,

f – church, g – inn, h – well,

i – reconstruction of the land

parceling, j – destroyed tower

(modified by R. Biel according to:

N. Lenkow [25] and J. Badura,

T.A. Kastek [22])

Il. 9. Zmodyfikowany plan Wrocławia

przed połową XIII wieku,

z naniesionym zachodnim rowem

(na podstawie wyników badań

geomorfologicznych):

a – rekonstrukcja drogi (ulicy),

b – drewniana nawierzchnia ulicy,

c – cmentarz, d – cmentarz żydowski,

e – stara osada, f – kościół,

g – karczma, h – studnia,

i – rekonstrukcja parcelacji,

j – zniszczona wieża (mod. R. Biel

za: N. Lenkow [25] i J. Badura,

T.A. Kastek [22])

56 Radosław Biel

performed by the oldest phase of the church of St. James

(from 1530 St. Vincent, now the Greek Catholic cathe-

dral). The function of the small three-nave basilica un-

covered by Czesław Lasota and Jerzy Rozpędowski,

with a rectangular tower to the west and an in-built hall

crypt in the east, has been debated since its discovery.

However, some researchers, such as Jakub Adamski,

point out that the rich spatial programme of this foun-

dation is not what the mendicants might have wanted.

They therefore took over the temple temporarily, quick-

ly replacing it with a new building, which was in fact

a common practice. Zbigniew Pianowski and Andrzej

Grzybowski, on the other hand, directly suggest the

original function of the palace church of Duke Henryk

II Pobożny [13]. And while there is no evidence to link it

to a specic person, in light of the discovery made under

St. Matthias Church, the hypothesis of a larger manorial

foundation is worth reconsidering.

Conclusions

In the light of the analysed written records, the estab-

lished chronology of the site, its location, the palaeoen-

vironmental data, the observed dimensions and the anal-

ogy with other sites of this type, it can be hypothesised

that the discovered architectural relics under St. Matthias

Church are the remains of a larger building, probably

a ducal tower. It may have been part of a larger structure

of Princess Anne’s residence. However, there are some

doubts about linking the discovered relics directly to

the “destroyed tower” (turrem latericam destructa) men-

tioned in the 1253 document.

Thus, Edmund Małachowicz, who almost thirty years

ago, with the then relatively scant knowledge of the local

medieval wall relics, would have been partly right in lo-

cating Princess Anne’s manor house precisely on the site

of the hospital and monastery complex of the Knights of

the Cross with the Red Star [3]. This is partly because

the concept of a building aligned along an east-west axis

was not conrmed by later research. It also appears that

the closure of the original church choir may have looked

dierent. However, Edmund Małachowicz’s research

contribution should be acknowledged, as without it the

identication of the building in question might not have

happened at all.

The probably bipartite building was founded on a rec-

tangular plan with minimum dimensions of 16.8 m long by

9.5 m wide and an average wall thickness of about 1.3 m.

We are not in a position to state unequivocally whether

the construction of the ducal tower was completed or how

extensive its damage was. However, it is known that its

foundations were covered by a substantial levelling layer.

Analysis of the sparse movable monumental material sug-

gests that this occurred in the 1340s or 1350s. Combined

with the unusual burials in the immediate vicinity of the

church and the traces of mechanical damage visible on the

bones, this may suggest that the destruction was carried

out as a result of the Mongol invasion of 1241. Anthro-

pological analyses conrmed, among other things, a very

unusual burial of two men, one of whom died from a bro-

ken neck [30]. A cemetery may also have been established

at that time, where the victims of the raid were buried.

There is a possibility that the companions of the fallen

Prince Henryk rested there, as his remains were deposited

in the crypt of the nearby Franciscan church of St. James.

However, we do not know how large an area the cemetery

at St. Matthias Church occupied, as few skeletons have

been preserved only under the southern hospital building

(today the building at 17 Bishop Nankier Square).

Whatever the real reason for the destruction of the tow-

er, the church of St. Matthias was founded on the ruins of

the building, not only surrounding the already functioning

cemetery (not an isolated situation in medieval Wrocław

[29]), but at the same time may have been intended as

a manorial chapel. A new long palace was then built to

the east of it, perpendicular to its axis. At that time, it was

much shorter than today’s building at 17 Bishop Nankier

Square, which meant that it did not enter the area where

the burials were discovered.

This moment is at the same time associated with the

arrival of the monks of the Knights of the Cross with

the Red Star, assuming, following Marek Słoń, that this

happened during the period of Duchess Anne’s regency

– from April 1241 to March 1242 [10]. The monks were

given the buildings already on the site, the construction

of which had probably not yet been completed, and the

original purpose and associated building plans were mod-

ied and adapted to the needs of the hospital and the

congregation of the Knights Order. The abandonment of

the construction of the emporium tower blended into the

body of St. Matthias Church could have resulted from

this. In 1253, all endowments were nally conrmed to

the Knights of the Cross with the Red Star, who had been

present in Wrocław and had been running the St Eliza-

beth’s Hospital since at least 1248 [10].

It is likely that it was not until the second half of the

century that monastic buildings were constructed,

the remains of which were discovered to the north of the

church and, unlike the temple and the southernmost build-

ing, do not have rectangular buttresses at the corners [18].

However, there are still contentious or debatable is-

sues that would require additional intrusive research.

For example, we do not know how far the hypothetical

princely tower extended beyond the outline of the later

St. Matthias Church, but it seems likely that it extend-

ed further both north and south. We are also uncertain

as to the reason for the destruction of the tower, also

the very function attributed to it is based on relative-

ly meagre indications in the form of mainly analogous

princely assumptions. It has also not been possible to

establish even the approximate extent of the cemetery,

which was presumed to have functioned in the short

period between the destruction of the tower and the

construction of the temple. Furthermore, the concept of

the functioning of the object as part of a three-part ma-

norial establishment, typical of the time, consisting of

a palatium, a tower and a temple, remains open. In that

case, the object discovered under St. Matthias Church

would be the remains of a palatium rather than the “ru-

ined tower” mentioned in 1253.

Turris latericia destructa 57

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References

Streszczenie

Turris latericia destructa – kuria księżnej Anny we Wrocławiu w świetle najnowszych badań

W 2020 roku w kryptach wrocławskiego kościoła św. Macieja, zlokalizowanego w centrum nadodrzańskich terenów lewobrzeżnego Wrocławia,

określanych w historiografii terenami książęcymi, zidentyfikowano relikty architektoniczne, z których część dotąd umykała uwadze badaczy. Inne

fragmenty z kolei błędnie interpretowano jako fundamenty tej świątyni, jednak syntetyczne studia całego zespołu szpitalno-klasztornego Rycerskiego

Zakonu Krzyżowców z Czerwoną Gwiazdą prowadzone w ramach pracy doktorskiej autora wykazały, że odkryte fundamenty mogą stanowić pozos-

tałość po całkiem innej, starszej budowli.

Na podstawie analizy przekazów historycznych, specyfiki budowli, stratygrafii nawarstwień, odkrytego zabytkowego materiału ruchomego, danych

paleośrodowiskowych oraz porównań z innymi obiektami tego typu, wysunięto hipotezę, że odkryta budowla może stanowić element „dworu księżnej

Anny”, a nawet być tożsama ze „zniszczoną wieżą” (turrem latericam destructa), wzmiankowaną w dokumencie z 1253 roku. Dodatkowo postawiono

tezę, że wieża mogła być zniszczona w latach 40. lub 50. XIII wieku, być może w wyniku najazdu tatarskiego w 1241 roku. Dopiero po tym wydarze-

niu na omawianym terenie wzniesiono kościół św. Macieja i inne towarzyszące mu budynki, które następnie przekazano na potrzeby szpitala i zakonu.

W artykule przedstawiono dotychczasowy stan badań, zastosowane metody, interpretację dokonanych odkryć oraz wnioski, rzucając nowe światło

na mniej zbadaną historię zagospodarowania tej części średniowiecznego Wrocławia.

Słowa kluczowe: Śląsk, Wrocław, średniowiecze, tereny książęce, Rycerski Zakon Krzyżowców z Czerwoną Gwiazdą, „zniszczona wieża”