The largest brick castle of its day sits along the delta of the Vistula, a testament to the power and prestige of the order of crusading knights who built it. The Teutonic Order, from their castle at Marienburg, sought to Christianize and "civilize" the heathens of the Baltic.

In this episode, we'll investigate the knights' relationship to its neighbors, Poland and Lithuania, united under the crown of Władysław Jagiełło, and the great but stupid war that broke out between them.

And listener Rafał Źukowski drops by to talk about visiting the castle, other sights in Northern Poland, and of course food!

Sources:

Bousfield, Jonathan. DK Eyewitness Poland Čapaitė, Rūta. "The Topic of Health in the Letters of Grand Duke Vytautas of Lithuania and His Contemporaries." in Lithuanian Historical Studies Emery, Anthony "Malbork Castle - Poland" in The Castle Studies Group Journal No 21 Palmer, Alan. The Baltic: A New History of the Region and Its Peoples Sunkara, Lavanya. "Take A Look Inside The World's Largest Brick Fortress In Poland" in Forbes Urban, William. The Last Years of the Teutonic Knights

Photograph by Gregy