The residence of the provost of the Kamień cathedral chapter in Lubin on the island of Wolin

Abstract

Lubin is a small village on the south-western edge of the island of Wolin on the Szczecin Lagoon. The stronghold that was built there in the early Middle Ages had an important administrative role in the Duchy of West Pomerania. One of the fi rst churches in Pomerania was built there when bishop Otto of Bamberg undertook his Christianization mission. In 1186 or 1187 Duke Bogusław I of Pomerania granted the Lubin stronghold, together with its church of  St Nicholas and several nearby villages, to the chapter of the Kamień cathedral. The stronghold soon lost its position and in thirteenth-century sources it is referred to as just villa Lubin. Sixteenth-century sources indicate that the provost of the chapter has his seat there, located on a hill, probably where the stronghold used to be. Excavations carried out in that site in 2008–2011 revealed relics of two buildings dated to the late Middle Ages, which can be identifi ed with this residence. The article discusses these finds, aiming to establish whether this identifi cation is correct.The Lubin stronghold lost its defensive function soon after it had been given to the Kamień chapter. The late Middle Ages, most probably the 14th or 15th c., brought major changes in the use of the hill plateau: two buildings were erected in the northern and southern part of the former stronghold. One of them was almost completely demolished, probably in the 19th c.; its only surviving part is a small fragment of the foundation built of fieldstones and Gothic bricks. The other one was also demolished but its cellars and foundations, made of stone and brick, have survived in a very good condition. This house was built on a square plan; it measured 4.00 × 3.80 m. On the northern side it had stairs leading to the cellar. The fi ll of the cellar contained fragments of architectural details (painted plaster, roof-tiles, bricks, glazed fl oor-tiles, window glass) and furnishings (glass vessels, pottery, stove-tiles). The finds should be interpreted as the foundations of a country house built by the provost in the centre of the Lubin estate in the late Middle Ages. Its main part was a residential tower, modelled on castles in the nearby provinces of Mecklemburg and Brandenburg. The furnishings imply that the owner was very well-off. The tower was dismantled or destroyed in the 16th c., soon after the chapter lost the Lubin estate in 1579, and the area of the former stronghold ceased to be used for residential purposes.