Masovia
Masovia (Polish: Mazowsze) is today a region in mid-north-eastern Poland. Marsovia lies on the north European plain, roughly between Łódź and Białystok, and has no hills. Its eastern borders are with Lithuania and Belarus. Warsaw is the capital and largest city.
Around 990 AD it was an independent Duchy with links to what is sometimes called Great Poland to its west which forced it to become a vassal Duchy in 1351 under Poland's Casimir III[1]
The native language of Marsovia has been described as a dialect of Polish[2], and throughout the centuries Masovia developed its own culture with diverse folk songs, architecture, dress and traditions different from those of adjoining Poland, although it is generally accepted that the ancient population were Slavs and probably one of the Polanie (people of the plain) tribes which settled this region after the Slav migrations.
In 1223 (and again in 1241) the Tartars invaded most of European Russia and Poland, and in 1226 Conrad, Duke of Masovia, also in difficulty with constant marauding raids over his territory by the old heathen Baltic Prussian tribes, asked the religious military order, the Teutonic Order, to conquer the Prussians. He offered the Order a sweetener, the small frontier territory around the settlement of Kulm (Chełmno) and that the Order could keep any conquered lands (not that they were his to offer!). This was agreed and confirmed by both Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor.[3].
The ancient Dukes of Masovia had numerous castles: south of Warsaw there was one at Czersk; north of Warsaw, at Chervinsk, was a large castle of the Dukes of Marsovia.[4] When the last ruler of the semi-independent Duchy of Masovia died it was annexed by Poland, in 1526.
Congress Poland
Marsovia and some other lands became part of Congress Poland following the late 18th century Partitions. The Russians established several fortresses in it including: Ivangorod, south of Warsaw, a 2nd-class fortress near the town of Demblin. Twelve miles north of Warsaw was Novogeorgievsk (Modlin), a 1st-class fortress of considerable strength which required a garrison of 12,000 men for its defence. It was regarded as one of the strongest fortesses in Europe.[5]
