The castle of Kamień Bishops (Karlino)

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The bishops' castle in Karlino dates back to the fourteenth century. In exactly 1308, Bishop Wachholtz marks its existence using the expression "castrum nostrum Corlin". In 1330 Bishop von Rehberg drew attention to the favourable location of his "castrum Corlinense cum civitate", as it was named in the church statutes. At that time the town was given its charter, based on the law of Lubeck. Karlino was raised to the rank of an episcopal residence. From the 1380s onwards, Karlino was home to the majority of the Kamien bishops. The end of the 14th and start of the 15th century was a period of turmoil, conflict and disputes setting the Kamien bishops against the dukes, the papacy, the bourgeoisie and the knightly class. In the summer of 1409 Boguslaw VIII attacked the town and burnt it on failing to take it, but the castle was saved from catastrophe by the water surrounding it and some effective defence.
Debts nonetheless continued to mount, and in 1440 a half of the Karlino episcopal manor was given in pledge to the town council of Kolobrzeg. In 1481 the castle was captured and burnt by the burghers of Kolobrzeg and Koszalin. After compensation was paid in 1486, work began to rebuild the castle. Extension of the castle continued throughout the period from 1450 to 1575. It finally became a grand Renaissance residence with a regular layout, having three wings and three storeys, the side wings being topped with gables. The castle is supposed to have covered an area of 50 by 50 metres, with the front court accounting for a further area of 50 by 100 metres. During the tenure of Bishop Francis I from 1602 to 1618, Karlino's castle was further extended and made grander. In 1761, during the Seven Years' War, the entire castle complex burnt down. Shortly afterwards the ruins were mostly demolished, leaving only the lowest floor of the main wing of the castle, with the stellar vaults. At the same time the remains of former buildings were destroyed, and the moat between the castle and the town was filled in. Later development of the site in the 19th century, when a brewery was erected over the cellars of the original residence, erased all trace of the once-rich episcopal castle. Nothing is lost forever, however, and future research may supply many new and so far unknown source materials enabling us to learn about the construction and layout of Karlino's castle.