Truso was a Viking-age port of trade on the old Nogat by Lake Drużno, where the river ran into the Vistula Lagoon, visited by Wulfstan of Hedeby about 890 for King Alfred.
Its buildings burned about 1000 and the silting Nogat cut it off from the sea; Gdańsk took its trade. In 1200 nothing stands but the memory: there is no town on the lower Vistula east bank. Elbląg is founded near the site by the Teutonic Order and Lübeck merchants only in 1237.
Who holds it
- Name
- no lord: an abandoned site
- Title
- nobody
- Since
- not pinned
- Born
- not applicable
- Confidence
- high
Lord in 1200
Nobody: the site is abandoned; the ground is Pogesanian (or Pomesanian) farmland and marsh
How things stand that morning
Gone since about 1000.
Charter
None: no town law. In 1200 no place in Pomerelia has German or any other town law.
Militia
The lord's men and the district levy.
Walls and castle
None standing.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: Excavated site (Janów Pomorski) and Wulfstan's account.
Primary sources for The Prussians
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- Chronicle of the Poles, by Master Vincent (Wincenty Kadłubek), Wincenty Kadłubek (about 1190 to 1208). Book 4 is a contemporary's account of the fight for the senior throne of Kraków. Read online
- The annals of the Kraków chapter and the other Polish annals (kept from the 11th century; the Kraków chapter annals continued to 1266). Short dated entries that fix the chronology Kadłubek blurs: the deaths of dukes and bishops, Mieszko the Old's captures of Kraków, Prussian raids on Masovia, church consecrations. Read online
Sources and studies
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.