Kneiphof

Kneiphof (Lithuanian: Knypava; Polish: Knipawa) was a quarter of central Königsberg, Germany. During the Middle Ages it was one of the three towns that composed the city of Königsberg, the others being Altstadt and Löbenicht. The town was located on a 10-hectare (25-acre) island of the same name in the Pregel River and included Königsberg Cathedral and the original campus of the University of Königsberg. Its territory is now part of the Moskovsky District of Kaliningrad, Russia.

Medieval variations of Kneiphof included Knipaw,Knipab, and Knypabe. The name was of Old Prussian origin, referring to a swampy land or area flushed by water; the island was bounded to the north by the Neue Pregel and to the south by the Alte Pregel (or Natangische Pregel), branches of the Pregel River. At the start of the 14th century the island was known in German as Vogtswerder (Vogt's ait), because it was used by a vogt of the Teutonic Knights. The name Pregelmünde (mouth of the Pregel) was encouraged in 1333, but the German townspeople instead used the Prussian name used in the 1327 charter. A town seal from 1383 and a 15th-century signet name the town as nova civitas, or new town, but this designation was not used in documents.

Founded within the state of the Teutonic Order, Kneiphof was the youngest of Königsberg's three towns, each of which had its own charter, market rights, church, and fortifications. Settlement by merchants was intensified in 1324 with construction along the Langgasse and the bridges Krämerbrücke and Grüne Brücke. It was granted Kulm rights on 6 April 1327 by Grand Master Werner von Orseln. The new town of Kneiphof encompassed two-thirds of the island; in the same year Orseln granted the eastern third of the island to the Bishopric of Samland to allow construction of Königsberg Cathedral, which occurred from ca. 1330-80. Kneiphof's coat of arms depicted a blue-clad arm extending from waves and holding a crown, flanked by two golden hunting horns in a green field.

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