Dantzic

or Danzig . A city of Pru ia; is surrounded with ramparts, mounted with cannon, and the town may be considered as being one of the strongest fortre es in Pru ia. In the 10th century it was known as the capital of Pomerali; it pa ed with that province, in 1295, under the authority of Poland; but in 1308, Ladislaus IV. ceded the whole to the Teutonic knights, who held it till 1454. In that year it was again seized by the Poles; and in 1575, having refused to acknowledge Stephen Bathory, it had to sustain a siege by that monarch, and was taken in 1577. From 1360 to 1641 it was one of the principal towns in the Hanseatic League. When this league was di olved, Dantzic joined Lubeck, Hamburg, and Bremen; and these four cities, down to a very late period, retained their name of Hanse Towns. In 1734 it was forced to surrender to the Ru ians and Saxons, who were then besieging Stanislaus of Poland. In 1793 it was occupied by the Pru ians. It was taken by the French in May, 1807, after a long siege, by Marshal Lefevre, who thence acquired his title of duke of Dantzic. After Bonaparte’s disastrous campaign in Ru ia, it was blockaded and obliged to surrender, after a long and able defense by Gen. Rapp. At the peace of Paris, in 1814, it reverted to Pru ia.