STARGARD, an ancient manufacturing town in eastern Pomerania, Prussia, is situated on the left bank of the navigable Ihna, 20 miles to the east of Stettin. Formerly a member of the Hanseatic League, the town retains memorials of its early importance in the large church of

St Mary, built in the 14th and 15th centuries, the 16th-century town-house, and the well-preserved walls with gateways and towers dating from the 14th century. The extensive new law-courts and three large barracks are among the modern buildings. Stargard has a considerable market for cattle and horses, and carries on trade in grain, spirits, and raw produce. Its manufactures include cigars, tobacco, wadding, and stockings; and there are also iron-foundries and linen and woollen factories in the town. The population in 1885 was 22,109 (in 1816 8706), of whom about 730 were Roman Catholics and about 560 Jews.

Stargard, mentioned as having been destroyed by the Poles in 1120, received town-rights in 1229, and became the capital of eastern Pomerania. As a Hanseatic town it enjoyed considerable commercial prosperity, but had also to undergo siege and capture in the Middle Ages and during the Thirty Years’ War. In 1807 it was taken by Schill. The name Stargard (from the Slavonic Starograd or Starigrod, meaning “old town”) is common to several other towns in the north of Germany, of which the chief are Prussian Stargard, near Dantzic, and Stargard-in-Mecklenburg.