region and had Przemysł assassinated in early 1296. Władysław I the Elbow-high (Łokietek), Przemysł's successor, was only in loose control of Pomerelia and Gdańsk with the actual control of the area being in the hands of the local Swienca family who had come into power already under Mestwin II. In 1301, one year after Wenceslaus II of Bohemia had been crowned king of Poland, the princes of Rügen, who also claimed to be the heirs of Pomerelia, mounted an expedition. Wenceslaus, who with the Polish crown had also acquired the claim to Pomerelia, called the Teutonic Order for help. The Teutonic knights occupied Gdańsk, repelled the princes of Rügen, and left the town in 1302. While the Norwegian king Haakon backed Rügen's claims, his 1302 call to the Hanseatic cities for aid remained without answer. Wenceslaus II died in 1305 and was succeeded by Wenceslaus III, murdered in 1306. In a treaty of 8 August 1305, the margraves of Brandenburg promised to Wenceslaus III the Meissen (Miśnia) territory in exchange for Pomerelia, but that treaty was never finalized. The Teutonic Order had inherited Gniew (Mewe) from Sambor II, thus gaining a foothold on the left bank of the Vistula. Brandenburg occupied the west of the duchy after neutralizing another claimant to the area, the Cammin bishop, by burning down his see. Rebellion of 1308 and Brandenburgian siege Meanwhile, Władysław I the Elbow-high had reestablished his power in Poland, but was occupied in the south of his realm. He appointed Bogusza as his Pomerelian governor in Gdańsk. In the summer of 1308, a rebellion was incited by the local Swienca family allied with Waldemar of Brandenburg, resulting in a Brandenburgian intervention which unseated the forces loyal to Łokietek, who later would become King of Poland. Bogusza and his men had retreated to the castle next to the town, and were besieged by the margraves. Bogusza, on the advice of the Dominican prior Wilhelm, appealed to the Teutonic Knights in Prussia for assistance. Teutonic takeover The Knights, under the leadership of Heinrich von Plotzke, agreed to aid Bogusza, and a force of 100 knights and 200 supporters, led by Günther von Schwarzburg, arrived at the castle around August. While historians agree that the castle as well as the adjacent town were in the hands of the Teutonic Knights by late November 1308, the number of casualties and the extent of destruction is