Kulm (Culm). (1) A town of Germany, in the province of West Prussia, 33 m. by rail N.W. of Thorn, on an elevation above the plain, and 1 m. E. of the Vistula. Pop. (1905), 11,665. It is surrounded by old walls, dating from the 13th century, and contains some interesting buildings, notably its churches, of which two are Roman Catholic and two Protestant, and its medieval town-hall. The cadet school, founded here in 1776 by Frederick the Great, was removed to Köslin in 1890. There are large oil mills, also iron foundries and machine shops, as well as an important trade in agricultural produce, including fruit and vegetables. Kulm gives name to the oldest bishopric in Prussia, although the bishop resides at Pelplin. It was presented about 1220 by Duke Conrad of Masovia to the bishop of Prussia. Frederick II. pledged it in 1226 to the Teutonic order, to whom it owes its early development. By the second peace of Thorn in 1466 it passed to Poland, and it was annexed to Prussia in 1772. It joined the Hanseatic League, and used to carry on very extensive manufactures of cloth.
(2) A village of Bohemia about 3 m. N.E. of Teplitz, at the foot of the Erzgebirge, celebrated as the scene of a battle in which the French were defeated by the Austrians, Prussians and Russians on the 29th and 30th of August 1813 (see Napoleonic Campaigns).
