City and now capital of Poland, which began as Stare Bródno, a small trading settlement of the 10th and early 11th centuries AD. That settlement's functions were taken over successively by Kamion (c 1065) and Jazdow (c 1262). About the end of the 13th century, Jazdow was moved to the north, to a village named Warszowa (Warsaw), and the community was strengthened by the protection of a castle. Medieval Warsaw grew up on the left bank of the River Vistula. Excavations around the royal castle located the earthworks of a proto-urban 10th-century fortress with earth-and-timber ramparts and gateways. The area around the cathedral was the site of the citadel of the 10th-century town.