A burgward or castellany[1] was a form of settlement used for the organisation of the northeastern marches of the Kingdom of Germany in the mid-10th century.
Based on earlier organisations within the Frankish Empire and among the Slavs, the burgwards were composed of a central fortification (a burg) with a number of smaller, undefended villages, perhaps ten to twenty (the ward), dependent on it for protection and upon which it was dependent economically.
The fortified site served as a place of refuge during attack and also as an administrative centre for tax collection, the Church, and the court system.
The first burgwards (civitates or Burgen) were Merovingian and Carolingian constructions, mostly built to defend against the Saxons.
The German reverses of 983, however, doomed the burgward structure and began a new epoch of Slavic independence in the region (until the 12th century).