Braniewo is a city in northeastern Poland: Warmia - Mazury voivodship). Located in the bishopric of Warmia, the city may have been named after Saint Bruno of Querfurt. It is near the city of Frombork, about halfway between Gdansk and Kaliningrad.

Pre-Teutonic Braniewo was inhabited by Prussians: one of the earlier recorded names was Brus, and there is some speculation that the origins of the city name lie in "Brus-berg". In 1249, Johannes Fleming, son of a Lübeck councilman (Ratsherr) founded Braunsberg. Bishop Anselm gave it a Lübeck city charter in 1254.

In 1260, bishop Anselm of Meissen (Polish: Misnia) founded a chapter attached to the cathedral of St. Andreas at Braunsberg. This chapter had the right to elect the bishop. The city was then destroyed by native Prussians, who fought for thirty years against the take-over of their land by the papal legates. The next bishop, Heinrich I (1278-1300) had to transfer the chapter from Braunsberg to Frombork (then called Frauenburg). It remained in Frombork until the 20th century.

In 1296, a Franciscan abbey was built in Braunsberg, and in 1342 a 'new city' (still called Nowe Miasto) was added.

In 1552 Regina Protmann was born in Braniewo. She came from a patrician family and was expected to marry. Instead she was somewhat influenced by newly arrived Jesuits and, against the wishes of her parents and contrary to the customs of the times, moved out on her own. She founded the Saint Catherine Order of Sisters, who were devoted to nursing the sick within the community. Warmia, a part of the Kingdom of Poland, had only schools for boys. Blessed Regina founded schools for girls as well.

Next to Königsberg, Braunsberg was the leading academic center of the Kingdom of Prussia. In 1912 the Jesuit college became the Staatliche Akademie Braunsberg.