First mentioned as "Gailen" in 1334. The town was established in 1428 as a farming village on 60 włókas of land in the monastic state of the Teutonic Knights. The Polish name of the settlement was Biała, meaning white. It was later Germanized to the name Bialla. In 1454 it was incorporated to Poland by King Casimir IV Jagiellon upon the request of the anti-Teutonic Prussian Confederation, and after 1466 it was a part of Poland as a fief. In 1480 a church was built in the town. In 1481, Piotr Świętosławicz from the Diocese of Płock became the local parish priest. In the 16th century it grew rapidly in the Duchy of Prussia (vassal state of Poland), as trading increased. In the middle of the century there were 38 farms and three mills. As of 1539, the population of the village was solely Polish. In 1645 it gained the right to host four fairs per year. In 1656 it was pillaged by the Tatars, plundered and burned, and many residents died or were displaced.
