Brzeg
Brzeg is a town in southwestern Poland with 34,778 inhabitants and the capital of Brzeg County. It is situated in Silesia in the Opole Voivodeship on the left bank of the Oder river.
The town of Brzeg was first mentioned as a trading and fishing settlement within fragmented Piast-ruled Poland in 1234. In 1248, Silesian Duke Henry III the White granted the settlement Magdeburg town rights and by the late 13th century the city became fortified. Sometimes referred to as "the garden town", the town's size greatly expanded after the construction of dwellings which were located on the city outskirts. From the early 14th to late 17th centuries, the town was ruled by the Piast dynasty as fiefs of the Bohemian Crown within the Holy Roman Empire. Due the result of the Silesian Wars, the town passed to Prussia and later was part of Germany between 1871 and 1945, before becaming once again part of Poland.
Etymology
In older documents, Brzeg was referred to as Civitas Altae Ripae, meaning 'city on the high banks' of the Oder River; its name is derived from Polish brzeg 'shore'., in his book of the etymology of Silesian localities, states that in a Latin document from 1234 the settlement's name was Visoke breg.
A native or resident of Brzeg is known as a brzeżan, brzeżanin, brzeżanka, brzeżanie and brzeżaninie.
History
Prehistory
The locality in and around present-day Brzeg has been settled by people since the Mesolithic era, with the earliest signs of settlement between 8000 and 4200 BC, as concluded from archaeological findings in Myślibórz, Kościerzyce, Lubsza and Lipki. The early human populace left behind traces of lithic flakes, flint flakes and other flint related tools. The earliest signs of agriculture come around during the Neolithic Era. The Neolithic culture developed agriculture and domesticated farm animals; this lifestyle led Nomadic cultures to settle in the locality. The era saw the development of weaving, pottery and mining in the Brzeg Plain, with archaeological finds in Brzeg, Buszyce, Prędocin, Lewin Brzeski, Małujowice, Lipki, Myśliborze, Mąkoszyce and Obórki.The time period of 1300–700 BC bears the existence of the Lusatian culture of the late Bronze Age and the early Iron Age. The culture settled in the region and in large continued to develop agriculture and the domestication of farm animals. The natural economy of the culture was based on weaving, pottery and metal works. The Lusatian culture's populace that inhabited the Brzeg Lands was identified by archaeological excavations, revealing 17 individual localities, including 3 hamlets and 8 burial sites, namely a fortified wooden settlement in Rybna and an open-pit crematory in Pisarzowice.
To follow the Lusatian culture, which witnessed its decline around 500 BC, were the Celts, around 400–300 BC in Silesia, as identified with archaeological findings in Lubsza and Pawłów. Around 100 BC, the peoples of Silesia began trading with the Roman Empire, as evidenced through the findings of Roman currency in the locality. In the 7th century Slavic peoples started settling in the region. At the same time Iron tools and blacksmith-based hamlets found in Kantorowice and Pępice are evidenced for the first time in this region.
Early Middle Ages
The period of AD 500–1000 saw the establishment of the early feudal system in Silesia. The era was characteristic of the establishment of gord settlements, towns and the continued development of trade and crafts. It is believed the permanent populace around modern-day Brzeg was set up by Silesian tribes. The first mention of the Silesian tribes is made in the mid-ninth-century document known as the Bavarian Geographer, which included the Silesian gord of Ryczyn, located north-west of Brzeg, in the eastern Oława County. The Ryczyn gords became the main line of defence for the Silesians, namely to protect the river trade routes along the Oder river and the land trade route between Ryczyn and Brzeg. The importance of the Ryczyn gords is demonstrated by Henry V of the Holy Roman Empire's army halting their advancement before the gords in 1109.Between the ninth and early-tenth century, the Brzeg Lands, together with all of Silesia, were part of Great Moravia until its demise in AD 906, after which, until 990 the region was under the rule of the Premyslids.
Medieval Poland
Around 990, Silesia was incorporated into Mieszko I's Poland. During the Fragmentation of Poland, the area of the Brzeg Lands, along with the rest of Silesia, came under the control of King of Poland, Bolesław III Wrymouth's oldest son, Władysław II the Exile.The most favourable area for the settlement of Brzeg is located between the Castle Square, with elevated ground extending south-east towards the Square of the American Polonia. Before the town's foundation, three separate settlements existed in its modern-day territory, with "Wysoki Brzeg" bearing the main administrative role in the region. Between the late-twelfth and early-thirteen century, the Dukes of Wrocław set up a curia, led by a claviger. In 1235, Henry the Bearded occupied the area around Oława, by which Walloons had to turn over a tribute of 1 scale of grain and of oat to the settlement of Brzeg, suggesting the existence of a granary and other outbuildings in the curia's established headquarters.
Some two hundred m south-west from the curia was the former location, on what was later to be called Mary's Hill, of the Romanesque St. Mary's Church. During the Reformation, the church was deconstructed, and its brickwork used for the construction of the town's fortifications. A sixteenth-century chronicle states it was "the first church", however, no more is known about the holy site. Historians believe the founder of the church may have been Bolesław I the Tall or Henry the Bearded. Around the peripheries of the settlement was the location of several hospital buildings. Towards the route to Wrocław in the town's west was the location of the Hospital of the Holy Ghost, used both to cure the town's dwellers and as an inn for travellers along the Wrocław-Opole route the town of Brzeg was located in the middle of, with an average walking distance between each town taking one day. The area around the Holy Ghost Hospital, present-day Moniuszko Square, was the location of a major market, positioned by the cross roads of the Wrocław–Nysa route, east of the Wrocławska Gate. By the end of the thirteenth century, the Duke of Brzeg possessed 10 shambles. The market is believed to be characteristic of other Silesian towns, commonly selling agricultural produce, namely bread, meat and shoes. Prior to the locality receiving its town charter in 1248 or 1250, the settlement had characteristics of a town and not of an ordinary fishing village, being referred to as "civitas" in an early Latin document, as exemplified by the existence of the curia, church and a major market, allowing the settlement to develop through the exchange of produce and barter.
Prior to Brzeg receiving its town charter, the Duke of Wrocław, Henry III the White, received the settlement of Małkowice,, in exchange of his feudal rights over Zębice. The fishermen living in Małkowice, in accordance to ancient Polish law were charged with the task of protecting the Ducal Castle along the riverside. By the turn of the thirteenth century, the defenceless populace living in the pastures of the Brzeg Plain began to relocate into the fortified Visoke breg, building up a new osiedle around the present-day streets of: Łokietka, Piastowska and Trzech Kotwic. The osiedle was documented as Stary Brzeg, to be renamed Wieś Brzeska: Brygischedorf and villa Bregensis in 1339. To the west of the fortified centre of Brzeg, the settlement of Rataje as the former village's etymology suggests, centered around the upkeep of the ducal pastures.
The town received German town law in 1250 from the Wrocław Duke Henry III the White. The foundation was carried out by the three lokators, Gerkinus of Złotoryja, Ortlif and Heinrich of Reichenbach. From the emblem of Heinrich of Reichenbach the town also got its coat of arms. While in power, Henry III, granted the town the forest around the locality of Lubsza. His successor, Henryk IV the Righteous regulated the town's church affairs, as well as renouncing his patronage over St. Mary's Church, located west of the town's western boundary. The church was granted to the Order of Saint John, subsequently founding the Church of St. Nicholas in 1292. The town was fortified in 1297.
From 1311 to 1675 Brzeg was the capital of a Lower Silesian duchy ruled by a local line of the Polish Piast dynasty, one of whom built a castle in 1341. The Duchy became a fief of the Kingdom of Bohemia in 1329. The town was burned by the Hussites in 1428 and soon afterwards rebuilt.
Early modern period
At the beginning of the 16th century there were two schools in Brzeg, a collegiate and a municipal school, both influenced by the scientific, cultural and literary currents of the University of Kraków. In 1529 Duke Frederick II of Legnica, in attempt to establish the town as a significant learning center, merged the two schools, but the town council, wanting to maintain control over the municipal school, led to the two being split again in 1534.The town continued to flourish under the reign of Duke George II. George II maintained close contacts with the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and its nobility, and rebuilt the Ducal Castle in Renaissance style, built the Renaissance town hall, established a new mausoleum of the Piast dukes and built a new gymnasium, opened in 1569. The libraries of the old schools were merged into the newly named Piast Library. The gymnasium became popular among Polish nobility, whose children were often educated there. Among the graduates were Polish Royal secretary and poet and reformer Samuel Hartlib, co-founder of the Royal Society of London.
In 1595 Brzeg was again fortified by Joachim Frederick of Brzeg and Legnica. In the Thirty Years' War it suffered greatly; in the War of the Austrian Succession it was heavily bombarded by the Prussian forces; and in 1807 it was captured by Napoleon's army. When Bohemia fell to the Habsburg monarchy of Austria in 1526, the town fell under the overlordship of the Habsburgs in their roles of Kings of Bohemia, although it was still ruled locally by the Silesian Piasts. Upon the extinction of the last duke George William of Legnica in 1675, Brieg came under the direct rule of the Habsburgs.