Wojcieszków
Wojcieszków is a village in Łuków County, Lublin Voivodeship, in eastern Poland. It is the seat of the gmina called Gmina Wojcieszków. The village was a town from 1540 to 1819.
History
The village of Wojcieszkow was founded in 1437 by a local nobleman Klemens Bielinski. In the same year, Bishop of Kraków Zbigniew Olesnicki established a Roman Catholic parish church here. On January 21, 1540, upon request of Mikolaj Dzik, the owner of Wojcieszkow, King Sigismund I Old granted Magdeburg rights to it.In 1767, a wooden church of Holy Trinity was built, and in 1771, a Suchodolski family library was opened. Until the Partitions of Poland, Wojcieszkow belonged to the County of Stezyca, Sandomierz Voivodeship.
In the late 18th century, the Plater family built a large manor house, which was burned during World War II. According to documents, in 1802 Wojcieszkow had a marketplace, a church, and a castle. The town, however, was on poor soil, among forests and sands, which had a negative impact on its development. As a result, Wojcieszkow gradually declined and, in 1819, was stripped of its town charter.