Introduction
The history of Cieszyn, which is proud to call itself a Piast town, is inextricably linked to the Piast dynasty. The Piasts gave Cieszyn the central, most influential position among the towns of the region, making it the capital, and by the use of various legal deeds defined the most important features and trends of the lives of its people. The Piasts were the founders and custodians of the churches, monasteries and other public buildings of Cieszyn. In fact they put their stamp on almost every feature of life in Cieszyn at that time. So it comes as no surprise that the Piast era in Cieszyn and the monuments linked to those times are the source of such interest.
Around the year 990 Silesia was incorporated into the fledgling Polish state by Mesco I, the prince of the tribe of Polans and the first historic ruler of the Piast dynasty. It became the task of the stronghold in Cieszyn to defend the southern border of his lands. The castle was occupied on behalf of Poland’s ruler by a castellan who at the same time carried out the function of official governing the lands surrounding the stronghold – the Cieszyn castellany. In the 11th century the castellany shared the same fate as the state of the first Piasts, for example the attempts made by Bohemian rulers to regain Silesia. From the second half of the 12th century Silesia was divided into smaller and smaller principalities under the rule of various minor Silesian Piasts. The Cieszyn castellany belonged to the Duchy of Opole and Racibórz. Around this time the borough which developed at the foot of the castle gradually began to grow into the town which would become Cieszyn. The inhabitants of the borough served the castellan’s court in various capacities and gradually the borough transformed into a town which had to fulfil various obligations imposed on it by its rulers, but also with its own approved rights. The town was governed on behalf of the prince by a steward (wójt) and from the 13th century onwards also by councillors. For the Opole-Racibórz Piasts Cieszyn remained principally a military and administrative base, but they took care of other needs of the townspeople as well, for example founding a Dominican monastery beyond the town walls in the second half of the 13th century.
The situation changed around 1290 when the autonomous Duchy of Cieszyn was established under Mesco I, the oldest son of the Opole-Racibórz Prince, Vladislaus I. The new ruler created the administrative and economic framework for his mini-state, also establishing the main trends of its policies, which included becoming closer to the increasingly powerful Bohemian Kingdom. The Cieszyn castle became the centre of the Prince’s court, and Cieszyn a princely town, coming under the direct government of its own ruler. During the years of Mesco I Cieszyn was governed according to a charter modelled on Lwówek Śląski. Zator and Žilina were also ruled according to the same laws which they, in turn, did in imitation of Cieszyn.
After the death of Mesco in around 1315, the rule of Cieszyn was assumed by his youngest son, Casimir I, who swore liege homage to the Bohemian King John of Luxembourg in 1327. This paved the way for his sons to hold positions at the Prague court, beginning with his oldest, Vladislaus, who however died on an expedition to Rome with Charles IV in order to accede to the imperial throne. He was succeeded by Premislaus I, who initially served as a court judge of the Bohemian King, later becoming one of the chief advisors to Charles IV and then to his son Wenceslas IV. Although Premislaus spent most of his life outside Cieszyn, he nonetheless devoted much time to his capital town. During his rule, in 1364, Cieszyn’s internal structure was established as a town governed under Magdeburg Law and administered by a mayor and town council. In that year the Prince confirmed the town’s privileges and the good will shown by the Prince to his capital resulted from the clear benefits he gained from it. The Prince collected duties from all types of trade carried out by the townspeople, taxes and payments from merchants and craftsmen, and levied payments on the town as a whole. These were all important sources of income for him. For the Prince had many expenses, for example connected to the transformation of the Cieszyn castle into a Gothic residence. The oldest known Cieszyn coin dates from the times of his rule, a heller with a diameter of 12 mm, struck by the Prince before 1384. Coins were also struck by the successors of Premislaus I.
Towards the end of his life Premislaus I withdrew from the political stage owing to his advancing years and ill health. He suffered from gout, hence was carried by servants in a sedan chair, for which reason he has gone down in history as Premislaus I Noszak (the Carried). His successor was to be his oldest son, to whom his father had given Oświęcim to govern in 1405. Premislaus the Younger was, however, murdered the following year. His father did everything in his power to get the murderer, a hired rogue called Marcin Czech, also known as Chrzan, in his grasp. The princely servants made a hollow metal horse on wheels, which they filled with burning charcoal. The murderer was pulled through the streets of Cieszyn on the red-hot horse as a dire warning until he breathed his last.
On the death of Premislaus I Noszak in 1410, rule in the Duchy of Cieszyn passed to his second son, Boleslaus I. In 1412 he married Euphemia of Mazovia, the niece of the Polish King, Vladislaus Jagiello, in this way maintaining stronger links with the Kings of Poland than his father had. In 1416 Boleslaus gave Cieszyn the so-called “great privilege”, which strengthened the rights of its townspeople. From that moment on they could inherit property to the fourth generation through both male and female lines, and the new statute also confirmed their right to purchase land. Craftsmen and guilds came under the authority of the Town Council; no-one was permitted to ply their trade within a mile of the town without the knowledge of the Council – the so-called “1-mile law”. The Prince approved Cieszyn’s ownership of the village of Ligota, and in 1420 confirmed the purchase of a bathhouse by Johann Weissenbörner, with the stipulation that poor Cieszyn townspeople could avail themselves of them for nothing. This proves that as far as conditions at that time permitted the people of Cieszyn paid attention to questions of personal hygiene.
Boleslaus I died in 1431 leaving four underage sons, on whose behalf his widow Euphemia ruled for ten years. In 1438 the Princess and her sons sold the town the right to mint coins. Henceforth for several years Cieszyn struck low denomination coins with a characteristic uncial letter “T”. The brothers later ruled the Duchy together, but finally divided up the land between them. Premislaus II and Vladislaus received Cieszyn and the surrounding territory. Premislaus II, who died in 1477 outliving his brothers, unified the Cieszyn Duchy. The Prince’s involvement in the political turbulence of the age acted against the realization of his long term plans, but he did make certain contributions to the development of the town. He leased the town of Cieszyn two breweries, and in 1468 granted the town the right to brew wheaten beer. With his knowledge the Municipal Office bought the village of Boguszowice in 1472, and income from it went on the maintenance of the so-called town hospital, in actual fact a poorhouse, by the present church of St. George.
When Premislaus II died, the Duchy passed to his nephew Casimir II, the son of Prince Boleslaus II. Aside from Premislaus I Noszak, Casimir II was undoubtedly the most able member of the Cieszyn Piast line. He involved himself in the wider world of politics, for example holding the position of general starost of Silesia from 1490, administering the Głogów Duchy on behalf of the King of Bohemia and in 1504 receiving the Duchy of Opava as a life hold tenure. He appreciated the role of the town and its citizens and contributed a great deal to his capital. He regulated the functioning of the Municipal Office, for example ordering it to tender annual accounts to the steward, councillors and guild masters. In addition he began to pay members of the Municipal Office for their work. He defended the townspeople against the nobility, whom he ordered to shoulder the same financial burden as a result of owning houses in the town, and defended Cieszyn craftsmen against outsiders. He supported the development of the guilds, but also the interests of ordinary townspeople. To keep prices down he established free trade on meat in 1523, and enlarged the town’s pastures on the outskirts. A new, brick and stone parish church was built during the rule of Casimir II, for which he founded an organ and bells.
He was instrumental in planning the new main town square and establishing of the town hall in a building he donated to the town in 1496. He ordered the townspeople to build walls around the town, but ensured there was a source of funds in this regard by granting the town a wine monopoly and the exclusive right to brew and sell beer in 42 neighbouring locations in the year 1523. After Casimir II, who died at a ripe old age in 1528, the rule of Cieszyn passed to his grandson, the four-year-old Wenceslas Adam, the son of Prince Wenceslas II who had died in 1524. The old Prince found a wife for his grandson; Maria, the daughter of the powerful starost of Moravia, John II of Pernątejn. John ruled Cieszyn with the Prince’s mother, Anna, the Margravine of Brandenburg, on behalf of the underage Prince until 1539. Wenceslas Adam only took independent control of the Duchy in 1545, or shortly before that date. One of his first acts was to introduce the Reformation in the Duchy of Cieszyn. The Prince removed Catholic priests and monks, including those from Cieszyn, and confiscated the property of ecclesiastical institutions. The town was given land from the dissolved Franciscan monastery in order to support the town’s hospital. Later the town also received other acquisitions, for example the right to build a bathhouse in 1571. After a fire burned down the town and castle in 1552 the Prince exempted the townspeople from paying taxes for a period of twelve years. As a consequence the town was rebuilt relatively swiftly including arcaded town houses around the market square. When a plague befell the town in 1570, the Prince visi-ted the sick in person and made efforts to help them. In 1573 Wenceslas Adam issued further regulations governing the functioning of the Town Council and the Municipal Office. He instructed the town authorities to post sentries on the town walls, gates and towers, whose job it was to warn the people in the event of fire. He ratified Cieszyn’s vintners’ privileges and instructed the Municipal Office how it should approach the purchase of wine.
In 1573 Wenceslas Adam also issued “State Regulations for the Duchy of Cieszyn”, which specified he rights and duties of the nobility. However, towards the end of his life he came into serious conflict with the nobility. He also endeavoured to regulate the religious and moral life of his subjects. On the other hand, although he was concerned with the moral well-being of the people and condemned drinking, he never wasted an opportunity to accept an invitation to a banquet from the Municipal Office, at which there was generally more drink than food. He lived beyond his means, falling heavily into debt. He repaid his administrators and the nobility by granting the right to own houses in Cieszyn and exempting them from municipal taxes. This diminished the income of the town, which in addition had to guarantee the debts of the princely court.
When Wenceslas Adam died in 1579, his second wife Catherine Sidonia ruled the Duchy as a regent on behalf of her son, Adam Wenceslas, who was born after the death of his father. Catherine Sidonia continued her husband’s policies with regard to Cieszyn, for example issuing in 1580 special instructions concerning vintners’ privileges in Cieszyn, which she described as the “greatest jewel of the town”. Three years later, however, the Princess leased the town’s wine-making rights to a special “wine fraternity” for 5 thousand zlotys, in order to pay off the town’s debts. After her intervention in 1581 Emperor Rudolph II granted Cieszyn the right to hold the fourth market on St. Andrew’s day. In 1585 the Princess gave the town land to establish a cemetery for plague victims. She also put an end to the feud with the nobility, and from that moment on regular councils of the Land Rights Council (Landrecht) could take place. The town of Cieszyn was also a member, owing to its ownership of Ligota and other villages. Nonetheless, the town was plunged into greater and greater financial difficulties as a result of being the guarantor of the princely debts, war taxes, and the damage caused by the fire of 1552 and the plague of 1570. For these reasons many buildings in the town stood empty and the tax on them had to be paid from a common fund. The Municipal Office began gradually to sell off property it had earlier purchased, for example the fishponds near the village of Strumień, the town’s apothecary and bathhouse.
Adam Wenceslas came of age in 1595 and took over the rule of the Duchy. He married Elizabeth, the daughter of Gothard Kettler, the Prince of Courland. It is highly likely that with her came to Cieszyn the Courland lock, an essential element of the famous cieszynkas, light, ornately decorated fowling pieces, which at that time and later made Cieszyn famous throughout Europe.
In a document of 1598 the Prince confirmed the privileges enjoyed by Cieszyn townspeople and also ordered them to remain Lutheran for ever. He invited Lutheran preachers, such as Timotheus Lowczany and Georg Fabritius to his court. The Prince confirmed the town’s exclusive right to brew beer, and even enlarged the territory it concerned. How-ever, at the same time he confirmed contradictory privileges of the nobility who did not respect municipal rights, which resulted in constant disagreements. During his rule Cieszyn experienced another epidemic in 1599 and a fire in the castle in 1603. Therefore the Prince bought himself a house in Stary Targ (the Old Market), although it is not known if he paid for it, since he mostly had debts in his treasure chest. This situation was worsened by the Prince’s weakness for a lavish lifestyle, for example in 1611 he appeared in Wrocław with a retinue consisting of almost 300 horses. The town had to guarantee loans for him, too. The Prince earned an income as a mercenary officer in the service of the Bohemian Kings and Habsburg Emperors. This contribu ted to the fact that at the end of 1609 Adam Wenceslas converted to Catholicism, returned property to Catholic clergy and religious orders and expelled Lutheran pastors. He also began to compel his subjects, including the townspeople of Cieszyn, to convert to Catholicism, although he allowed the church of the Holy Trinity, which had its own pastor until 1654, to remain in Lutheran hands.
The successor of Adam Wenceslas, who died in 1617, was his underage son Frederick William. During the period of his rule Cieszyn townspeople rose up against their feudal lord for the first time motivated by religious conflicts. After the outbreak of the Thirty Years’ War in 1619 the Town Council, which was dominated by Lutherans, removed the Catholic parish priests by force and confiscated Catholic churches in Cieszyn. However, after the defeat of the Lutherans at White Mountain in 1620 the churches had to be returned and the Municipal Office was punished with a severe fine of 1000 ducats. The rule of the town was once again in Lutheran hands for a short period in 1622 when the town and castle were seized by Margrave John George Hohenzollern, the Prince of Krnov and an advocate of Lutheranism in Silesia. When Prince Frederick William took power himself in 1624 he removed Lutheran clergy, appointed a Catholic parish priest, and punished members of the town authority.
After the plague which afflicted Cieszyn in 1623 and during which many craftsmen and merchants died, the Prince ordered that their houses could only be occupied by townspeople following similar professions, but not the nobility. Prince Frederick William ruled for a short period but it was long enough to be loaned around 1000 zlotys from Sebastian and Andreas Reiss. This was enough to buy several town houses. The Prince died in 1625 in Cologne on his way to the Netherlands where he was planning to fight the Lutherans. He was the last male heir of the Cieszyn Piast line. Frederick William bequeathed the Duchy of Cieszyn to his sister, Elizabeth Lucretia, which was at odds with Bohemian feudal law. It took several years before the Emperor agreed to Elizabeth Lucretia’s rule in Cieszyn, and then only as a life hold, without the right of bequeathing the Duchy to her children from her marriage with Prince Gundaker Liechtenstein. Elizabeth Lucretia’s period of rule in Cieszyn coincided with one of the most turbulent periods in European history. Although most of the battles of the Thirty Years’ War took place elsewhere, troops of both sides reached Cieszyn. In 1626 Count Mansfeld, leading the Danish armies, seized Cieszyn, again restoring the Lutheran clergy. After he left in 1627 the Princess was compelled to issue a Religious Statute in 1629 which limited participation in local government and guilds exclusively to Catholics. The effect of this was a great exodus of Lutheran residents of Cieszyn. The Princess, like her ancestors, confirmed municipal rights (in 1626) and privileges of the guilds, also concerning herself with the interests of the Lutheran community in Cieszyn. She was, after all, forced to do so. As a consequence of the war and the epidemic almost half of the houses in the town stood empty, and the Princess had above all inherited an empty treasury and huge debts, mainly guaranteed by the town, from her father and brother. In order to generate income, in spite of binding imperial prohibitions, Elizabeth Lucretia granted the lease to collect duty in the Duchy to Jews. In 1631 Jacob Singer of Ivančice near Brno settled permanently in Cieszyn, later becoming one of the Princess’ trusted servants. The Princess also attempted to increase her income by a greater emission of coinage struck in the mints of Cieszyn and Skoczów.
Troops occupied Cieszyn several more times and Elizabeth Lucretia was forced to flee to Poland. This happened again in 1646 when the town and castle were occupied by the Swedish army. After a siege of the castle by the imperial army lasting several weeks, in the spring of the following year the residence of the Cieszyn Piasts was completely devastated. Therefore the Princess spent the last years of her life in makeshift chambers on the corner of Cieszyn’s Market Square and what is now ul. Szersznika, where she was to die on 19th May 1653. An attempt to gain the Cieszyn Duchy by her oldest son, Ferdinand John Liechtenstein was foiled by the Habsburgs. It was precisely the Habsburgs, as Kings of Bohemia, who were in line to gain the Duchy after the Cieszyn line of the Piast dynasty died out. They were not discouraged by the fact that the debts that remained amounted to three times the value of the whole Duchy.
It is not known how the townspeople of Cieszyn felt when they bade farewell to the dynasty which had ruled them for several hundred years, including 360 years of rule by the local Cieszyn sub-dynasty. After the Piasts died out in 1653, the new rulers, the Habsburgs, had no reason to preserve the memory of the Piasts, and the town experienced several serious fires and a period of great economic and urban upheaval. For that reason few significant buildings or artefacts connected with the Piasts or the period of the Piasts have survived. In order to see the most important of them one should take a walk around Cieszyn, beginning at Cieszyn castle; the seat and residence of the Cieszyn rulers of the Piast dynasty.
Editing and selection of illustrations: Renata Karpińska Photographs: Renata Karpińska, Paweł Halama, Anna Fedrizzi, Joanna Rzepka, Tomasz Matysiak, Henryk Tesarczyk, Dominik Dubiel Photograph of the heller of Premislaus I: Wojciech Woźniak
Translation from Polish: Irena and David French