Lwówek Śląski

Mural commemorating the granting of town rights by Henry the Bearded in 1217

The vicinity of present-day Lwówek Śląski, densely wooded and located on the inner side of the unsettled[2] Silesian Przesieka[3] within the medieval Kingdom of Poland was gradually cleared and populated by German peasants in the first half of the 13th century during the Ostsiedlung.[4] The town was founded by Duke of Poland Henry the Bearded who designated it for an administrative centre in a previously uninhabited, borderline Polish–Lusatian territory.[5] In 1209 Henry granted it important privileges, such as rights to brew, mill, fish, and hunt within a mile from settlement.[6] German colonists expanded[7] upon the preexisting settlement and in 1217 it was granted town rights by Henry the Bearded, as one of the first cities in Poland[8] (Opole and Racibórz received town rights that same year, earlier only Złotoryja); its style of governance was duplicated by other local towns, such as Bolesławiec, as Löwenberg Rights or Lwówek Śląski Rights.[9] In 1243 Duke Bolesław II Rogatka organized the first knight tournament in Poland in the town.[10] The dukes then constructed a castle, documented for the first time in 1248. In the 13th century Franciscans and Knights Hospitaller settled in the town.[6] As a result of the fragmentation of Poland, it was part of the Duchy of Legnica from 1248, the Duchy of Jawor from 1274, from 1278 to 1286 it was the capital of an eponymous duchy under its only duke Bernard the Lightsome,[8] who took the title of a Duke of Silesia and Lord of Lwówek, and afterwards it was again part of the Duchy of Jawor, which was soon included in the larger Duchy of Świdnica-Jawor,[6][8] part of which it remained until its dissolution in 1392. In 1327 the town received the right to mint its own coin from Duke Henry I of Jawor, before Wrocław.[6] In 1329 it was one of the largest cities in Silesia.[8] In the 13th and 14th centuries distinctive landmarks of Lwówek were built, including the defensive walls with the Lubańska and Bolesławiecka towers, the town hall (later expanded) and the Gothic churches of St. Mary and of St. Francis.

After the death of Duchess Agnes of Habsburg, the widow of Bolko II, the last Polish Piast Duke of Świdnica, the town with the duchy passed to the Kingdom of Bohemia in 1392.[6] Löwenberg's placement on a trade route allowed it to become one of the more prosperous towns in Bohemia. In 1469 it passed to Hungary and in 1490 again to Bohemia, then ruled by Polish prince Vladislaus II Jagiellon, son of King Casimir IV of Poland. In 1498 Vladislaus II granted the coat of arms, still used today.[8] The town remained under the rule of the Jagiellonian dynasty until 1526 when it passed with the Bohemian Crown to the Habsburg monarchy of Austria. During the Thirty Years' War, Löwenberg was devastated by Swedish and Imperial troops, especially between 1633 and 1643. By the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, the town was largely destroyed and had a decimated population of only hundreds.

Löwenberg slowly recovered during its reconstruction, but began to prosper again after its acquisition by the Kingdom of Prussia in 1741 during the Silesian Wars. Troops of the First French Empire occupied Löwenberg in May 1813, and Napoleon Bonaparte stayed in the town from August 21–23 while organizing his defenses against the Prussian troops of General Gebhard von Blücher. Following Macdonald's retreat after the Battle of the Katzbach with Blucher, General Puthod’s Division, including Vacherau's Brigade (The Irish Regiment, 134th & 143rd Regiments), became isolated from the rest of the army. The River Bober (Bóbr) had risen out of its banks from the heavy rains and the bridges were underwater. The division had been reduced to six thousand men and twelve pieces of artillery. On the morning of 29 August, they reached the town of Lowenberg. It took up the best position it could find, on the narrow ridge above Plakowice, with its back to the river. All the bridges had been washed away and there was no possibility of constructing a bridge with the river flooding its banks on both sides. A combined Russian and Prussian Army of overwhelming superiority faced the Division but could only attack at the one narrow south-eastern end of the ridge. The battle began at 8:00 am and lasted until after 4:00 pm. When the Division had expended the last of its ammunition, the enemy attacked and overran its position. Most of the officers waded into the river and swam to the opposite shore. The riverbed itself was not terribly wide although the current was strong. They were able to wade about half the distance, swim a short way, and walk through the water to dry land. The total French casualties of killed, wounded, drowned and captured were more the 3,000.

Löwenberg was included within the Province of Silesia after the 1814 Prussian administrative reorganization. Like the rest of the Kingdom of Prussia, the town became part of the German Empire in 1871 during the unification of Germany. It became part of the Prussian Province of Lower Silesia after World War I. In the interwar period and during World War II there was an economic recession.[8]

In the last days of World War II, Löwenberg's medieval center was 40% destroyed and numerous Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque buildings were lost. After Germany's defeat in the war, Lwówek Śląski became a part of Poland in accordance with the Potsdam Agreement. The German population has been expelled and the town was repopulated by Poles, some of whom were expelled from former eastern Poland annexed by the Soviet Union, while some were settlers from war-devastated central Poland or former prisoners of German Nazi concentration camps and forced labour camps.

The coat of arms of Lwówek Śląski is a vertically divided shield depicting the red-white chessboard of the Świdnica Piasts in the sinister field and a right-facing crowned red lion in the dexter field.

• Graph of population of the city of Lwówek Śląski, over the last 2 centuries:

• Nikolaus von Reusner (1545–1602), jurist
• Martin Moller (1547–1606), mystic
• Georg Schultze (1599–1634), jurist
• Esaias Reusner (1636–1679), lutist and composer
• Franz Schmidt (1818–1853), preacher, representative in the Frankfurt Parliament in 1848, fled to Switzerland, then to St. Louis, MO, USA; founder of the German Lyceum there.
• Günther Klammt (1898–1971), major-general
• Eberhard Zwirner (1899–1984), physician and phonetician
• Stefan Hüfner (1935–2013), physicist
• Krzysztof Zawadzki (born 1970), actor
• Lucjan Błaszczyk (born 1974), table tennis player
• Anna Rostkowska (born 1980), Polish Olympic athlete

See twin towns of Gmina Lwówek Śląski.

• 
  Defensive walls
• 
  Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary
• 
  Town hall interior
• 
  The remaining tower of the Protestant Church
• 
  City park
• 
  Renaissance Płakowice Castle
• 
  Gmina office

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lwówek Śląski.

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article "Löwenberg".

• Official website (in Polish)