Bolesławiec (pronounced [bɔlɛˈswavʲɛt͡s] ⓘ; German: Bunzlau) is a historic city situated on the Bóbr River in the Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in south-western Poland. It is the administrative seat of Bolesławiec County, and of Gmina Bolesławiec (being an urban gmina in its own right). As of June 2021, it has a population of 38,280. Founded in the 13th century, the city is known for its long-standing pottery-making tradition and heritage Old Town.
Etymology
The name Bolesławiec is a patronymic name derived from the Slavic name Bolesław, composed of two elements of the old Polish, currently unused term bole(j) meaning very and sław meaning fame. This name literally means "very famous" and was given to the city in honor of the founder Bolesław I the Tall, who founded the city around 1190, granting it numerous privileges. In his list of place names in Silesia, published in Wrocław in 1888, Heinrich Adamy mentions the name of the city recorded in a document from 1196 - Boleslawez, giving its meaning Stadt des Boleslaw I (Polish: City of Bolesław I).
The town, under the Latinized name castrum Boleslavec, is mentioned in a Latin document from 1277 signed by the Polish prince Bolesław (Latin: Boleslaus dux Polonie). In 1295, in the Latin chronicle Liber fundationis episcopatus Vratislaviensis, the town was mentioned under the Latinized name Boleslavia and Boleslawetz, Bolezlavitz.
The name of the town in the Latinized form Boleslavicz is mentioned in a Latin document from 1312 issued in Głogów. In a medieval document written in Latin from October 31, 1310, the city is mentioned under the Latinized name Boleslauia. In 1475, in the Latin statutes Statuta Synodalia Episcoporum Wratislaviensium, the town was mentioned under the Latinized name Boleslauia. In 1613, the Silesian regionalist and historian Mikołaj Henel from Prudnik mentioned the town in his work on the geography of Silesia entitled Silesiographia giving its Latin name: Boleslavia.
The German name Bunzlau, which has been present since the 13th century, is a Germanized form derived from the Polish name. In the work of the Swiss geographer Matthäus Merian entitled "Topographia Bohemiae, Moraviae et Silesiae" from 1650 mentions the city under the name Boleslau.
In 1750, the Polish name Bolesławiec was mentioned in Polish by Frederick II among other Silesian cities in an official ordinance issued for the inhabitants of Silesia. The name of the city as Bolesław was mentioned by the Silesian writer Józef Lompa in the book "A short sketch of the jeography of Silesia for initial science" published in Głogówek in 1847. The Polish name Bolesławiec and the German name Bunzlau were mentioned in 1896 by the Silesian writer Konstanty Damrot in a book on local names in Silesia. In his book, Damrot also mentions older names from Latin documents: 1377 - Boleslawcze, 1417 - Boleslawicz, 1446 - Boleslavice.
The Geographical Dictionary of the Kingdom of Poland gives two names of the town: the Polish name Bolesławiec and the German Bunzlau.
The current name was officially approved in 1946.
History
Palaeolithic era (c. 10,000 – c. 8300 BC)
The oldest traces of human habitation in the Bolesławiec area date from the younger phase of the Late Palaeolithic, i.e. around 10 000 BC. In 1974, on the high terrace of the Bóbr River in Bobrowice near Szprotawa, flint tools from this period were found (a Lyngby type leaf with two fragments of splinters). At the same time, in Golnice near Bolesławiec, also on the terrace of a tributary of the Bóbr River, similar wares were discovered (an asymmetrical thylakus with a retouched base and two large scale fragments of splinters). The location of the finds is closely related to the mountainous character of the Bóbr. The valley of this river, 500 to 3,500 m wide, was under water in the spring and during continuous rainfall. The groundwater level meant that it drained slowly. As a result, the valley was difficult to access for a long time. For their own safety, late Palaeolithic man therefore stayed in the area in areas that protected him from the water element.
Mesolithic era (c. 8300 – c. 4500 BC)
In the Beaver basin, 45 sites dating to the Mesolithic era have been discovered, from Bolesławiec to Krosno Odrzańskie. All of them, as in the Palaeolithic, are situated at the edges of valleys, on higher terraces or dunes, mainly on the southern or south-western side. The finds discovered are encampments ranging in size from 2–3 acres to 1 ha (in this case it would have been several small functional sites at the time), where few flint wares were found. The people living in the Beaver basin at that time arrived here at the end of the Palaeolithic from the so-called Federmesser and Ahrensburg cultures. After the climate warmed up, the remaining population here participated in the emergence of a Mesolithic community, referred to as the Protocomornic group. After further warming, however, they left the Bober region and a post-Maglemian population, probably from the Chojnice-Pienkowskie culture, arrived in the area at the end of the Boreal period. They were mainly involved in the exploitation of the forest and water environment (hunting, fishing). The end of Mesolithic settlement occurred at the end of the 2nd Neolithic period.
Neolithic Age (c. 4500 – 1800 BC)
The Bolesławiec area was also penetrated in the Neolithic Age, especially by tribes of the corded ware culture. This is confirmed by a site of this culture discovered in Bolesławice (stone axe). The largest concentrations of settlements occurred in the Głogowska-Barycka Proglacial Valley, the Silesian Lowlands and the Raciborsk Basin, in places with the most fertile soils and somewhat depleted forests. Due to the considerable mobility of the tribes of this culture, it is thought that their farming methods were dominated by herding and some forms of pastoralism. Over time, the people of this culture were assimilated by an incoming community using better bronze products.
Bronze Age (1800 – 700 BC)
The most important archaeological culture of the Bronze Age was the Lusatian culture, preceded by the Pre-Lusatian culture, which, without losing its grave character, produced a whole range of local features. It was located between the Kaczawa River and the upper Beaver and Szprotawa Rivers. The settlement stabilisation of the people of this culture in Silesia, Saxony, Lusatia and Greater Poland probably took place at this time. An ear pin with a decorated head was found from this period of the so-called Classic Phase of the Prolongation Culture in Bobrowice near Szprotawa. In turn, a bronze hatchet with a rim was found in Osiecznica, not far from Bolesławiec. Although traces of Lusatian people have been found on the banks of almost the entire course of the Bóbr River, the area is not one of the large settlement areas (except in the vicinity of Żagań and Nowogród Bobrzański). A dozen or so sites discovered in the vicinity of Bolesławiec indicate, however, a rather intensive penetration of this part of the lands on the Bóbr River by communities of the Lusatian culture. These sites (cemeteries) are located, among others, in Bolesławiec, Bolesławice, Buczek Mały, Kruszyna-Godnów, Rakowice-Otok.
Iron Age (Late Roman period 400–500 AD)
The short Halstadt period (700–400 BC), in which the Lusatian culture collapsed, was followed by the Lateen Age (in the vicinity of Wrocław dated to between the 4th century BC and the end of the 2nd century AD). The Bolesławiec area was outside the influence of the 'Celtic' cultural groups. Despite this, a bronze clasp with a free heel and shield was found in Bolesławiec. It represents a rare specimen of a Munssingen clasp with a chord wrapped around the bail. The second of the fibulae, an iron one with a free heel and a small decorated ball, belongs to the late version of the Duchcow clasp (named after a treasure in Duchcow). Both are early Late Late forms. It is presumed that these finds indicate the existence of an additional route of contact between the Celts and the North. In the area of Szprotawa and Stara Kopernia near Żagań, iron covalvic clasps have been discovered in graves of the Pomeranian culture. At the end of the 2nd century A.D., the place of the Celts was taken by the people of the Luboszycki culture (mid 2nd century – 4th–5th century A.D.). Research into settlement in this area in the pre-Roman period and the Roman influence, with the exception of loose finds and pottery proving the existence of a settlement, has so far not confirmed the existence of a settlement here. This is because it was located on the borderline between the Luboszycka culture and the Legnic region of the Przeworsk culture. The aforementioned finds from the period of Roman influence (1st century BC – 6th century AD) are not impressive. Between 1932 and 1933, two Roman coins (one bronze) were discovered in Bolesławice, which were in private possession and are now considered lost. Much earlier (1820) a Roman denarius with a spear blade was discovered in Bolesławiec, followed in 1941 by a denarius of Gordian III from the years 238–244. These coins may prove the existence of a trade route in the area as early as the first half of the 1st millennium. What draws attention, however, is the discovery of a settlement (pottery) of the Luboszycki culture in Bolesławiec. Slightly further north of the city, in Parkoszów, a cemetery of this culture was found with five graves equipped with pottery and fragments of corpses as well as melted glass and a fragment of a comb. It is thought that settlement during this period occupied a small area along the Beaver River.
Bolesławiec in medieval Poland
The Slavs arrived in Silesia in the 7th century, but no traces of their residence at that time have been found in the Bolesławiec area, nor have the remains of the so-called Sukow-Szeligii culture, which covered, inter alia, Western Pomerania, Mecklenburg, Brandenburg, Lusatia, Płock Mazovia, Greater Poland, Silesia and probably temporarily southern Lesser Poland. It occurred in the northern areas of Lower Silesia near Ślęza. The settlement situation in the Bolesławiec area in the 8th century is similarly unclear. According to some researchers, this area was part of the Tornow-Klenica zone, which included part of Lusatia, the Lubusz Land, part of Greater Poland and the northern territories of Lower Silesia. As before, sites confirming that Bolesławiec belonged to this zone have not yet been discovered. The first finds confirming the existence of a settlement in Bolesławiec at the turn of the 8th and 9th centuries are extremely valuable due to their form. This is because the end of a belt of the so-called Blatnica type was found, coming from the Blatnica-Mikulżice zone dated to 790–830. It is distinguished by wares created after the fall of the Avar caganate, referring to Western wares. The end of the belt found in Bolesławiec has Carolingian features. The spur found, on the other hand, is an imitation of early Carolingian wares. Thus, Bolesławiec is located on the border of the Early Carolingian influence, covering the Elbe Slavs, and then a belt east of the Oder and Lusatian Neisse up to Bolesławiec, and then as far as the Ślęza region and in a south-western direction covering Bohemia. An extremely important find is an iron bowl of the so-called Silesian type. Recently, it has been increasingly regarded as the original form of non-ruble money, which was superseded in Moravia and Malopolska by its more perfect form - the axe-like fine. The Bolesławiec bowl is the westernmost find of a fairly compact zone of such products in Silesia. After Silesia entered the circle of influence of the Great Moravian state, the Great Moravian influence, which is evident in the neighbouring Třebovian or Dziadoszan areas, did not reach the Boleslav region. Similarly, the Bohemian influences evident in the first tribe did not reach here.