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Legnica (Polish: [lɛɡˈɲit͡sa] ⓘ; German: Liegnitz, [ˈliːɡnɪts] ⓘ; Czech: Lehnice) is a city in southwestern Poland, in the central part of Lower Silesia, on the Kaczawa River and the Czarna Woda. As well as being the seat of the county, since 1992 the city has been the seat of the Diocese of Legnica. As of 2023, Legnica had a population of 97,300 inhabitants.
The city was first referenced in chronicles dating from the year 1004, although previous settlements could be traced back to the 7th century. The name "Legnica" was mentioned in 1149 under High Duke of Poland Bolesław IV the Curly. Legnica was most likely the seat of Bolesław and it became the residence of the dukes of Legnica from 1248 until 1675. Legnica is a city over which the Piast dynasty reigned the longest, for about 700 years, from the time of ruler Mieszko I of Poland after the creation of the Polish state in the 10th century, until 1675 and the death of the last Piast duke George William. Legnica is one of the historical burial sites of Polish monarchs and consorts.
Legnica became renowned for the fierce battle that took place at Legnickie Pole near the city on 9 April 1241 during the first Mongol invasion of Poland, which ended in the defeat of the Polish-led Christian coalition by the Mongols.
Legnica is an economic, cultural and academic centre in Lower Silesia, together with Wrocław. The city is renowned for its varied architecture, spanning from early medieval to modern period, and its partially reconstructed Old Town with the Piast Castle, one of the largest in Poland. According to the Foreign direct investment ranking (FDI) from 2016, Legnica is one of the most progressive high-income cities in the Silesian region.
As of 31 December 2012 Legnica has 102,708 inhabitants and is the third largest city in the voivodeship (after Wrocław and Wałbrzych) and 38th in Poland. It also constitutes the southernmost and the largest urban center of a copper deposit (Legnicko-Głogowski Okręg Miedziowy) with agglomeration of 448,617 inhabitants. Legnica is the largest city of the conurbation and is a member of the Association of Polish Cities.
Archaeological research conducted in eastern Legnica in the late 1970s, showed the existence of a bronze foundry and the graves of three metallurgists. The find indicates a time interval about year 1000 BC.
A settlement of the Lusatian culture people existed in the 8th century BC. After invasions of Celts beyond upper Danube basin, the area of Legnica and north foothills of Sudetes was infiltrated by Celtic settlers and traders.
Tacitus and Ptolemy recorded the ancient nation of Lugii (Lygii) in the area, and mentioned their town of Lugidunum, which has been attributed to both Legnica and Głogów.
Slavic Lechitic tribes moved into the area in the 8th century.
The city was first officially mentioned in chronicles from 1004, although settlement dates to the 7th century. Dendrochronological research proves that during the reign of Mieszko I of Poland, a new fortified settlement was built here in a style typical of the early Piast dynasty.
At the beginning of the 12th century, Legnica was an important castellan stronghold in Silesia, strategically located within rivers Czarna/Kaczawa marshland. After the death of Bolesław III Wrymouth in 1138, which began a period of feudal fragmentation of Poland, Legnica and all of Silesia first fell under the rule of Władysław II the Exile. Then, after Władysław's expulsion in 1146, it came under the control of Bolesław IV the Curly, who already was the Senior Duke of Poland.
During this time, Legnica essentially became Bolesław the Curly's important residence, especially in his dyplomatic activity context. His frequent sometimes long-lasting presence here helped the settlement at the foot of the stronghold grow quickly. It began to take on the characteristics of a proto-city, developing as a natural support center for the ducal court. Here, merchants and artisans thrived, serving the needs of the duke, his retinue, and the local population. The court's demand for goods and services boosted the settlement's growth. Although it wasn't formally a city under municipal charter yet, it increasingly resembled an urban economic hub. Evidence of its early urban development also includes the construction of the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Its initial building phases, likely dating back to the 12th century, show the settlement's growing importance and its residents' spiritual needs.It is known that High Duke Bolesław IV the Curly funded here at the St. Benedict monastery chapel in year 1149. Also archaeological discoveries, such as a 13th-century mosaic found near this church in Legnica's Old Town, further illustrate the increasing cultural and urban significance of this place in the later Middle Ages, continuing trends that began in the 12th century. Based on fields as medieval economic history, historical demography, medieval urbanisation, historical analogy its logical to assume that around 1160 Legnica reached circa 2,500-2,700 inhabitants (including the main groups: craftsmen, fishers, servants, traders, clergy, retinue, knights, and the garrison).
Bolesław's period in Legnica, as the Poland senior's residence, lasted until around the mid-1160s, when Bolesław the Tall, son of Władysław the Exile, returned to Silesia. In 1163, Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, through diplomatic channels (the treaty was signed in Nuremberg), forced Bolesław the Curly to return the sons of Władysław the Exile to their father's district. The reason Bolesław the Curly agreed to accept the exiles this time was that after Władysław's death, his sons, being younger than him and lacking support in Poland, did not pose a direct threat to his Senior position, and Bolesław's return to Silesia ultimately neutralized the threat of Imperial intervention. Bolesław the Curly adequately secured his position by retaining military garrisons in the main strongholds of the Silesian province (Legnica, as well as Głogów, Wrocław, Opole, and Racibórz).
Later Legnica became famous for the battle that took place at Legnickie Pole near the city on 9 April 1241 during the First Mongol invasion of Poland. The Christian army of the Polish duke Henry II the Pious of Silesia, supported by feudal nobility, which included in addition to Poles, Bavarian miners and military orders and Czech troops, was decisively defeated by the Mongols. The Mongols killed Henry and destroyed his forces, then turned south to rejoin the rest of the Mongol armies, which were massing at the Plain of Mohi in Hungary via Moravia against a coalition of King Bela IV and his armies, and Bela's Kipchak allies.
Legnica was the seat of an eponymous principality that lasted from 1248 until 1675.
After the war, nonetheless, the city was developing rapidly. In 1258 at the church of St. Peter, a parish school was established, probably the first of its kind in Poland. Around 1278 a Dominican monastery was founded by Bolesław II the Horned, who was buried there as the only monarch of Poland to be buried in Legnica. Already by 1300 there was a city council in Legnica. Duke Bolesław III the Generous granted new trade privileges in 1314 and 1318 and allowed the construction of a town hall, and in 1337 the first waterworks were built. In the years 1327–1380 a new Gothic church of Saint Peter (today's Cathedral) was erected in place of the old one, and is one of Legnica's landmarks since. Also by the 14th century the city walls were erected. In 1345 the first coins were produced in the local mint. In 1374, the potters' guild was founded, as one of the oldest in Silesia. Queen consort of Poland Hedwig of Sagan died in Legnica in 1390 and was buried in the local collegiate church, which has not survived to this day.
As the capital of the Duchy of Legnica at the beginning of the 14th century, Legnica was one of the most important cities of Central Europe, having a population of nearly 16,000 residents. The city began to expand quickly after the discovery of gold in the Kaczawa River between Legnica and Złotoryja (Goldberg). Unfortunately, such a growth rate can not be maintained long. Shortly after the city reached its maximum population increase, wooden buildings which had been erected during this period of rapid growth were devastated by a huge fire. The fire decreased the number of inhabitants in the city and halted any significant further development for many decades.
The Duchy of Legnica became a vassal of the Kingdom of Bohemia during the 14th century, and later of Hungary, however remained ruled by local dukes of the Polish Piast dynasty. In 1454, a local rebellion prevented Legnica from falling under direct rule of the Bohemian kings. In 1505, Duke Frederick II of Legnica met in Legnica with the duke of nearby Głogów, Sigismund I the Old, the future king of Poland.
The Protestant Reformation was introduced in the duchy as early as 1522 and the population became Lutheran. In 1526, a Protestant university was established in Legnica, which, however, was closed in 1529. In 1528 the first printing house in Legnica was established. After the death of King Louis II of Hungary and Bohemia at Mohács in 1526, Legnica became a fief of the Habsburg monarchy of Austria. The first map of Silesia was made by native son Martin Helwig. The city suffered during the Thirty Years' War. In 1633 a plague epidemic broke out, and in 1634 the Austrian army destroyed the suburbs.
In 1668 Duke of Legnica Christian presented his candidacy to the Polish throne, however, in the 1669 Polish–Lithuanian royal election he wasn't chosen as King. In 1676, Legnica passed to direct Habsburg rule after the death of the last Silesian Piast duke and the last Piast duke overall, George William (son of Duke Christian), despite the earlier inheritance pact by Brandenburg and Silesia, by which it was to go to Brandenburg. The last Piast duke was buried in the St. John's church in Legnica in 1676.
Silesian aristocracy was trained at the Liegnitz Ritter-Akademie, established in the early 18th century. One of two main routes connecting Warsaw and Dresden ran through the city in the 18th century and Kings Augustus II the Strong and Augustus III of Poland traveled that route many times. The postal milestone of King Augustus II comes from that period.
In 1742 most of Silesia, including Liegnitz, became part of the Kingdom of Prussia after King Frederick the Great's defeat of Austria in the War of the Austrian Succession. In 1760 during the Seven Years' War, Liegnitz was the site of the Battle of Liegnitz when Frederick's army defeated an Austrian army led by Laudon.
During the Napoleonic Wars and Polish national liberation fights, in 1807 Polish uhlans were stationed in the city, and in 1813, the Prussians, under Field Marshal Blücher, defeated the French forces of MacDonald in the Battle of Katzbach (Kaczawa) nearby. After the administrative reorganization of the Prussian state following the Congress of Vienna, Liegnitz and the surrounding territory (Landkreis Liegnitz) were incorporated into the Regierungsbezirk (administrative district) of Liegnitz, within the Province of Silesia on 1 May 1816. Along with the rest of Prussia, the town became part of the German Empire in 1871 during the unification of Germany. On 1 January 1874 Liegnitz became the third city in Lower Silesia (after Breslau and Görlitz) to be raised to an urban district, although the district administrator of the surrounding Landkreis of Liegnitz continued to have his seat in the city. Its military garrison was home to Königsgrenadier-Regiment Nr. 7 a military unit formed almost exclusively out of Polish soldiers.
The census of 1910 gave Liegnitz's population as 95.86% German, 0.15% German and Polish, 1.27% Polish, 2.26% Wendish, and 0.19% Czech. On 1 April 1937 parts of the Landkreis of Liegnitz communities of Alt Beckern (Piekary), Groß Beckern (Piekary Wielkie), Hummel, Liegnitzer Vorwerke, Pfaffendorf (Piątnica) und Prinkendorf (Przybków) were incorporated into the city limits. After the Treaty of Versailles following World War I, Liegnitz was part of the newly created Province of Lower Silesia from 1919 to 1938, then of the Province of Silesia from 1938 to 1941, and again of the province of Lower Silesia from 1941 to 1945. After the Nazi Party came to power in Germany, as early as 1933, a boycott of local Jewish premises was ordered, during the Kristallnacht in 1938 the synagogue was burned down, and in 1939 the local Polish population was terrorized and persecuted. A Nazi court prison was operated in the city with a forced labour subcamp. During World War II, several members of the Polish resistance movement were imprisoned and sentenced to death there. The Germans also established two forced labour camps in the city, as well as two prisoner of war labor subcamps of the POW camp located in Żagań (then Sagan), and one labor subcamp of the Stalag VIII-A POW camp in Zgorzelec (then Görlitz).
After the defeat of Nazi Germany, the city was transferred to Poland following the Potsdam Conference in 1945, although with a Soviet-installed communist regime, which stayed in power until the Fall of Communism in the 1980s. The majority of the German population either fled or was expelled from the city.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Legnica”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.