Reichenberg, or Liberec, now in the northern Czech Republic and situated in the valley of the Luzická Nisa (German: Lausitzer Neisse) River amid the Giant (Krkonoše) Mountains, had been founded in the thirteenth century.

First mentioned in a document from 1348, chartered in 1577, the city begins in 1579 to host the cloth-making industry.

It will soon become an important textile center, manufacturing chiefly broadcloth, rugs, tapestries, and cotton and silk fabrics.