Oświęcim (Auschwitz), Duchy of
Substate | Defunct
1355 CE to 1457 CE
The Duchy of Oświęcim, or the Duchy of Auschwitz, is one of many Duchies of Silesia, formed in the aftermath of the fragmentation of Poland.It is established about 1315 on the Lesser Polish lands east of the Biała river held by the Silesian branch of the Polish royal Piast dynasty.
Briefly semiautonomous, with its capital in Oświęcim, it s finally sold to the Kingdom of Poland in 1457.
Annexed by the Habsburg Empire in 1772, the remaining ducal title ceases to exist in 1918 with the lands being reincorporated into the Second Polish Republic.
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The city of Oświęcim, German Auschwitz, first mentioned in 1117, had in 1179 been detached from the senior Province of Kraków and attached to the Duchy of Opole.
Oświęcim had been organized under German law (more precisely Lwówek Rights, which was a flavor of Magdeburg Law in 1270.
From 1315 Oświęcim has been a capital of independent duchy.
In 1327, John I, Duke of Oświęcim, had formed with a western part of Galicia, the Duchy of Oświęcim, and Duchy of Zator.
In the fourteenh century, many people had moved away.
At first, the Duchy of Oświęcim had fallen under the Bohemian sphere of influence, and had later passed again to the dukes from Te and Grossglogau, but had been reunited with Poland in 1454, when the last prince of Oświęcim, Jan IV Oświęcimski, had declared himself to be a vassal of Polish king Casimir IV.
The interest of the Germans in Auschwitz has shrunk and in 1457 Casimir buys the rights to Oświęcim, which is attached afterwards to the Cracow Voivodeship.