Osiek is a town in

Staszów County __NOTOC__ Staszów County ( pl, powiat staszowski) is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, south-central Poland. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local g ...

Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship The Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, also known as the Świętokrzyskie Province, and the Holy Cross Voivodeship ( pl, województwo świętokrzyskie ) is a voivodeship ( province) of Poland situated in southeastern part of the country, in the his ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

, with 2,001 inhabitants (2010). The town lies in

Lesser Poland Lesser Poland, often known by its Polish name Małopolska ( la, Polonia Minor), is a historical region situated in southern and south-eastern Poland. Its capital and largest city is Kraków. Throughout centuries, Lesser Poland developed a ...

, along the National Road nr. 79, which goes from

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officiall ...

Bytom Bytom (Polish pronunciation: ; Silesian: ''Bytōm, Bytōń'', german: Beuthen O.S.) is a city in Upper Silesia, in southern Poland. Located in the Silesian Voivodeship of Poland, the city is 7 km northwest of Katowice, the regional capi ...

. Osiek is located 15 kilometers northeast of Połaniec, and 18 kilometers west of

Tarnobrzeg Tarnobrzeg is a city in south-eastern Poland (historic Lesser Poland), on the east bank of the river Vistula, with 49,419 inhabitants, as of 31 December 2009. Situated in the Subcarpathian Voivodeship (Polish: ''Województwo podkarpackie'') sinc ...

, 180 meters above sea level. The town received

Magdeburg rights Magdeburg rights (german: Magdeburger Recht; also called Magdeburg Law) were a set of town privileges first developed by Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor (936–973) and based on the Flemish Law, which regulated the degree of internal autonomy within ...

in 1430, was stripped of the charter in 1869, and remained a village until 1 July 1994. Its main point of interest is St. Stanisław parish church, built in the late 17th century. Osiek has a rail station called ''Osiek Staszowski'', on a secondary importance line which joins Tarnobrzeg with Włoszczowice. Osiek is one of the oldest towns in the region. According to legends, in 1020 King

Bolesław Chrobry Boleslav or Bolesław may refer to: In people: * Boleslaw (given name) In geography: *Bolesław, Dąbrowa County, Lesser Poland Voivodeship, Poland *Bolesław, Olkusz County, Lesser Poland Voivodeship, Poland *Bolesław, Silesian Voivodeship, Pol ...

presented the village called ''Ossziek'' to the Benedictine Monastery at Święty Krzyż. In 1253 the name of the village was spelled ''Ossek''. It belonged to Princes of

Sandomierz Sandomierz (pronounced: ; la, Sandomiria) is a historic town in south-eastern Poland with 23,863 inhabitants (as of 2017), situated on the Vistula River in the Sandomierz Basin. It has been part of Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship (Holy Cross Prov ...

, and had its own marketplace. In 1270, Osiek was the property of Prince

Bolesław V the Chaste Bolesław V the Chaste ( pl, Bolesław Wstydliwy; 21 June 1226 – 7 December 1279) was Duke of Sandomierz in Lesser Poland from 1232 and High Duke of Poland from 1243 until his death, as the last male representative of the Lesser Polish branch o ...

. Its residents took advantage of a favorable location, along a merchant route from

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula, Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland un ...

, through Sandomierz and

Lublin Lublin is the ninth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest city of historical Lesser Poland. It is the capital and the center of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 336,339 (December 2021). Lublin is the largest Polish city east of ...

, to the

Grand Duchy of Lithuania The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a European state that existed from the 13th century to 1795, when the territory was Partitions of Poland, partitioned among the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia, and the Habsburg Empire, Habsburg Empire of ...

. Many

Piast dynasty The House of Piast was the first historical ruling dynasty of Poland. The first documented Polish monarch was Duke Mieszko I (c. 930–992). The Piasts' royal rule in Poland ended in 1370 with the death of king Casimir III the Great. Branch ...

princes would stop here during their trips across the country. Osiek most likely was a fortified gord, and in the mid-14th century, King

Kazimierz Wielki Casimir III the Great ( pl, Kazimierz III Wielki; 30 April 1310 – 5 November 1370) reigned as the King of Poland from 1333 to 1370. He also later became King of Ruthenia in 1340, and fought to retain the title in the Galicia-Volhynia Wars. He ...

built (or strengthened) a local castle. Osiek was burned in the Mongol invasion of Poland, but the village was quickly rebuilt. In 1430, King

Władysław Jagiełło Władysław is a Polish given male name, cognate with Vladislav. The feminine form is Władysława, archaic forms are Włodzisław (male) and Włodzisława (female), and Wladislaw is a variation. These names may refer to: Famous people Mononym * ...

granted it the

, allowing the town to organize weekly markets on Wednesdays. Osiek was a

private town A private town is a town owned by a private person or a family. History of Private Towns in Poland In the history of Poland, private towns (''miasta prywatne'') were towns within the lands owned by magnates, bishops, knights, princes, etc. ...

, owned by local

szlachta The ''szlachta'' (Polish: endonym, Lithuanian: šlėkta) were the noble estate of the realm in the Kingdom of Poland, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth who, as a class, had the dominating position in ...

families. It prospered during the

Polish Golden Age The Polish Golden Age was the Renaissance period in Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, roughly corresponding to the period of rule of the King Sigismund I the Old and his son, Sigismund II Augustus, the last of the Jagiellonian Dynasty monar ...

, when it was part of the

Sandomierz Voivodeship Sandomierz Voivodeship ( pl, Województwo Sandomierskie, la, Palatinatus Sandomirensis) was a unit of administration and local government in Poland from the 14th century to the partitions of Poland in 1772–1795. It was part of the Lesser Polan ...

. In the second half of the 16th century, its population amounted to 1,000, with a number of

guild A guild ( ) is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular area. The earliest types of guild formed as organizations of tradesmen belonging to a professional association. They sometim ...

s, such as bakers, butchers, blacksmiths, tailors, potmakers, and millers. Osiek had 100 houses, and a wooden parish church of St. Stanisław. The decline of the town was brought by the

Swedish invasion of Poland The Deluge ( pl, potop szwedzki, lt, švedų tvanas) was a series of mid-17th-century military campaigns in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. In a wider sense it applies to the period between the Khmelnytsky Uprising of 1648 and the Truce ...

(1655–1660). Like almost all Lesser Poland's towns, Osiek was ransacked and burned, and never recovered from the destruction. Until the

Partitions of Poland The Partitions of Poland were three partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth that took place toward the end of the 18th century and ended the existence of the state, resulting in the elimination of sovereign Poland and Lithuania for 12 ...

, it remained within borders of the Sandomierz Voivodeship, and since 1815, it was part of the Russian-controlled

Congress Poland Congress Poland, Congress Kingdom of Poland, or Russian Poland, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland, was a polity created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna as a semi-autonomous Polish state, a successor to Napoleon's Duchy of Warsaw. I ...

. The town further declined in the 19th century, losing its charter in 1869, after

January Uprising The January Uprising ( pl, powstanie styczniowe; lt, 1863 metų sukilimas; ua, Січневе повстання; russian: Польское восстание; ) was an insurrection principally in Russia's Kingdom of Poland that was aimed at ...

. Osiek was destroyed in both world wars, during the

Invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week af ...

(September 1939), retreating units of the

Polish Army The Land Forces () are the land forces of the Polish Armed Forces. They currently contain some 62,000 active personnel and form many components of the European Union and NATO deployments around the world. Poland's recorded military history stre ...

fought here a battle with the

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the '' Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previo ...

, in which app. 100 Poles died. As a result of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

and

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

destruction, there are no other historic buildings in Osiek, except for the parish church.

Demographics

According to the 2011 Polish census, there were 2,001 people residing in Osiek, of whom 50% were male and 50% were female. In the town, the population consisted of 21.2% inhabitants under the age of 18; 38.6% between the age of 18 and 44; 23.6% from 45 to 64; and 16.6% residents who were 65 years of age or older.

Figure 1. Population pyramid in 2010 – by age group and sex

ImageSize = width:420 height:331 PlotArea = left:70 right:15 top:30 bottom:50 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal AlignBars = justify Colors = id:gray1 value:gray(0.9) id:blue1 value:rgb(0.2,0.7,0.8) legend:Male id:red1 value:rgb(1,0.5,0.5) legend:Female id:green1 value:rgb(0,1,0) Legend = orientation:horizontal top:331 left:185 TextData = pos:(205,20) textcolor:black fontsize:S text:Osiek in 2010 DateFormat = yyyy Period = from:-83 till:83 ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:83 start:-83 gridcolor:gray1 PlotData = bar:85+ color:blue1 width:1 from:-17 till:0 width:12 text:17 textcolor:black fontsize:8px bar:85+ color:red1 width:1 from:0 till:17 width:12 text:17 textcolor:black fontsize:8px bar:80-84 color:blue1 width:1 from:-24 till:0 width:12 text:24 textcolor:black fontsize:8px bar:80-84 color:red1 width:1 from:0 till:26 width:12 text:26 textcolor:black fontsize:8px bar:75-79 color:blue1 width:1 from:-17 till:0 width:12 text:17 textcolor:black fontsize:8px bar:75-79 color:red1 width:1 from:0 till:41 width:12 text:41 textcolor:black fontsize:8px bar:70-74 color:blue1 width:1 from:-21 till:0 width:12 text:21 textcolor:black fontsize:8px bar:70-74 color:red1 width:1 from:0 till:40 width:12 text:40 textcolor:black fontsize:8px bar:65-69 color:blue1 width:1 from:-47 till:0 width:12 text:47 textcolor:black fontsize:8px bar:65-69 color:red1 width:1 from:0 till:34 width:12 text:34 textcolor:black fontsize:8px bar:60-64 color:blue1 width:1 from:-53 till:0 width:12 text:53 textcolor:black fontsize:8px bar:60-64 color:red1 width:1 from:0 till:48 width:12 text:48 textcolor:black fontsize:8px bar:55-59 color:blue1 width:1 from:-63 till:0 width:12 text:63 textcolor:black fontsize:8px bar:55-59 color:red1 width:1 from:0 till:65 width:12 text:65 textcolor:black fontsize:8px bar:50-54 color:blue1 width:1 from:-82 till:0 width:12 text:82 textcolor:black fontsize:8px bar:50-54 color:red1 width:1 from:0 till:68 width:12 text:68 textcolor:black fontsize:8px bar:45-49 color:blue1 width:1 from:-77 till:0 width:12 text:77 textcolor:black fontsize:8px bar:45-49 color:red1 width:1 from:0 till:64 width:12 text:64 textcolor:black fontsize:8px bar:40-44 color:blue1 width:1 from:-50 till:0 width:12 text:50 textcolor:black fontsize:8px bar:40-44 color:red1 width:1 from:0 till:63 width:12 text:63 textcolor:black fontsize:8px bar:35-39 color:blue1 width:1 from:-80 till:0 width:12 text:80 textcolor:black fontsize:8px bar:35-39 color:red1 width:1 from:0 till:70 width:12 text:70 textcolor:black fontsize:8px bar:30-34 color:blue1 width:1 from:-79 till:0 width:12 text:79 textcolor:black fontsize:8px bar:30-34 color:red1 width:1 from:0 till:78 width:12 text:78 textcolor:black fontsize:8px bar:25-29 color:blue1 width:1 from:-82 till:0 width:12 text:82 textcolor:black fontsize:8px bar:25-29 color:red1 width:1 from:0 till:69 width:12 text:69 textcolor:black fontsize:8px bar:20-24 color:blue1 width:1 from:-67 till:0 width:12 text:67 textcolor:black fontsize:8px bar:20-24 color:red1 width:1 from:0 till:76 width:12 text:76 textcolor:black fontsize:8px bar:15-19 color:blue1 width:1 from:-65 till:0 width:12 text:65 textcolor:black fontsize:8px bar:15-19 color:red1 width:1 from:0 till:80 width:12 text:80 textcolor:black fontsize:8px bar:10-14 color:blue1 width:1 from:-77 till:0 width:12 text:77 textcolor:black fontsize:8px bar:10-14 color:red1 width:1 from:0 till:64 width:12 text:64 textcolor:black fontsize:8px bar:5-9 color:blue1 width:1 from:-44 till:0 width:12 text:44 textcolor:black fontsize:8px bar:5-9 color:red1 width:1 from:0 till:37 width:12 text:37 textcolor:black fontsize:8px bar:0-4 color:blue1 width:1 from:-55 till:0 width:12 text:55 textcolor:black fontsize:8px bar:0-4 color:red1 width:1 from:0 till:61 width:12 text:61 textcolor:black fontsize:8px

Former parts of town – physiographic objects

In the years 1970 of last age, sorted and prepared out list part of names of localities for Osiek, at as type of settlement then yet is a

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred ...

, what you can see in table 3. Remaining not exchanged parts here are described in integral part of town Osiek now, in Osieczko.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Osiek, Swietokrzyskie Voivodeship Cities and towns in Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship Staszów County Sandomierz Voivodeship Radom Governorate Kielce Voivodeship (1919–1939)