Simoradz is a village in Gmina Dębowiec,

Cieszyn County __NOTOC__ Cieszyn County ( pl, powiat cieszyński) is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Silesian Voivodeship, southern Poland, on the Czech and Slovak border. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result o ...

, Silesian Voivodeship, southern Poland. It has an area of and a population of 996 (2006).

Etymology

The name originates from a personal name ''Siemorad'' or according to another sources from old Moravian language ''"sim oradz"'', meaning ''to till a land''. It used to be Germanised as ''Schimoradz''.

History

The village lies in the historical region of Cieszyn Silesia. It was first mentioned in a written document from 1286 as ''Semoradz'', which recalls the local

parson A parson is an ordained Christian person responsible for a small area, typically a parish. The term was formerly often used for some Anglican clergy and, more rarely, for ordained ministers in some other churches. It is no longer a formal term d ...

who supposedly read a curse on Henryk IV Probus in the church in Racibórz. Around 1300 the village was recolonised from Polish rights to German rights. It was again mentioned in a Latin document of Diocese of Wrocław called ''

Liber fundationis episcopatus Vratislaviensis Liber fundationis episcopatus Vratislaviensis ( pl, Księga uposażeń biskupstwa wrocławskiego, ''Book of endowments of the Bishopric of Wrocław'') is a Latin manuscript catalog of documents compiled in the later 13th or in the early 14th centu ...

'' from around 1305 as ''item in Semoraz debent esse XX mansi, de quibus ad ecclesiam ibidem pertinent V) mansi ab antiquo''. It meant that the village was supposed to pay a tithe from 20 greater lans, while 5(6?) where reserved for a local church since a yore. The village belonged initially to the

Duchy of Opole and Racibórz The Duchy of Opole and Racibórz ( pl, Księstwo opolsko-raciborskie, german: Herzogtum Oppeln und Ratibor) was one of the numerous Duchies of Silesia ruled by the Silesian branch of the royal Polish Piast dynasty. It was formed in 1202 from the u ...

and the

Castellan A castellan is the title used in Medieval Europe for an appointed official, a governor of a castle and its surrounding territory referred to as the castellany. The title of ''governor'' is retained in the English prison system, as a remnant o ...

y of Cieszyn, which was in the process of feudal fragmentation of Poland in 1290 formed into the

Duchy of Teschen The Duchy of Teschen (german: Herzogtum Teschen), also Duchy of Cieszyn ( pl, Księstwo Cieszyńskie) or Duchy of Těšín ( cs, Těšínské knížectví), was one of the Duchies of Silesia centered on Cieszyn () in Upper Silesia. It was split o ...

and was ruled by a local branch of

Silesian Piast dynasty The Silesian Piasts were the elder of four lines of the Polish Piast dynasty beginning with Władysław II the Exile (1105–1159), eldest son of Duke Bolesław III of Poland. By Bolesław's testament, Władysław was granted Silesia as his h ...

. In 1327 the duchy became a fee of the Kingdom of Bohemia, which after 1526 became a part of the

Habsburg monarchy The Habsburg monarchy (german: Habsburgermonarchie, ), also known as the Danubian monarchy (german: Donaumonarchie, ), or Habsburg Empire (german: Habsburgerreich, ), was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities ...

. Until the 16th century Simoradz was owned directly by Cieszyn dukes, then it belonged to

noble families Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. The characterist ...

. Local Catholic parish, undoubtedly one of the oldest in the region, was again attested in an incomplete register of

Peter's Pence Peter's Pence (or ''Denarii Sancti Petri'' and "Alms of St Peter") are donations or payments made directly to the Holy See of the Catholic Church. The practice began under the Saxons in England and spread through Europe. Both before and after the ...

payment from 1335 as ''Zimoracz''. It was again mentioned in the register of Peter's Pence payment from 1447 among 50 parishes of the Teschen

deanery A deanery (or decanate) is an ecclesiastical entity in the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anglican Communion, the Evangelical Church in Germany, and the Church of Norway. A deanery is either the jurisdiction or residenc ...

as ''Schimoradz''. The current Saint James church was built in the 15th century. During the Protestant Reformation many of the local citizens changed their denomination to Lutheranism and took over the local church. It was returned to Catholics in 1654. The first school in Simoradz was established in 1763, and waited to 1793 for a dedicated building next to the church. After the

Revolutions of 1848 in the Austrian Empire The Revolutions of 1848 in the Austrian Empire were a set of revolutions that took place in the Austrian Empire from March 1848 to November 1849. Much of the revolutionary activity had a nationalist character: the Empire, ruled from Vienna, incl ...

(which led to abolition of feudalism) a modern municipal division was introduced in the re-established Austrian Silesia. The village as a municipality was subscribed to the political district of Bielsko and the legal district of

Skoczów Skoczów (pronounced , german: Skotschau, cs, Skočov) is a town and the seat of Gmina Skoczów in Cieszyn County, Silesian Voivodeship, southern Poland with 14,385 inhabitants (2019). The town lies in the historical region of Cieszyn Silesia ...

. It was ruled by an elected vogt (Polish: wójt), the first being Paweł Ciemała. In 1873 the new vogt was Ludwik Rużiczka, a merchant from Wien, who changed the official language of the ''gemeinde'' to

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

. Rużiczka was replaced by Jerzy Raszka in 1888, who made back Polish language official in municipality. He also wrote down a memoir of the municipality. A new school was built in 1903. According to the censuses conducted in 1880, 1890, 1900 and 1910 the population of the municipality grew from 508 in 1880 to 569 in 1910 with a majority being native Polish-speakers (98.8–100%) and at most 6 or 1.2% German-speaking in 1880, in terms of religion the majority were

Protestants Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

(62.6% in 1910), followed by

Roman Catholics The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

(36.4% in 1910) and Jews (6 or 1% in 1910). The village was also traditionally inhabited by

Cieszyn Vlachs The Cieszyn Vlachs ( pl, Wałasi cieszyńscy, cs, Těšínští Valaši) are a Polish ethnographic group (subgroup of Silesians) living around the towns of Cieszyn and Skoczów, one of the four major ethnographic groups in Cieszyn Silesia, the on ...

, speaking Cieszyn Silesian dialect. After World War I, the fall of Austria-Hungary, Polish–Czechoslovak War erupted. In 28 to 30 January 1919 the battle between Polish and Czechoslovak troops took place here. After the division of Cieszyn Silesia in 1920, the village became a part of Poland. In the years 1926-1928 local Lutherans built a cemetery chapel, since 1995 a Holy Spirit Church. It was then

annexed Annexation (Latin ''ad'', to, and ''nexus'', joining), in international law, is the forcible acquisition of one state's territory by another state, usually following military occupation of the territory. It is generally held to be an illegal act ...

by Nazi Germany at the beginning of World War II. After the war it was restored to Poland. File:Simoradz Mapa Katastralna 1836.jpg, Map (1836) File:2012 Powiat cieszyński, Simoradz, Kościół św. Jakuba (01).jpg, Saint James Catholic parish church File:Evangelical-Augsburg church of the Holy Spirit in Simoradz 01.jpg, Lutheran church of the Holy Spirit

Geography

Simoradz lies in the southern part of Poland, west of

, north-east of the county seat, Cieszyn, west of Bielsko-Biała, south-west of the regional capital

Katowice Katowice ( , , ; szl, Katowicy; german: Kattowitz, yi, קאַטעוויץ, Kattevitz) is the capital city of the Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland and the central city of the Upper Silesian metropolitan area. It is the 11th most popul ...

, and east of the border with

the Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The Cz ...

. The village is situated on one of the hills of the Silesian Foothills, which height is

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as ''orthometric heights''. The comb ...

, north of the Silesian Beskids; It's ensconced in the north and south by two streams, right tributaries of the Knajka stream, in the watershed of the Vistula. The biggest forest, called ''Dąbczak'', lies in the north-west part of the village.

Footnotes

References

External links

*
Official website
{{Cieszyn Silesia Villages in Cieszyn County Cieszyn Silesia