The Czech Corner ( cs, Český koutek, pl, Czeski kątek, german: Böhmischer Winkel) is a territory found in the western end of
Klodzko land, close to the current Czech-Polish border. This area consisted of eleven villages which were inhabited by
Bohemian Czechs.
List of settlements in the Czech Corner
In the Czech corner of one of the following municipalities:
*
Slané (Polish Słone)
*Březová (Polish Brzozowie)
*
Velká Čermná (Polish Czermna)
*Žakš (Polish Zakrze)
*
Lázně Chudoba (Polish Kudowa-Zdrój)
*
Blažejov
Blažejov (german: Blauenschlag) is a municipality and village in Jindřichův Hradec District
Jindřichův Hradec District ( cs, okres Jindřichův Hradec) is a district ('' okres'') within South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. Its capita ...
(Polish Błażejów)
*Jakubovice (Polish Jakubowice)
*Stroužné (Polish Pstrążna)
*Bukovina (Polish Bukowina (Kłodzka))
*Nouzín (Polish Ostra Góra)
*Ostra Hora (Polish Ostra Góra (partially))
History
Beginnings
The area was likely under the rule of
Great Moravia
Great Moravia ( la, Regnum Marahensium; el, Μεγάλη Μοραβία, ''Meghálī Moravía''; cz, Velká Morava ; sk, Veľká Morava ; pl, Wielkie Morawy), or simply Moravia, was the first major state that was predominantly West Slavs, Wes ...
under King
Svatopluk I by the late 9th century, though the precise extent of his realm is disputed. According to the ''Chronica Boëmorum'' from 1191 by
Cosmas of Prague, the castle of
Kłodzko
Kłodzko (; cz, Kladsko; german: Glatz; la, Glacio) is a historic town in south-western Poland, in the region of Lower Silesia. It is situated in the centre of the Kłodzko Valley, on the Eastern Neisse river.
Kłodzko is the seat of Kłodzk ...
on the road from
Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...
to
Wrocław
Wrocław (; , . german: Breslau, , also known by other names) is a city in southwestern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the Oder in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Europe, roughly ...
in 981 was a possession of the
Bohemian nobleman
Slavník, the father of
Saint Adalbert of Prague
Adalbert of Prague ( la, Sanctus Adalbertus, cs, svatý Vojtěch, sk, svätý Vojtech, pl, święty Wojciech, hu, Szent Adalbert (Béla); 95623 April 997), known in the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia by his birth name Vojtěch ( la, Vo ...
.
During the rivalry between the
Přemyslid dukes
Boleslaus III and
Jaromir Jaromír, Jaromir, Jaroměr is a Slavic male given name.
Origin and meaning
Jaromír is a West Slavic given name composed of two stems ''jaro'' and ''mír''.
The meaning is not definite:
*Polish ''jary'' (archaic) = „spry, young, strong“; ''m ...
in 1003, the
Polish
Polish may refer to:
* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
* Polish language
* Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent
* Polish chicken
*Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...
king
Bolesław I Chrobry invaded Bohemia, but had to pull back the next year, facing the forces of King
Henry II of Germany
Henry II (german: Heinrich II; it, Enrico II; 6 May 973 – 13 July 1024), also known as Saint Henry the Exuberant, Obl. S. B., was Holy Roman Emperor ("Romanorum Imperator") from 1014. He died without an heir in 1024, and was the last ruler ...
. In turn the Bohemian duke
Bretislaus I
Bretislav I ( cs, Břetislav I.; 1002/1005 – 10 January 1055), known as the "Bohemian Achilles", of the Přemyslid dynasty, was Duke of Bohemia from 1034 until his death.
Youth
Bretislav was the son of Duke Oldřich and his low-born concubine ...
campaigned the adjacent northern territory of
Silesia
Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. Silesia is spli ...
after Bolesław's death in 1025. An armistice mediated by Henry II,
Holy Roman Emperor since 1014, demarcated the spheres of influence, leaving the area around Kłodzko with
Bohemia.
When about 1080 the Polish
Piast duke
Władysław I Herman
Władysław I Herman ( 1044 – 4 June 1102) was the duke of Poland from 1079 until his death.
Accession
Władysław was the second son of the Polish duke Casimir the Restorer and Maria Dobroniega of Kiev. As the second son, Władysław was no ...
married
Judith Přemyslovna, daughter of Duke
Vratislaus II of Bohemia
Vratislaus II (or Wratislaus II) ( cs, Vratislav II.) (c. 1032 – 14 January 1092), the son of Bretislaus I and Judith of Schweinfurt, was the first King of Bohemia as of 15 June 1085, his royal title granted as a lifetime honorific from Holy R ...
, he received Kłodzko as a Bohemian
fief
A fief (; la, feudum) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form of f ...
, which upon his death in 1102 was claimed by his son Duke
Bolesław III Wrymouth
Bolesław III Wrymouth ( pl, Bolesław III Krzywousty; 20 August 1086 – 28 October 1138), also known as Boleslaus the Wry-mouthed, was the duke of Lesser Poland, Silesia and Sandomierz between 1102 and 1107 and over the whole of Poland betwee ...
of Poland. However, as Bolesław became entangled in a fierce inheritance conflict with Duke
Svatopluk of Bohemia and his cousin
Borivoj II and campaigned in the Bohemian lands several times, he finally had to renounce Kłodzko in favour of Duke
Soběslav I of Bohemia in a peace treaty signed in 1137 under pressure from Emperor
Lothair III.
County of Kladsko
In 1458 under
Bohemian rule the area around Kłodzko became a
county
A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...
. In 1742 it was conquered by
Prussia
Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an ...
. In 1816 the county was abolished, and the territory was reformed into the ''Landkreis Glatz'' of
Prussian Silesia
The Province of Silesia (german: Provinz Schlesien; pl, Prowincja Śląska; szl, Prowincyjŏ Ślōnskŏ) was a province of Prussia from 1815 to 1919. The Silesia region was part of the Prussian realm since 1740 and established as an officia ...
Claim by Czechoslovakia
After
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, ...
the new
Czechoslovak state laid claim to the
County of Kladsko. Each one of the proposals put forth by the Czechoslovak delegation included annexing the Czech Corner to Czechoslovakia. These claims were however ultimately rejected by the 1919
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles (french: Traité de Versailles; german: Versailler Vertrag, ) was the most important of the peace treaties of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1 ...
.
Paris Peace Conference, 1919
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
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image:Kladsko 1919 A.jpg, The maximalist variant
image:Kladsko 1919 B.jpg, The intermediate variant
image:Kladsko 1919 C.jpg, The minimalist variant
minority present in the Czech Corner. Pressure brought on by the
ultimately led to a ceasing of military operations.
The Czech population quickly began to decline as a result of emigration to the Czechoslovakia and the
. While just after World War II the Czech population of the Czech Corner was approximately 5,100 persons, in 1957 estimates were of about 500 Czechs remaining. The vast majority of inhabitants of the Czech corner today are ethnic
(tourism district; cs, turistická oblast Kladské pomezí). This area, entirely within the
'' ( cs, Adršpašské skály, italic=yes).