The Silesian County ( Polish: ''powiat śląski'') was 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 ...

of the Kraków Voivodeship, within the

Kingdom of Poland The Kingdom of Poland ( pl, Królestwo Polskie; Latin: ''Regnum Poloniae'') was a state in Central Europe. It may refer to: Historical political entities * Kingdom of Poland, a kingdom existing from 1025 to 1031 * Kingdom of Poland, a kingdom exi ...

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and, after 1791, as the Commonwealth of Poland, was a bi- confederal state, sometimes called a federation, of Poland and Lithuania ...

. Its seats of government were located in the towns of Zator and

Oświęcim Oświęcim (; german: Auschwitz ; yi, אָשפּיצין, Oshpitzin) is a city in the Lesser Poland ( pl, Małopolska) province of southern Poland, situated southeast of Katowice, near the confluence of the Vistula (''Wisła'') and Soła rive ...

. It existed from 1564 to 1795.

History

Silesian County was created at the

General Sejm A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". O ...

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 official ...

, in 1564, when King

Sigismund II Augustus Sigismund II Augustus ( pl, Zygmunt II August, lt, Žygimantas Augustas; 1 August 1520 – 7 July 1572) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, the son of Sigismund I the Old, whom Sigismund II succeeded in 1548. He was the first rule ...

merged territories of the Duchy of Zator and the

Duchy of Oświęcim The Duchy of Oświęcim ( pl, Księstwo Oświęcimskie), or the Duchy of Auschwitz (german: Herzogtum Auschwitz), was one of many Duchies of Silesia, formed in the aftermath of the fragmentation of Poland. It was established about 1315 on the L ...

, incorporating them into the Kraków Voivodeship of the

Polish Crown The Crown of the Kingdom of Poland ( pl, Korona Królestwa Polskiego; Latin: ''Corona Regni Poloniae''), known also as the Polish Crown, is the common name for the historic Late Middle Ages territorial possessions of the King of Poland, includi ...

. The kings retained both ducal titles, and names of both duchies remained in common use. It existed for over 200 years, and was dissolved after the

third partition of Poland The Third Partition of Poland (1795) was the last in a series of the Partitions of Poland–Lithuania and the land of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth among Prussia, the Habsburg monarchy, and the Russian Empire which effectively ended Poli ...

(1795). The total area of Silesian County was 2690 sq. kilometers, and initially consisted of four royal towns (

Wadowice Wadowice (; ger, Frauenstadt – Wadowitz) is a town in southern Poland, southwest of Kraków with 19,200 inhabitants (2006), situated on the Skawa river, confluence of Vistula, in the eastern part of Silesian Foothills (Pogórze Śląskie). ...

, Kęty, Oświęcim and Zator) and one private ( Żywiec). In the second half of the 16th century the largest of them was Kęty, with over 1000 inhabitants. Of 188 villages, 38 had over 200 inhabitants. In 1617 a new private town of Zebrzydów, now Kalwaria Zebrzydowska, was founded. In 1723 town rights were granted to Biała, now part of

Bielsko-Biała Bielsko-Biała (; cs, Bílsko-Bělá, german: Bielitz-Biala, szl, Bjylsko-Bjoło) is a city in southern Poland, with a population of approximately 168,319 as of December 2021, making it the 22nd largest city in Poland, and an area of . It is a ...

. The town was in the centre of a small German

language island A language island (a calque of German ''Sprachinsel''; also language enclave, language pocket) is an enclave of a language that is surrounded by one or more different languages. The term was introduced in 1847. Peter Auer, Frans Hinskens, Paul Ker ...

that consisted of several other villages. The rest of the County was inhabited by the vast majority of Polish Roman Catholics, although at the turn of the 17th century the county had the highest share of Protestants in the Kraków Voivodeship: 29% of the total number of churches were protestant (mostly reformed), they were present in 34 parishes and their number was estimated at 10 – 15 thousand. The largest Jewish community lived since the late 16th century in Oświęcim, when they established the first

Qahal The ''qahal'' ( he, קהל) was a theocratic organizational structure in ancient Israelite society according to the Hebrew Bible. See column345-6 The Ashkenazi Jewish system of a self-governing community or kehila from medieval Christian Europe ...

, built a Synagogue and opened a Jewish school. In years 1747–1749 the deanery of Oświęcim counted 2462 Jews.

Footnotes

References

* Former counties of Poland Kraków Voivodeship (14th century – 1795) History of Lesser Poland History of Silesia States and territories established in 1564 States and territories disestablished in 1795 1564 establishments in Poland 1795 disestablishments in Poland {{Poland-hist-stub