Silesian Przesieka
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Silesian ''Przesieka'', literally Silesian Cutting (, , or , ) was a densely forested, uninhabited and unpassable strip of land in the middle of Silesia, spreading from Golden Mountains in the south, along the Nysa Kłodzka to the Odra, and then along the Stobrawa, reaching the towns of Namysłów and Byczyna in northern Silesia. Originally, the Silesian Cutting was a boundary, separating territories of two Western Slavic tribes, the Slezanie and the Opolanie. In the 12th century, along the Cutting a border of Lower Silesia and Upper Silesia was established.Marek Czapliński, Elżbieta Kaszuba, Gabriela Wąs, Rościsław Żerelik
''Historia Śląska''
(''History of Silesia'') Original from the University of Michigan, 611 pages,
Stolica.Opole.pl
Górny Śląsk
(''Regions of Upper Silesia, an overview.'')
Mgr Stanisława Spytkowska, editor; with Anna Tosza
Śląsk wśród regionów Europy – wizja pokoleniowa
L.O. im. T. Kościuszki w Jaworznie.
For a long time, the Silesian Cutting was used as a natural military obstacle, protecting the area of Opole from raids of the Moravian and Czech tribes. However, it did not prevent the Hussites from invading Silesia in 1420 (see also
Hussite Wars The Hussite Wars, also called the Bohemian Wars or the Hussite Revolution, were a series of civil wars fought between the Hussites and the combined Catholic forces of Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor, Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund, the Papacy, a ...
). M.Szołtysek,
Jak powstał Górny Śląsk
at SHVOONG Streszczenia i krótkie recenzje


Structure

The Silesian ''Przesieka'' was a wide, uninhabited border forest, strengthened on the inside by cut-down trees whose branches were twisted together, with thick bushes and sometimes
rampart Rampart may refer to: * Rampart (fortification), a defensive wall or bank around a castle, fort or settlement Rampart may also refer to: * LAPD Rampart Division, a division of the Los Angeles Police Department ** Rampart scandal, a blanket ter ...
s and trenches from the 8th–9th century blocking movements from the west.Paul M. Barford
The Early Slavs: Culture and Society in Early Medieval Eastern Europe
Published by
Cornell University Press The Cornell University Press is the university press of Cornell University, an Ivy League university in Ithaca, New York. It is currently housed in Sage House, the former residence of Henry William Sage. It was first established in 1869, maki ...
, 2001. , , 416 pages. Page 146
Gates, which could be closed in dangerous times, controlled all roads leading outwards. The ''Przesieka'' was maintained by local Polish peasants and used in their self-defence. If a settlement expanded in size the fortifications were moved outwards. Placenames like Osiek, Ossig, Hag, Hänchen Przesieka, Lower Silesian Voivodeship or Przesieka, Podlaskie Voivodeship commemorated these unique natural circumstances. Stolica.Opole.pl
Górny Śląsk
(''Regions of Upper Silesia, an overview.'')
Mgr Stanisława Spytkowska, editor; with Anna Tosza
Śląsk wśród regionów Europy – wizja pokoleniowa
L.O. im. T. Kościuszki w Jaworznie.
Marek Czapliński, Elżbieta Kaszuba, Gabriela Wąs, Rościsław Żerelik
''Historia Śląska''
(''History of Silesia'') Original from the University of Michigan, 611 pages,


Geographic distribution

Starting at Namysłów and Byczyna, the main Lower Silesian ''Przesieka'' (Preseka) comprised the area of Kluczbork, today's woodland between the rivers Stobrawa and Mała Panew and ended at the Silesian
Muschelkalk The Muschelkalk (German for "shell-bearing limestone"; ) is a sequence of sedimentary rock, sedimentary rock strata (a lithostratigraphy, lithostratigraphic unit) in the geology of central and western Europe. It has a Middle Triassic (240 to 230 m ...
ridge. The fortification continued on the other side of the Oder at the Niemodlin woodland, incorporated the woods to the right of the Nysa Kłodzka and the Golden and Owl Mountains. From there the cutting turned northeast and incorporated the Sudetes, which separated Silesia and Bohemia, including the foothills on a distance of 80 kilometers. The ''Przesieka'' continued up to the Lower Silesian heathland, the border to Lusatia, a region which was especially well fortified by three trenches (German: Dreigräben) and a passage to the west of Szprotawa. From the Bóbr knee the Cutting incorporated the woodlands of
Zielona Góra Zielona Góra (; ''Green Mountain''; ) is the largest city in Lubusz Voivodeship, located in western Poland, with 140,403 inhabitants (). The region is closely associated with vineyards and holds an annual Zielona Góra Wine Fest, Wine Fest. Zie ...
and eastwards the border forests between Silesia and
Greater Poland Greater Poland, often known by its Polish name Wielkopolska (; ), is a Polish Polish historical regions, historical region of west-central Poland. Its chief and largest city is Poznań followed by Kalisz, the oldest city in Poland. The bound ...
. At the river Barycz the Cutting turned south to close the circle around Lower Silesia. The distribution of the Upper Silesian border forests is relatively unknown. Only the western ''Preseka'' at Hrubý Jeseník and its foothills, the woodlands of the northern
Carpathian Mountains The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe and Southeast Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Ural Mountains, Urals at and the Scandinav ...
and the Moravian Gate as well as at the woodlands of the Polish Jura are established. This enclosed area was divided into two chambers by a border zone. This inner ''Przesieka'' is in parts preserved until today, visible at the upper Malapane and between Rybnik and Pszczyna. Equally unknown in detail is the division of the Lower Silesian region, which was also partitioned into small chambers divided by strips of woodland.


Impact of German Ostsiedlung

Town-like settlements already existed before the Ostsiedlung, as craftsmen and merchants formed
suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...
s of fortified strongholds ('' burg(h)s'', ''castra''). Usually, Slavic marketplaces were set at an open range with few or no permanently inhabited buildings and, after Christianization, a church. Market fields (''ring'', ''rynek'') were in close proximity to fortified strongholds. This system was borrowed from 10th century East Francia and persisted in the Slavic regions until the Ostsiedlung.Sylvia Lettice Thrupp, ''Change in Medieval Society: Europe North of the Alps, 1050-1500'', 1988, pp.30-46, , As the Silesian dukes initiated the German Ostsiedlung the border forests offered the chance to plan irrespective of older settlements. This approach was started by Henry I in the late 12th century, and soon other noble and clerical landlords competitively followed his example. The German settlers cleared the forests and thus destroyed the protective effect of the Preseka. To defend their now unprotected soil the Silesian dukes replaced the dissolving Preseka by a strip of villages, fortified towns and castles. The area became the center of the evolving society (Neustamm) of the German Silesians.


References

* * {{coord missing, Opole Voivodeship History of Silesia Forests of Poland Geography of Opole Voivodeship Borders of Poland Borders of the Czech Republic Borders of Germany