Duchy of Legnica

Collection description

Collection

Country:: Poland

Holding institution:: State Archive of Wroclaw

Holding institution (official language):: Archiwum Państwowe we Wrocławiu

Postal address:: ul. Pomorska 2, 50-215 Wrocław

Phone number:: (+48 71) 328 81 01; (+48 71) 328 83 95

Web address:: http://www.ap.wroc.pl/

Email:: sekretariat@ap.wroc.pl

Reference number:: PL 82/5

Title:: Duchy of Legnica

Title (official language):: Księstwo legnickie

Creator/accumulator:: Administrative authority of the Duchy of Legnica

Date(s):: 1329/1818

Language:: German; Latin

Extent:: 6.8 linear metres (496 folders)

Type of material:: Textual material

Physical condition:: good

Scope and content:: The collection consists of materials amassed by the administration of the Duchy of Legnica. It is divided into groups as follows:

1. The Duke and his relationship with the duchy. Fiefdom/feoff affairs, privileges/charters, frontiers, mining industry, monetary affairs, postal/mailing issues, trading in salt, customs, industry, affairs of related families, financial affairs, estates/properties, bestowals/conferrals, liens/pledges, property inventories, rentals: 1329–1818.

2. Administration. Territorial/land-related affairs: 1621–58.

3. Political and judicial system. Manorial court, decrees/enactments, disputes and wrangles, crime (delinquencies, transgressions), witchcraft, civil complaints, chivalric law, feudal law [Manngericht]: 1478–1809.

4. Police. Hunting decrees, fire safety, construction and road matters, population movement control, epidemics, diseases, fighting of parasitism, marketplace (fair) prices: 1500–1740.

5. Finances/treasury. Budget, taxes, war indemnity (reparations), excise tax, debts: 1504–1740.

6. Military matters: Thirty Years’ War, reviews, services with the Swedish army, excesses, city fortifications in Legnica, armaments: 1548–1740.

7. Agrarian culture and economic statistics, property/estate lists, lists of cities/towns and villages, urbaria [lists detailing the landowner’s properties and his serfs’/bondservants’ obligations], damages and losses, tobacco cultivation, fishing industry/management, trade/commerce, crafts: 1418–1785.

8. Education and culture, school affairs (Academy of Chivalry in Legnica), scholarships, reconstruction of the Legnica castle, foundations; music and arts: 1557–1810.

9. Ecclesiastical affairs, statistics, Evangelical Church, consistory, church censorship, the clergy, Catholic Church, Benedictine nunnery in Legnica, the Collegiate Church in Legnica, Jesuit Order, inspections: 1378–1783.

10. Annex. Assessor/alderman registers, municipal registers from Złotoryja [Goldberg]: 1400–1619.

Jewish-related elements are scarce, but some of them appear in Ref. no. 345: ‘Jüdische Handel im Liegnitzischen’, 1657; card 5.

Archival history:: The materials contained in this collection were produced and collected by the Duchy administration. Before World War 2, the resource formed part of the Staatsarchiv Breslau; during the war, for the sake of protecting them, the files were dispersed and kept in various localities; some were destroyed, including, probably, a portion of Jewish-related items. After World War 2, the files were included in the State Archive of Wroclaw, the legal successor of the former German-owned archive.

Administrative/biographical history:: The Duchy of Legnica was established in 1248, a result of the divided legacy of Duke Henry II the Pious (Henryk Pobożny). Boleslaus II ‘the Horned’ (Bolesław Rogatka), Henry’s son, was the first to rule the newly-emerged duchy. The Duchy was made pay homage to the ruler of Bohemia in 1329 and was shaped into a sustainable administrative and political unit. Once the royal Higher Supreme Office was set up in Silesia, the duchy partly lost its autonomy and political importance. As the administrative unit, the Duchy of Legnica encompassed as of 1736 three Legnica districts of Złotoryja, Chojnów, and Lubin. After the seizure of Silesia by Prussia, the duchy was turned into a state administration unit.

Access points: locations:: Chojnów; Legnica; Lubin; Złotoryja

Subject terms:: Trade and commerce

System of arrangement:: The collection consists of books/registers and unbound items, manuscript and printed.

Access, restrictions:: The collection is available in the reading room of the State Archive of Wroclaw.

Finding aids:: A register is available at the archives.

Yerusha Network member:: Emanuel Ringelblum Jewish Historical Institute

Author of the description:: Anna Grużlewska, Leszek Ziątkowski; University of Wroclaw; 2015

fullscreen: Duchy of Legnica

Collection

Downloads

Full record

Image fragment

Formats and links

Formats