Świny ' is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Bolków

Gmina Bolków

Gmina Bolków is an urban-rural gmina in Jawor County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in south-western Poland. Its seat is the town of Bolków, which lies approximately south-west of Jawor and west of the regional capital Wrocław....

, within Jawor County

Jawor County

Jawor County is a unit of territorial administration and local government in Lower Silesian Voivodeship, south-western Poland. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local government reforms passed in 1998. The county covers an area of...

, Lower Silesian Voivodeship

Lower Silesian Voivodeship

Lower Silesian Voivodeship, or Lower Silesia Province , is one of the 16 voivodeships into which Poland is currently divided. It lies in southwestern Poland...

, in south-western Poland.

It lies approximately 1 km (0.621372736649807 mi) north-east of Bolków

Bolków

Bolków is a town in Jawor County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in south-western Poland. It is the seat of the administrative district called Gmina Bolków and part of the Neisse-Nysa-Nisa Euroregion....

, 15 km (9 mi) south-west of Jawor

Jawor

Jawor is a town in south-western Poland with 24,347 inhabitants . It is situated in Lower Silesian Voivodeship . It is the seat of Jawor County, and lies approximately west of the regional capital Wrocław.In the town can be found a Protestant Church of Peace...

, and 70 km (43 mi) west of the regional capital Wrocław. The village has a population of 280.

Świny Castle was first mentioned in 1108 as Castrum Suini in Poloniae by the mediæval chronicler Cosmas of Prague

Cosmas of Prague

Cosmas of Prague was a Bohemian priest, writer and historian born in a noble family in Bohemia. Between 1075 and 1081, he studied in Liège. After his return to Bohemia, he became a priest and married Božetěcha, with whom he probably had a son. In 1086 Cosmas was appointed prebendary of Prague, a...

, it is thereby the oldest castle in Lower Silesia

Lower Silesia

Lower Silesia ; is the northwestern part of the historical and geographical region of Silesia; Upper Silesia is to the southeast.Throughout its history Lower Silesia has been under the control of the medieval Kingdom of Poland, the Kingdom of Bohemia and the Austrian Habsburg Monarchy from 1526...

. From the 13th century on, Świny was the administrative seat of a castellany

Castellany

A castellany was a district administered by a castellan.Castellanies appeared during the Middle Ages and in most current states are now replaced by a more modern type of country subdivision....

 on the trade route from the Silesian capital Wrocław to Prague

Prague

Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...

, it lost its meaning to neighbouring Bolków

Bolków

Bolków is a town in Jawor County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in south-western Poland. It is the seat of the administrative district called Gmina Bolków and part of the Neisse-Nysa-Nisa Euroregion....

 under the rule of the Piast

Silesian Piasts

The Silesian Piasts were the oldest line of the Piast dynasty beginning with Władysław II the Exile, son of Bolesław III Wrymouth, Duke of Poland...

 dukes of Jawor

Duchy of Jawor

Duchy of Jawor was one of the Duchies of Silesia, with a capital in Jawor. It was created in 1274 as a subdivision of the Duchy of Legnica in Lower Silesia under the rule of Henry V the Fat, the eldest son of Duke Bolesław II the Bald...

 and Świdnica

Swidnica

Świdnica is a city in south-western Poland in the region of Silesia. It has a population of 60,317 according to 2006 figures. It lies in Lower Silesian Voivodeship, being the seventh largest town in that voivodeship. From 1975–98 it was in the former Wałbrzych Voivodeship...

. In the 16th century the Lords of Świny (von Schweinichen noble family) hosted a circle of mystic

Christian mysticism

Christian mysticism refers to the development of mystical practices and theory within Christianity. It has often been connected to mystical theology, especially in the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox traditions...

s, among them Jakob Böhme

Jakob Böhme

Jakob Böhme was a German Christian mystic and theologian. He is considered an original thinker within the Lutheran tradition...

, Abraham von Franckenberg

Abraham von Franckenberg

Abraham von Franckenberg was a German mystic, author, poet and hymn-writer.- Life :Abraham von Franckenberg was born in 1593 into an old Silesian noble family in Ludwigsdorf bei Oels...

 and Angelus Silesius

Angelus Silesius

Angelus Silesius was a German Catholic mystic and poet.-Life:Silesius was born in Breslau , Silesia as son of Polish noble and German mother...

. Plundered by Russian

Russian Empire

The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...

 troops in the Seven Years' War

Seven Years' War

The Seven Years' War was a global military war between 1756 and 1763, involving most of the great powers of the time and affecting Europe, North America, Central America, the West African coast, India, and the Philippines...

, the castle decayed afterwards.