Trzebnica
Encyclopedia
Trzebnica t is a town in Lower Silesian Voivodeship
in south-western Poland
. It is the seat of Trzebnica County
, and of the smaller administrative district (gmina
) called Gmina Trzebnica
. Prior to 1945 it was in Germany
. (For more information about the history of the region, see Silesia
.)
The town lies within the eastern Trzebnickie Hills
in the historic Lower Silesia
region, approximately 20 kilometres (12 mi) north of the regional capital Wrocław. As at 2010, it has a population of 12,460.
St. Vincent monastery at Wrocław. Trzebnica itself was first mentioned in a 1138 deed, then held by the Polish voivode Peter Wlast and later seized by the Silesian
duke Władysław II the Exile.
In 1202 Władysław's grandson Duke Henry I the Bearded
of Silesia and his wife Hedwig of Andechs founded a Cistercian convent
, present-day Sanctuary of St. Jadwiga in Trzebnica
, the first in Poland. The couple signed the deed of donation on 23 June 1203 in the presence of Hedwig's brother Ekbert Bishop of Bamberg; the monastery was settled with German
nuns descending from Bamberg
in Franconia
. In 1218 Hedwig's daughter Gertrude became abbess of Trzebnica, the first of many Piast
princesses to hold this office. After Duke Henry died in 1238 and was buried in the church, his widow moved to the Cistercian convent which by now was led by her daughter. Hedwig died in October 1243 and was buried there also, while some of her relics are preserved at Andechs Abbey in Bavaria, she was canonized in 1267.
In 1250 Trzebnica received town privileges
, it passed under the jurisdiction of the Lower Silesian Duchy of Oels
in 1323, a Bohemian
fief from 1328. In 1480 Duke Konrad X the White
granted the town to the Cistercian abbey. Town and monastery were devastated several times, by fires as well as by the plague, but also by Hussite troops in 1430. During the Thirty Years' War
, Trebnitz was plundered by Swedish
forces and the nuns had to flee across the border to nearby Poland. After the war the premises were rebuilt in its present Baroque
style.
In 1742 Trebnitz with most of Silesia was annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia
and the monastery was finally securalized
in 1810. Meanwhile the town had become a centre of cloth
manufacturing. In 1870 the Order of Saint John acquired the fromer abbey's estates to establish a hospital, cared for by the Sisters of Mercy of St. Borromeo
up to today. The town was heavily damaged during the Vistula–Oder Offensive of the Red Army
in the last days of World War II
. With the implementation of the Oder-Neisse line
according to the Potsdam Agreement
, Trzebnica fell to the Republic of Poland
and its German population was expelled
.
, Germany
, since 2009 Vynnyky
, Ukraine
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
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
. It is the seat of Trzebnica County
Trzebnica County
Trzebnica 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...
, and of the smaller administrative district (gmina
Gmina
The gmina is the principal unit of administrative division of Poland at its lowest uniform level. It is often translated as "commune" or "municipality." As of 2010 there were 2,479 gminas throughout the country...
) called Gmina Trzebnica
Gmina Trzebnica
Gmina Trzebnica is an urban-rural gmina in Trzebnica County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in south-western Poland. Its seat is the town of Trzebnica, which lies approximately north of the regional capital Wrocław....
. Prior to 1945 it was in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. (For more information about the history of the region, see Silesia
Silesia
Silesia is a historical region of Central Europe located mostly in Poland, with smaller parts also in the Czech Republic, and Germany.Silesia is rich in mineral and natural resources, and includes several important industrial areas. Silesia's largest city and historical capital is Wrocław...
.)
The town lies within the eastern Trzebnickie Hills
Trzebnickie Hills
The Trzebnickie Hills are a mountain range in southwestern Poland, named after the town of Trzebnica on the northern slope.The range is located in the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. It lies north of the regional capital Wrocław, between the Oder and Widawa Rivers to the southwest and the Barycz River...
in the historic 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...
region, approximately 20 kilometres (12 mi) north of the regional capital Wrocław. As at 2010, it has a population of 12,460.
History
In the 12th century, the area was among the possessions of the PremonstratensianPremonstratensian
The Order of Canons Regular of Prémontré, also known as the Premonstratensians, the Norbertines, or in Britain and Ireland as the White Canons , are a Catholic religious order of canons regular founded at Prémontré near Laon in 1120 by Saint Norbert, who later became Archbishop of Magdeburg...
St. Vincent monastery at Wrocław. Trzebnica itself was first mentioned in a 1138 deed, then held by the Polish voivode Peter Wlast and later seized by the Silesian
Duchy of Silesia
The Duchy of Silesia with its capital at Wrocław was a medieval duchy located in the historic Silesian region of Poland. Soon after it was formed under the Piast dynasty in 1138, it fragmented into various Duchies of Silesia. In 1327 the remaining Duchy of Wrocław as well as most other duchies...
duke Władysław II the Exile.
In 1202 Władysław's grandson Duke Henry I the Bearded
Henry I the Bearded
Henry I the Bearded , of the Silesian line of the Piast dynasty, was Duke of Silesia at Wrocław from 1201 and Duke of Kraków and thus High Duke of all Poland - internally divided - from 1232 until his death.-Heir of Wroclaw:...
of Silesia and his wife Hedwig of Andechs founded a Cistercian convent
Cistercian nuns
Cistercian nuns are female members of the Cistercian Order, a religious order belonging to the Roman Catholic branch of the Catholic Church.-History:...
, present-day Sanctuary of St. Jadwiga in Trzebnica
Sanctuary of St. Jadwiga in Trzebnica
Sanctuary of St. Jadwiga in Trzebnica is a convent for Cistercian nuns, situated in Trzebnica north of Wrocław, in Silesia, Poland, founded in 1203. After few decades of abandonment in the 19th century, it is an abbey of the Sisters of Mercy of St...
, the first in Poland. The couple signed the deed of donation on 23 June 1203 in the presence of Hedwig's brother Ekbert Bishop of Bamberg; the monastery was settled with German
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
nuns descending from Bamberg
Bamberg
Bamberg is a city in Bavaria, Germany. It is located in Upper Franconia on the river Regnitz, close to its confluence with the river Main. Bamberg is one of the few cities in Germany that was not destroyed by World War II bombings because of a nearby Artillery Factory that prevented planes from...
in Franconia
Franconia
Franconia is a region of Germany comprising the northern parts of the modern state of Bavaria, a small part of southern Thuringia, and a region in northeastern Baden-Württemberg called Tauberfranken...
. In 1218 Hedwig's daughter Gertrude became abbess of Trzebnica, the first of many Piast
Piast dynasty
The Piast dynasty was the first historical ruling dynasty of Poland. It began with the semi-legendary Piast Kołodziej . The first historical ruler was Duke Mieszko I . The Piasts' royal rule in Poland ended in 1370 with the death of king Casimir the Great...
princesses to hold this office. After Duke Henry died in 1238 and was buried in the church, his widow moved to the Cistercian convent which by now was led by her daughter. Hedwig died in October 1243 and was buried there also, while some of her relics are preserved at Andechs Abbey in Bavaria, she was canonized in 1267.
In 1250 Trzebnica received town privileges
German town law
German town law or German municipal concerns concerns town privileges used by many cities, towns, and villages throughout Central and Eastern Europe during the Middle Ages.- Town law in Germany :...
, it passed under the jurisdiction of the Lower Silesian Duchy of Oels
Duchy of Oels
The Duchy of Oels or Duchy of Oleśnica was one of the duchies of Silesia, with the capital in Oleśnica, Poland.Initially part of the Piast Duchy of Wrocław, the Oleśnica area became part of the Duchy of Głogów in 1294, following an armed conflict between Duke Henry III and Henry V the Fat, Duke of...
in 1323, a Bohemian
Kingdom of Bohemia
The Kingdom of Bohemia was a country located in the region of Bohemia in Central Europe, most of whose territory is currently located in the modern-day Czech Republic. The King was Elector of Holy Roman Empire until its dissolution in 1806, whereupon it became part of the Austrian Empire, and...
fief from 1328. In 1480 Duke Konrad X the White
Konrad X the White
Konrad X the White was a Duke of Oleśnica, Koźle, and half of both Bytom and Ścinawa during 1450–1452 , since 1452 sole ruler over half of Ścinawa, during 1471–1472 sole ruler over Koźle and whole Bytom, and since 1478 sole ruler over Oleśnica.He was the second son of Konrad V Kantner, Duke of...
granted the town to the Cistercian abbey. Town and monastery were devastated several times, by fires as well as by the plague, but also by Hussite troops in 1430. During the Thirty Years' War
Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War was fought primarily in what is now Germany, and at various points involved most countries in Europe. It was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history....
, Trebnitz was plundered by Swedish
Swedish Empire
The Swedish Empire refers to the Kingdom of Sweden between 1561 and 1721 . During this time, Sweden was one of the great European powers. In Swedish, the period is called Stormaktstiden, literally meaning "the Great Power Era"...
forces and the nuns had to flee across the border to nearby Poland. After the war the premises were rebuilt in its present Baroque
Baroque architecture
Baroque architecture is a term used to describe the building style of the Baroque era, begun in late sixteenth century Italy, that took the Roman vocabulary of Renaissance architecture and used it in a new rhetorical and theatrical fashion, often to express the triumph of the Catholic Church and...
style.
In 1742 Trebnitz with most of Silesia was annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia
Kingdom of Prussia
The Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918. Until the defeat of Germany in World War I, it comprised almost two-thirds of the area of the German Empire...
and the monastery was finally securalized
Secularization
Secularization is the transformation of a society from close identification with religious values and institutions toward non-religious values and secular institutions...
in 1810. Meanwhile the town had become a centre of cloth
Textile
A textile or cloth is a flexible woven material consisting of a network of natural or artificial fibres often referred to as thread or yarn. Yarn is produced by spinning raw fibres of wool, flax, cotton, or other material to produce long strands...
manufacturing. In 1870 the Order of Saint John acquired the fromer abbey's estates to establish a hospital, cared for by the Sisters of Mercy of St. Borromeo
Sisters of Mercy of St. Borromeo
The Sisters of Mercy of St. Borromeo are a number of female Catholic religious congregations sharing one rule and tradition.-History:They were originally a Roman Catholic pious association of ladies formed in 1626 for the care of the sick in the hospital of St...
up to today. The town was heavily damaged during the Vistula–Oder Offensive of the Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
in the last days of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. With the implementation of the Oder-Neisse line
Oder-Neisse line
The Oder–Neisse line is the border between Germany and Poland which was drawn in the aftermath of World War II. The line is formed primarily by the Oder and Lusatian Neisse rivers, and meets the Baltic Sea west of the seaport cities of Szczecin and Świnoujście...
according to the Potsdam Agreement
Potsdam Agreement
The Potsdam Agreement was the Allied plan of tripartite military occupation and reconstruction of Germany—referring to the German Reich with its pre-war 1937 borders including the former eastern territories—and the entire European Theatre of War territory...
, Trzebnica fell to the Republic of Poland
People's Republic of Poland
The People's Republic of Poland was the official name of Poland from 1952 to 1990. Although the Soviet Union took control of the country immediately after the liberation from Nazi Germany in 1944, the name of the state was not changed until eight years later...
and its German population was expelled
Flight and expulsion of Germans from Poland during and after World War II
The flight and expulsion of Germans from Poland was the largest of a series of flights and expulsions of Germans in Europe during and after World War II...
.
International relations
Trzebnica is twinned with: KitzingenKitzingen
Kitzingen is a town in the German state of Bavaria, capital of the district Kitzingen. It is part of Franconia geographical region and has around 21,000 inhabitants.Surrounded by vineyards, Kitzingen County is the largest wine producer in Bavaria...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, since 2009 Vynnyky
Vynnyky
Vynnyky is a city in Lviv Oblast of Ukraine. Population is 13,654 .The city is part of Lviv-city municipality and is part of Lychakiv Raion of Lviv city.-History:...
, Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
Notable people
- Saint Agnes of BohemiaAgnes of BohemiaSaint Agnes of Bohemia , or Agnes of Prague , was a medieval Bohemian princess who opted for a life of charity and piety over a life of luxury and comfort...
(1211-1282), daughter of King Ottokar I of BohemiaOttokar I of Bohemia-External links:...
, educated at Trzebnica Abbey - Euphrosyne of Greater PolandEuphrosyne of Greater PolandEuphrosyne of Greater Poland was a Greater Poland princess, member of the House of Piast and Abbess of St. Clara in Trzebnica.She was the second daughter of Przemysł I, Duke of Greater Poland and Poznań, by his wife Elisabeth, daughter of Henry II the Pious, Duke of Wrocław.-Life:After her...
(1247/50–1298), daughter of Duke Przemysł I of Greater Poland, abbess of Trzebnica from 1278 - Marie Leszczyńska (1703-1768), daughter of King Stanisław Leszczyński of Poland, queen consortQueen consortA queen consort is the wife of a reigning king. A queen consort usually shares her husband's rank and holds the feminine equivalent of the king's monarchical titles. Historically, queens consort do not share the king regnant's political and military powers. Most queens in history were queens consort...
of FranceEarly Modern FranceKingdom of France is the early modern period of French history from the end of the 15th century to the end of the 18th century...
(born here) - Ernst NiekischErnst NiekischErnst Niekisch was a German politician. Initially associated with mainstream left-wing politics he later became a Prominent exponent of National Bolshevism.-Bavaria:...
(1889-1967), German politician and exponent of National BolshevismNational BolshevismNational Bolshevism is a political movement that claims to combine elements of nationalism and Bolshevism. It is often anti-capitalist in tone, and sympathetic towards certain nationalist forms of communism and socialism...
(born here) - Gila von WeitershausenGila von WeitershausenBaroness Gila von Weitershausen is a German actress. Born in Trebnitz, , Lower Silesia, Germany into an aristocratic family, she has three brothers and two sister and is the great-granddaughter of Georg Graf von Hertling....
(born 1944), German actress - Richard PiegzaRichard PiegzaRichard Piegza is a Paris-based performer, video, action and installation artist since 1977.From 1978 to 1982, he created and directed Ambasada Lingua. In 1982, he moved to Paris, and in 1988, he founded the Wizya Video Art Action, which organizes and documents artistic events and performances...
(born 1954), Polish artist