Pyzdry

History

Pyzdry was first mentioned in 1232, when army of Silesian Piast Duke Henry I the Bearded entered Greater Poland. Pyzdry is one of the oldest town of the province, as in 1257 it was mentioned as a location governed by a vogt, which means that a well-established urban center must have already existed here. It is not known when Pyzdry received Magdeburg rights; most likely it happened during the reign of Duke Bolesław the Pious. On 29 June 1318 Ladislaus the Short called at Pyzdry a meeting of Polish nobility and bishops, during which it was agreed that a delegation be sent to Pope John XXII, asking for his permission to grant Polish Crown to Ladislaus. In 1331, Pyzdry was burned to the ground by the Teutonic Knights in the Battle of Pyzdry. Following the destruction, King Casimir III of Poland ordered construction of a defensive wall with a mighty castle. In 1345, a truce between Casimir and John of Bohemia was signed here. On 6 June 1346 Casimir presented at Pyzdry legal statutes for the province of Greater Poland. In 1390, King Władysław II Jagiełło met here with Wartislaw VII, Duke of Pomerania, who pledged vassalage to king of Poland. Pyzdry was a royal town and county seat, administratively located in the Kalisz Voivodeship in the Greater Poland Province of the Kingdom of Poland, and in 1562, it was named as the location of gatherings of pospolite ruszenie (levée en masse) for the Kalisz Voivodeship. The town was in 1655 captured and looted by Swedish soldiers (see Swedish invasion of Poland), and in 1704, a battle between supporters of Stanisław Leszczyński and Augustus II the Strong took place here. In 1768, Pyzdry burned in a great fire. The 1st Polish National Cavalry Brigade was stationed in the town. Following the Second Partition of Poland, Pyzdry was…