Ze studiów nad rozwojem osadnictwa w ziemi łęczyckiej w czasach Władysława Jagiełły

Abstract

According to the written sources it can be stated that in the territory of the District of Łęczyce, numbered 4326 km2, there were at least 600 settlements around the year 1400. At the end of Władysław Jagiełło' s reign, the sources reveal approximately 800 settlements. This considerable difference in the amount of settlements between the year 1400 and 1432, stems from the fact that many of them were not written down in the preserved written sources before the end of the XIV century. For example, from 50 settlements, which belonged to the royal property at the end of Władysław Jagiełło's reign, only a half is known from the references, coming from the period to the end of the XIV century. Surely the great amount of others settlements existed also before the year 1400, because the first reference about some of them come from the beginning of the XV century. However, some of them were found only in the first terce of the XV century. It is confirmed by the example of royal possessions being spread along the Łęczyca and Kujawy Frontier, where the town Dąbrowice and many villages were found. When it come to the possessions belonging to the various Church institutions, which included above 100 places, we can observe a bit smaller activity in founding new settlements, compared to the XIV century. However, new settlements were still founding in the possessions of the archbishops of Gniezno and bishops of Wrocław (among others, founding of the town Łodź). In the District of Łęczyce the nobility possessions predominated and included approximately 650 places in the year 1434. The nobility economic activity was evident, among others things, in founding new settlements. During the reign of Władysław Jagiełło magnate's families and families of medium nobility contributed to founding of ten towns and many villages. However, the settlements with new names in the aftermath of the division of the so far settlements were turning up more and more faster.