 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Kłodzko Land" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(October 2014) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Kłodzko Land Ziemia kłodzka | |
|---|---|
     
| |
 Coat of arms | |
 Location of Kłodzko Land in Poland | |
| Country |  Poland |
| Voivodeship | Lower Silesian |
| Historical capital | Kłodzko |
| Time zone | UTC+1 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+2 (CEST) |
Kłodzko Land (Polish:Ziemia kłodzka;Czech:Kladsko;German:Glatzer Land) is ahistorical region in southwesternPoland.
The subject of Czech–Polish rivalry in theHigh Middle Ages, it became aBohemian domain since the 12th century, although with periods of rule of the PolishPiast dynasty in theLate Middle Ages. It was raised to theCounty of Kladsko in 1459 and was conquered byPrussia in theFirst Silesian War of 1740–42 and incorporated into theProvince of Silesia by 1818. AfterWorld War II it passed to theRepublic of Poland according to the 1945Potsdam Agreement. The region was not destroyed duringWorld War II, thanks to which its rich historical architecture from various periods, from the Middle Ages to modern times, has been preserved. It is also known for its severalspa towns.
Kłodzko Land, with an approximate area of 1,640 km2 (630 sq mi),[1] consists of theKłodzko Valley, a basin surrounded by severalMittelgebirge ranges of theCentral andEasternSudetes: theOwl Mountains andGolden Mountains in the east, theŚnieżnik Mountains in the south, theBystrzyckie Mountains andOrlické Mountains in the west, and theStołowe Mountains in the northwest. With its natural boundaries, the valley forms a significant jut into the neighbouringCzech area in the southeast. It is crossed by theEastern Neisse (Nysa Kłodzka) river, a left tributary of theOder.
Despite its enclosed geographical situation, Kłodzko Land since ancient times has been traversed by theAmber Road and other importanttrade routes connecting Bohemia withSilesia andMoravia, running over easily accessible mountain passes in the south and west, and along the Nysawater gap atBardo. The land is named after its historic administrative capitalKłodzko (Kladsko,Glatz), formerly the administrative seat of the Bohemian governor (Zemský hejtman) and gathering place of the localestates (Landstände). The area roughly corresponds to the currentKłodzko County (Powiat kłodzki) ofLower Silesian Voivodeship.
Historically, the area may have been part of theGreat Moravia under KingSvatopluk I by the late 9th century, though the extent of his realm is disputed. According to theChronica Boëmorum (1125) by thePrague deanCosmas, theprovincia glacensis belonged to the dominions of the Bohemian noblemanSlavník, residing at the castle of Kłodzko on the road from Prague toWrocław in Silesia until his death in 981 AD. TheSlavník dynasty, among them Prince Slavník's heirSoběslav and his brother SaintAdalbert of Prague, ruled in the eastern territories of Bohemia until they were overthrown by the rivallingPřemyslid family in 995.
While the PřemyslidDukes of Bohemia obtained the status of immediatePrinces of the Holy Roman Empire, their rule was disrupted by internal dynastical struggles: during the rivalry between DukeBoleslaus III and his brotherJaromir in 1003, the Polish dukeBolesław I the Brave invaded Bohemia, but had to pull back the next year, facing the forces of KingHenry II of Germany. In turn the Bohemian dukeBretislaus I campaigned the adjacent northern territory of Silesia in 1039. An armistice mediated by EmperorHenry III in 1054 demarcated the spheres of influence, leaving Kłodzko with Bohemia.
When about 1080 the PolishPiast dukeWładysław I Herman marriedJudith Přemyslovna, daughter of DukeVratislaus II of Bohemia, he received Kłodzko as a Bohemianfief, which upon his death in 1102 was claimed by his son DukeBolesław III Wrymouth of Poland. However, as Bolesław became entangled in a fierce inheritance conflict with DukeSvatopluk of Bohemia and his cousinBorivoj II and campaigned the Bohemian lands several times, he finally had to renounce Kłodzko in favour of DukeSoběslav I of Bohemia in a peace treaty signed at Pentecost in 1137 under pressure from EmperorLothair III.
Under Přemyslid rule, Kladsko became part of theKingdom of Bohemia by 1198; it was administrated within the lands ofHradec Králové and governed by Bohemianburgraves likeWitiko of Prčice (c.1120–1194), progenitor of theVítkovci clan. From the 13th century onwards, under the rule of KingWenceslaus I and his sonOttokar II, the area was largely settled byGerman colonists in the course of theOstsiedlung migration. The Kladsko estates were temporarily held bySilesian Piast dukes such asHenry IV Probus, who received it from the hands of KingRudolph I of Germany in 1280, orHenry VI the Good (in 1327) andBolko II of Ziębice (in 1336); each time, the lands fell back to the Bohemian monarch as a reverted fief upon their death.
About 1300, Kladsko was governed by the Bohemian noble Arnošt (Ernest) of Hostýně, whose sonArnošt of Pardubice became the firstArchbishop of Prague by appointment ofPope Clement VI in 1344. He also was a close advisor to theLuxembourg emperorCharles IV, who in 1348 separated Kladsko Land from Bohemia and raised it to an immediateLand of the Bohemian Crown. Under Charles' rule, Kladsko flourished; the development, however, ended abruptly with the beginning of theHussite Wars in the early 15th century.
In 1424, an alliance between DukeJohn I of Ziębice of the Piast dynasty and the towns and estates of Kłodzko Land was forged inPaczków near Kłodzko Land against theHussites.[2] From about 1425 onwards, Hussite forces campaigned the lands and usedHomole Castle as a base for their attacks. They laid siege toKarpień Castle and devastated the towns ofBystrzyca,Radków andNowa Ruda. A major battle with the royal Bohemian forces led by the Kladsko governorPůta III of Častolovice and the Silesian dukeJohn I of Münsterberg was fought atStary Wielisław on 27 December 1428. Duke John was killed in action and Půta received hisDuchy of Münsterberg (Ziębice) as well as Kladsko and the adjacent Silesian lands ofZąbkowice as a pledge from the hands of EmperorSigismund. After Půta's death, his widow Anne ofColditz sold Kladsko Land to the former Hussite leaderHynek Krušina of Lichtenburg in September 1440, and married him three weeks later.
In 1454 theUtraquist Bohemian regent, and later king,George of Poděbrady re-acquired Kladsko Land from the heirs of the late Hynek Krušina; together with the adjacentNáchod lordship and the Silesian Duchy of Münsterberg, it became his powerbase to assume the Bohemian Crown. Once elected king by the Bohemian estates, in 1458, he raised Kladsko to acounty in its own right and conveyed the title of anImperial count to his second sonVictor, for which he obtained the confirmation by EmperorFrederick III the next year.
The comital title became hereditary in 1462 and could also be bequeathed by Victor's brothersHenry of the Elder Münsterberg andHenry the Younger of Poděbrady. Henry the Elder ruled Kladsko upon King George's death in 1471; he attached the Lordship of Homole to his comital lands by 1477 and had Kladsko Castle rebuilt as his permanent residence. His overindebted sons and heirsAlbert,George andCharles, however, had to sell the estates to their brother-in-law, theAustrian nobleUlrich of Hardegg. Nevertheless, their descendants retained the comital title until the extinction of the line in 1647.
When the Bohemian Crown fell to the AustrianHabsburg monarchy in 1526, the rights of the Hardegg family were confirmed by KingFerdinand I. Johann von Hardegg finally sold Kladsko to Ferdinand in 1534/37; from that time on, theHabsburg rulers pledged the county several times: first to the Bohemian noble and former governorJohn III of Pernstein, later to theSalzburg administratorErnest of Bavaria, who implemented stern measures ofCounter-Reformation. After Ernest's death in 1560, his heir DukeAlbert V of Bavaria sold Kladsko back to EmperorMaximilian II. The Habsburg rulers raised the pledge sum with the support of the local estates, and the Counter-Reformation efforts ended.
When theThirty Years' War broke out, Kladsko became a centre of theProtestant revolt in Bohemia. Even after the lostBattle of White Mountain, the estates refused to submit to EmperorFerdinand II, who had their lands occupied and numerous punitive measures enacted. His son and successorFerdinand III commissioned theJesuits to continue the recatholization policies.
In December 1740 thePrussian Army under KingFrederick the Great invaded Habsburg Silesia and also occupied the County of Kladsko; while they were largely welcomed by the Protestant population of Silesia, Kladsko remained a suspiciously eyed Catholic area. By the 1742Treaty of Berlin, again confirmed by the 1763Peace of Hubertusburg, the Habsburg empressMaria Theresa ceded Kladsko to the Kingdom of Prussia.
During theNapoleonic War, in 1807, Kłodzko Castle was besieged byConfederation troops led byJérôme Bonaparte, but successfully defended by the Prussian garrison under GeneralFriedrich Wilhelm von Götzen the Younger. In the same year,manoralism was finally abolished in the course of theStein-Hardenberg Reforms. By 1818 the county was finally abolished, and the territory was reformed into the threeLandkreise ofGlatz,Habelschwerdt andNeurode within the Silesian province. During the 19th-centuryPolish national liberation fights, Polish publicistWłodzimierz Adolf Wolniewicz [pl], Polish historianWojciech Kętrzyński and Polish priestAugustyn Szamarzewski [pl] were imprisoned in theKłodzko Fortress.[3][4][5] During theAustro-Prussian War of 1866 the area again became a deployment zone of Prussian troops on the eve of theBattle of Nachod. From 1871 it was part of Germany, until the country's defeat inWorld War II in 1945.
From a traditional Czech perspective, Kłodzko Land was culturally and traditionally a part of Bohemia, although the region has been a part of theLower Silesia region since its conquest by the Kingdom of Prussia in 1742. Referred to as "Little Prague", the Kłodzko Valley region on the Nysa Kłodzka river was the focus of several attempts to reincorporate the area intoCzechoslovakia, one of severalPolish–Czechoslovak border conflicts.[6]
After the defeat of theGerman Empire inWorld War I, the newly establishedFirst Czechoslovak Republic raised claims to Kłodzko Land, that were however rejected in the 1919Treaty of Versailles. While the area remained with theFree State of Prussia and theWeimar Republic, the Czechoslovak government had extendedborder fortifications erected around the Kłodzko Land just after theNazi seizure of power in 1933. With the 1938Munich Agreement, however, these security measures became obsolete.
DuringWorld War II, the Germans operated severalsubcamps of theGross-Rosen concentration camp[7] andforced labour subcamps of theStalag VIII-B/344prisoner-of-war camp forAllied POWs in the region.[8] TheKłodzko Fortress housed a prison administered by theReich Ministry of Justice andWehrmacht.[9][10] Both civilians and Allied POWs were imprisoned there. In January and February 1945, German-organizeddeath marches and transports of prisoners from other locations passed through the region to Kłodzko, and many were then sent further west toBautzen.[11]
The last Czech attempt to capture the region occurred at the end ofWorld War II, when Czechoslovak forces tried to annex the area on behalf of theCzech minority present in the western part of the Kłodzko Valley known as the "Czech Corner". Pressure brought on by theSoviet Union led to a ceasing of military operations, with the remaining German population and the Czech minority beingexpelled toGermany and Czechoslovakia. With most of the former Silesia province, Kłodzko Land passed to Poland in 1945.
According tocanon law of theRoman Catholic Church, the area remained part of theRoman Catholic Archdiocese of Prague until 1972.
The region suffered during the1997 and2024 Central European floods.
The region is currently inhabited by around 160,000 people. There are 11 towns in the region. The largest is the historical capital,Kłodzko.
|
Several annual festivals are held in the region, most notably theInternational Chopin Festival inDuszniki-Zdrój, dedicated to Polish virtuoso pianist and composerFryderyk Chopin, and the International Moniuszko Festival inKudowa-Zdrój, dedicated to "father ofPolish national opera"Stanisław Moniuszko.[12]
There are also unique museums in the region, such as theMuseum of Papermaking in Duszniki-Zdrój, located in a 17th-century paper mill, and thePhillumenist Museum [pl] inBystrzyca Kłodzka, Poland's onlyphillumenist museum.
The Museum of Kłodzko Land (Muzeum Ziemi Kłodzkiej) inKłodzko is dedicated to the history of the region.
The population of Kłodzko Land is predominantlyCatholic. TheBasilica of the Visitation inWambierzyce is an important regional Catholic pilgrimage site.Gompa Drophan Ling in Darnków, Poland's onlyBuddhistgompa, is located in Kłodzko Land.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)