Send Gift Baskets to Nowy Sacz, Poland

Nowy Sącz was founded on 8 November 1292 by Wenceslaus II on the site of an earlier village called Kamienica. The foundation of Nowy Sącz took place because of the efforts of the Bishop of Kraków, Paweł of Przemanków, who owned Kamienica. As a result of Wenceslaus II’s grant of Magdeburg rights at the bishop’s request, it became the only Polish town founded by a Bohemian monarch. A nearby village with the same name gave it its name. The name was spelled Nowy Sandacz as early as 1329.

During the 14th and 15th centuries, Nowy Scz developed into one of the most important economic and cultural centers of this part of the Kingdom of Poland. 

Due to privileges granted by King Wadyslaw I the Elbow-high, and his son Casimir III the Great, the town benefited from its proximity to Hungary during the Revolt of Wojt Albert in the trade route 1311-1312. German colonists were the majority of the town’s inhabitants during these times. Steel and woolen products were produced there in the 15th century, and it was almost on par with Kraków in terms of visual arts. Nowy Scz signed a treaty with Kraków in 1329, under which Kraków merchants, on their way to Hungary, had to stop at Nowy Scz; Nowy Scz merchants, on their way to Gdansk, had to stay at Kraków. Here, King Casimir the Great built a royal castle and a defensive wall around the town in the mid-14th century. Nowy Scz was the seat of both a Castellan and a starosta, becoming an essential defensive point along Poland’s southern border. A local church was elevated to the status of a Collegiate in 1448 by Bishop Zbigniew Olenicki. It was located in the Kraków Voivodeship in the Lesser Poland Province of the Polish Crown and was a Royal Polish City.

Nowy Sącz flourished during the Polish Golden Age (16th century). In the Protestant Reformation, it played an important role. Stanislaw Farnowski was very popular among the local nobility as the leader of the Polish Brethren. During the 17th century, good times came to an end. During the Swedish invasion of Poland (late 1655), the Swedes captured and looted the town after a great fire destroyed much of it in 1611. As a center of the rebellion against the invaders, Nowy S” cz was a critical point.