Send Gift Baskets to Swidnica, Poland

During Piast’s rule in Poland, Svidnica was first recorded in 1070 as Svidnica. It is believed that Widnica became a town in 1250, but no document confirms this. Wroclaw, a province of Poland, was the duchy that owned the village then. A city wall and six gates were built by 1290, and crafts and trade flourished in Widnica. A guild of bakers, weavers, potters, shoemakers, furriers, and tailors existed in Widnica at the end of the 13th century. As a result of its beer production, the city became famous. About three hundred houses had the right to brew beer in the late 15th century. There were restaurants serving beer from Xwidnica in various cities of the region (Wrocislaw, Olenica, Brzeg) and Europe (Kraków, Toru, Prague, Pisa). To this day, Piwnica Widnicka is the oldest restaurant in Poland and one of the oldest in Europe. A mint was also located in Widnica. 1287 and 1291 were the years when the Franciscans and Dominicans arrived in the city.

Widnica was the capital of the Piast-ruled Duchy of Widnica and Jawor between 1291 and 1392. Bolko II of Widnica was the last Polish Piast duke. After he died in 1368, the duchy was held by his wife until 1392, when it was incorporated into the Kingdom of Bohemia by Wenceslaus IV of Bohemia. Approximately 6,000 people lived in Widnica by the end of the 14th century, making it one of the largest cities in Silesia.

In 1429, the city successfully defended itself against Hussite attacks. After 1469, it became part of Jagiellonian-ruled Bohemia, after which it was under the rule of the Kingdom of Hungary. Several mills operated in the city during the 15th century, and there were large markets for cattle and hops there. According to Hartmann Schedel’s Nuremberg Chronicle, the town was called Schwednitz in 1493.

Between 1526 and 1528, the Habsburg monarchy ruled the city as part of the surrounding Duchy of Schweidnitz (Świdnica). It was one of the regional centers of Anabaptism in the 16th century. Siege, fires, and epidemics caused significant damage to the city during the Thirty Years’ War (1618–48). As part of the First Silesian War (1740–42), the Kingdom of Prussia annexed Widnica under the Germanized name Schweidnitz. As a result, the town became a fortress, which lasted until 1866.