Łowicz — a town in Poland, included in the łódź Voivodeship, Lowicki County. It has the status of a city gmina. It covers an area of 23.41 km2. The population is 30,383 (as of 2004).
From archaeological research, it is known that in the early
Middle Ages (12th-13th century) on the site of today's ruins of the
castle, there was a wooden and earth defensive stronghold crossing
the marshy Bzura valley, of great strategic importance. It was
probably one of the first Piast strongholds. The oldest mention of
Łowicz (Loviche) comes from the bull of Pope Innocent II of July 7,
1136, approving the right of the Gniezno archbishops to the Łowicz
estate. These properties were probably given to the church by one of
the Masovian Piasts.
13th century
Around 1214–1215 in
Wolbórz, as a result of the efforts of Archbishop Henryk Kietlicz,
the dukes from four provinces: Kraków (Leszek Biały), Masovia
(Konrad I Mazowiecki), Kalisz (Władysław Odonic) and Opole
(Kazimierz I of Opolski), issued an “immunity privilege” - document,
e.g. approving the existing rights of the Gniezno church to the
Łowicz estate and the stronghold. In 1242, Duke Konrad of Masovia
issued the so-called "great privilege", in which the Łowicz estate
was called castellania (castellany), but Łowicz itself was still
referred to as villa (village), although there was already a mansio
(archbishop's manor) here.
In 1263 there was a Lithuanian
invasion of Łowicz.
The exact date when Łowicz received city
rights is unknown, but the first document in which it is referred to
as oppidum (town) is the minting privilege from 1298 for the
Archbishopric of Gniezno issued in Łowicz by Bolesław II, Duke of
Płock. The city should probably be understood here as Podgrodzie,
located in the vicinity of today's Przyrynek. This thesis is
supported by its shape - clear to this day - an oval located
parallel to the Bzura.
From other preserved written documents
it is also known that earlier in 1263 there was an invasion of
Lithuanians, as a result of which "Łowicz together with the church
and the manor house was plundered and set on fire".
14th
century
According to the account of Janek of Czarnków, around
1355, in the place of the old stronghold, the archbishop of Gniezno,
Jarosław Bogoria Skotnicki, built a Gothic brick castle on an
artificial embankment on the Bzura River, which soon became the
residence of the Gniezno archbishops and Polish primates.
Still, before 1358, he located the New Town (now the Old Town) under
German law. Numerous privileges and freedoms were granted to the
town by the Duke of Mazovia, Siemowit I. In documents from 1358 and
1359, Łowicz is already referred to as civis lovicensis and civitas.
It was located in relation to the former oppidum to the east along
the Bzura River, around a wooden church standing in the place of
today's Cathedral Basilica and, if one believes the later
inscription preserved in it, founded most probably in 1100 by Prince
Władysław Herman.
In 1368 there was a Lithuanian invasion of
Łowicz.
Thanks to the unique rank of the castellany and numerous immunities,
as well as, which was not without influence, the unique location on the
border of Mazovia and Poland, Archbishop Jarosław Bogoria Skotnicki
began to strive more and more boldly to make it independent of the
suzerainty of the Dukes of Mazovia. On March 1, 1357, he managed to
obtain a privilege from the Polish king Casimir the Great, confirming
the possessions of the Archbishopric of Gniezno, which, together with
other pressures from Poland, forced the Mazovian prince Siemowit III to
issue a document on May 17, 1359 in Skierniewice recognizing the full
archbishop's immunity to Łowicz and the castellany . The prince only
managed to keep the right to hunt aurochs. It is also known from this
document that Łowicz, together with the adjacent estates, numbering as
many as 111 villages, was the largest property complex belonging to the
Church at that time on the territory of present-day Poland. Siemowit,
however, not wanting to give up easily, in the same year appointed the
archbishops a rent in the form of one gold fine, which was supposed to
be a symbol of the dependence of the primate Łowicz on the Dukes of
Mazovia. The archbishops gained a protector in the person of Casimir the
Great, who in the years 1359–1360 several times called Archbishop
Jarosław a prince, thus making it clear to Siemowit that he agreed to
the independence of the Łowicz estate. In order not to spoil good
relations with Poland, the prince withdrew his claims and returned to
them immediately after the king's death. In 1374, when Jarosław Bogoria
resigned from office and Janusz Suchegowilk Strzelecki assumed it, the
castellan of Łowicz as an archbishop's functionary and the ongoing
dispute are mentioned again. In 1379, King Louis I of Hungary obliged
Prince Siemowit III to preserve all the privileges of the Gniezno church
"in his estates in Mazovia". Thus, Archbishop Janusz Suchywilk had to
make a public statement that Łowicz was located in Mazovia.
Nevertheless, the ambitions of both sides fueled the conflict further.
Finally, in 1381, Siemowit III, after the archbishop's objection to
Siemowit's son, Henryk of Mazowiecki, taking over the provostship of
Łęczyca, invaded the castellany of Łowicz. Despite his death in the same
year, the castellany was occupied by Mazovia for several more years
(taking advantage of the turmoil in Poland after the death of Ludwik
Węgierski). The prince's successor, Siemowit IV, began the siege of the
Łowicz castle on April 8, 1382. Disputes over the castellany of Łowicz
lasted until the incorporation of Mazovia into the Crown.
On June
6, 1398, King Władysław II Jagiełło granted a salt privilege to Łowicz,
thanks to which the town's inhabitants could purchase salt from the
Wieliczka and Bochnia saltworks at a lower price than the towns of
Kujawy. This proves that in Łowicz there was, probably earlier, a
brotherhood of prasołów - salt traders.
After the turbulent second half of the 14th century, the town
continued to develop. At the beginning of the 15th century, in 1405,
Archbishop Mikołaj Kurowski founded the New Town on October 9, 1404,
erecting a parish and a church dedicated to St. spirit. The church
itself, however, may have had an earlier pedigree. Some historians
believe that a wooden church, which was a branch of the parish of
St. It was only rebuilt from the foundation of Archbishop Mikołaj
Kurowski that he raised it to the rank of a parish church. This
could be indicated by the call suggesting its original hospital
character, and also, assuming that it was in fact, the location of
the church outside the Old Town, right next to the now non-existent
city gate called Krakowska. Most likely, it was the first brick
church in Łowicz. It was built as an oriented, single-nave building
in the Gothic style by Janek from Uniejów.
Meanwhile, in the
place of the old wooden church in the Old Town, a new temple was
built in the Gothic style, which on April 25, 1433 was raised to the
rank of collegiate church by Archbishop Wojciech Jastrzębiec. At
that time, the Primate's Chapter of Łowicka was established, and the
oldest colony of the Krakow Academy in the country was established
at the Collegiate Church. The Łowicz chapter consisted of a provost,
dean, custodian and 10 canons.
On August 10, 1424, King
Władysław Jagiełło granted a privilege exempting all citizens of
Łowicz from paying duty and market tax.
On October 24, 1419,
Archbishop Mikołaj Trąba confirmed the location privilege of Łowicz
and unified the town law for the entire conurbation, which included
Podgrodzie, the Old Town and the New Town, according to the Średzki
law. There are no earlier references to the town hall. It is known,
however, that after the new law was granted, one was built in the
middle of the market square in the Old Town. It served its function
until 1443, when the New Town Hall was built. Later, the old town
hall served as the seat and warehouse of the brotherhood of prasołów
and in connection with the new function it was called - from the
trade - "kupus".
On August 29, 1447, King Kazimierz
Jagiellończyk issued a privilege confirming the exemption of the
townspeople of Łowicz from paying duty and market tax.
On
January 17, 1463, as a result of the efforts of Archbishop Jan
Sprowski, King Kazimierz Jagiellończyk issued a special royal
privilege in Piotrków approving all the existing privileges of the
castellany of Łowicz and exempting one gold fine from the river fee.
This privilege ended the invasions of the Mazovian dukes on the
Łowicz estates.
On February 4, 1495, King Jan Olbracht issued
a privilege confirming the exemption of the townspeople of Łowicz
from paying duty and market tax.
Thanks to its location on
important trade and communication routes, as well as numerous
privileges and fairs, the town developed very quickly.
Despite the specific nature of the city, which is invariably under
the authority of the Gniezno archbishops, the first mentions of attempts
at Jewish settlement come from the beginning of the century. It was of a
temporary nature, mainly related to the conducted market activity and
fairs, without the right to permanent residence. There was no Jewish
community here either, and occasional Jewish inhabitants of Łowicz or
its surroundings belonged to the communities in Gąbin or Sochaczew.
However, detailed historical sources that would allow us to reconstruct
the history of the first Jews from Łowicz have not been preserved. It is
certain, however, that as a result of these attempts, in 1526,
Archbishop Jan Łaski, granting the town or confirming the earlier
privilege De non tolerandis Judaeis, forbade Jews from settling in
Łowicz, and expelled those already living there. However, they were
allowed to stay in the city during fairs and fairs even before in 1532
they obtained the right to free trade throughout the country.
After the death of Janusz III in 1526, and thus the extinction of the
male line of the Dukes of Czersk-Warsaw, thanks to the efforts of King
Sigismund the Old in 1529 Mazovia was finally incorporated into Poland,
making it one of the provinces of the Crown.
From 1572 (after the
death of Sigismund Augustus) during the interregnum, Łowicz served as
the second capital of the Republic of Poland due to the fact that it was
here that the Interrex resided, whose role was customarily assigned to
the Primate of Poland.
The city was destroyed during the Swedish Deluge and never regained
its rank. In the Mortuology of the Bernardines from Łowicz, one can read
about the scale of the damage done at that time: “Churches and
monasteries suffered greatly. In Łowicz, the Swedes first demolished the
Brothers Hospitallers' monastery with the church of St. John of God,
then razed the church of St. John the Baptist with the hospital and the
chapel of St. Cross, further ruined the Dominican monastery, and finally
profaned the recently rebuilt collegiate church, where they plundered
the altars, took church vestments, chalices, crosses, candlesticks. In
1657, the Swedish garrison also blew up some of the buildings of the
bishop's castle. In the 18th century, Łowicz began to slowly decline,
gradually turning into a small town. Nevertheless, until the partitions,
it was an important center of culture and education. Here, in 1668, one
of the first Piarist colleges in Poland was established. It was a
spiritual town of the Gniezno Archbishopric in the Sochaczew Land of the
Rawa Province until 1792.
After the Second Partition in 1793, the
town came under Prussian rule.
From 1807 it became part of the Duchy of Warsaw created as a result
of the Napoleonic wars, and then from 1815 it became part of the Kingdom
of Poland. In 1820, the Łowicz estate became the property of Grand Duke
Konstanty and his wife Joanna Grudzińska, who officially received the
title of "Duchess of Łowicz". By the imperial decree of July 9, 1822,
issued in St. Petersburg, it was indicated to determine the external
borders of the Duchy of Łowicz, thus creating it formally, because
previously its name, until the times of the Gniezno archbishops,
functioned only customarily.
During the November Uprising
(1830–1831), the National Guard was organized in Łowicz.
According to the will of the Duchess of Łowicz, who died in 1831, the
Duchy was attached to the Crown estates, i.e. it became the property of
the Polish king. As a result, in 1838, the Łowicz estate became the
property of Tsar Nicholas I, and then in 1856 Alexander II, in 1881
Alexander III and in 1894 Nicholas II.
The transfer of the Łowicz
estate to the property of Tsar Nicholas I was the basis for the consent
of the Tsar's general staff, at the request of the Tsar's governor in
the Kingdom of Poland - Ivan Paskiewicz, for the construction of the
first railway line in the Russian partition, the so-called Warsaw-Vienna
railway. As part of this investment, Łowicz gained a railway connection
with the Russian railway system. Laying of tracks on the Grodzisk
Mazowiecki – Skierniewice – Łowicz section was completed on October 15,
1845. Regular traffic on the Warsaw – Łowicz route was opened on
November 1, 1845. After the line was fully launched in April 1848 to the
border between the Russian partition (Russian Empire) and the Prussian
partition (Austria Węgierskie), to the Maczki station (today a district
of Sosnowiec), Łowicz gained a railway connection with Kraków, Wrocław
and Vienna, i.e. with the Austrian railway system. In 1861, the Łowicz
Główny station was built.
After the Warsaw-Bydgoszcz line was put
into operation in 1862, Łowicz gained, via Warsaw, a connection to the
network of Prussian railways. In turn, from mid-November 1866, Łowicz
acquired, through Koluszki, a direct, local connection with Łódź, within
the so-called of the Fabryczna-Łódź Railway.
At the end of the
19th century, in the Geographical Dictionary of the Kingdom of Poland,
the town is mentioned as the seat of a poviat in the Warsaw Governorate.
In the second half of the 19th century, small industry developed.
Despite numerous repressions for heroic participation in the January
Uprising (1863–1864), the city continued to develop economically,
educationally and culturally.
In 1906, during the reign of Nicholas II, the Duchy was included in
the first category of palace property, always belonging to the reigning
person and not subject to sale or alienation. In 1907, the parish of St.
of the Blessed Sacrament of the Old Catholic Mariavite Church. At the
then ul. In 1910, the Mariavites built a neo-gothic church in Glinka. In
1935, there was a split in the Mariavite parish in Łowicz. At that time,
some of the faithful, together with the parish priest, opted for
reformed Mariavitism. They chose a tenement house at Browarna Street as
the seat of their parish.
As a result of World War I, in 1916,
pursuant to the act issued by the emperors of Austria-Hungary and
Germany on November 5, on the recognition of the Kingdom of Poland
independent of Russia and not related by personal union with the Romanov
dynasty, the Duchy became part of the so-called Regency Kingdom of
Poland.
On June 22, 1922, in the Personal Journal of the Ministry
of Military Affairs, it was announced that the Crosses of Valor were
awarded to volunteers - students of the gymnasium and seminary in
Łowicz.
In 1930, Łowicz was visited by the President of Poland,
Ignacy Mościcki.
In 1932, there were riots in the city with the
participation of several hundred people who protested against the
killing by the local police of a city resident who was stealing coal on
a railway siding. The crowd stormed police station. The riots were put
down after police reinforcements arrived from nearby towns.
In
the first half of 1936, there were anti-Semitic excesses in the city.
From August 1939, a camp for interned Polish citizens of German
descent operated here.
In September 1939, the biggest battle of the September Campaign,
known as the Battle of the Bzura River, took place near the city.
On September 1, just after the outbreak of war, the obligation to
black out and a curfew were introduced in accordance with the regulation
on martial law. The railway junction worked without any obstacles, the
movement of military transports continued.
On September 3, in the
early afternoon, the first air raid took place. The Main Railway Station
and all railway installations were seriously damaged. From 4 to 6
September, air raids were repeated daily, completely paralyzing the
railway junction in Łowicz. Thanks to the efforts of the civil defense
and the railway workers from Łowicz, the damage was systematically
removed, but the movement of trains became possible only at night. Air
attacks, directed, according to German statements, only against railway
communication, also caused huge losses among the civilian population and
buildings of the city.
The air raid on September 6 caused the
demolition and burning of buildings on the eastern and southern sides of
the Old Market Square, around Koński Targ, on the eastern side of ul.
Warszawska, ul. 3 Maja, south side of ul. Zduńska, the eastern side of
ul. Mostowa and St. Tadeusz. About 200 civilians were killed. Defense
against aircraft attacks was carried out by the Bofors 40 mm
anti-aircraft battery, placed on the outskirts of the city, and 4 or 5
heavy machine guns, manned by soldiers of the Reserve Center of the 10th
Infantry Regiment. However, no kills were recorded. Thanks to the
ordinance of the poviat authorities on the distribution of the
inhabitants of Łowicz in the surrounding villages, major losses were
avoided.
At noon, on 8 September, reconnaissance units of the 8th
German Army entered Łowicz from the direction of Łódź, and then, on 9-10
September, the city was occupied by German infantry. No acts of terror
by the occupiers were recorded during this period.
On September 11,
units of the 16th Pomeranian Infantry Division from the "Pomorze" Army
captured the city, driving out the German troops. The attack of the
Polish army took place from the direction of Kutno. The 16th Division
was limited to guarding the southern part of the city with patrols, and
organized a defensive line on the northern bank of the Bzura.
On
September 13, the German 18th Infantry Division made the first attack on
the Polish positions in Łowicz. The attack was repelled by soldiers of
the Polish 16th division.
On September 14, the Germans brought in
reinforcements - the 24th Infantry Division and 6 artillery squadrons,
including 33 heavy artillery. In addition, batteries of motorized heavy
artillery, firing from Domaniewice, worked to the advantage of the
German side. The Germans had armored support and air cover at their
disposal. Between September 14 and 16, the city changed hands three
times. The Polish infantry was supported by the 7th Heavy Artillery
Regiment and two armored trains. Despite the barbaric method of
fighting, which was taking over 100 hostages and treating them as "human
shields", the Germans did not easily succeed. In the afternoon, the
German attack led by ul. Mostowa under the cover of Polish hostages, he
was repelled by a counterattack with melee weapons by soldiers of the
16th division. Two hostages died, the rest were released.
As a result
of General Władysław Bortnowski's decision, on the night of September
16/17, the Polish army left the city.
After the withdrawal of the
Polish army, the German field gendarmerie dealt with the captured Polish
defenders who were not in uniform and, according to the German side,
were not protected by the Hague and Geneva Conventions. 86 inhabitants
of Łowicz and visitors were shot, and at ul. Warszawska 6 scouts who
fought in organizational uniforms. After capturing Łowicz on the night
of September 16/17, 1939, the Germans occupied the town until January
17, 1945.
In 1940, the Germans established a ghetto in the city
for the Jewish population.
On May 23, 1943, in front of the
building of the "Blich" dairy, the Germans shot 10 partisans from the
People's Guard unit. Pułaski wounded in the fight against the Nazis
(after the war, a commemorative plaque was unveiled at the site of the
execution).
In People's Poland, the city became a center of agricultural and food
industry, light industry and building materials. In 1963, a large fruit
and vegetable processing plant was opened in the city, and in 1969, the
"Syntex" knitting factory. Several housing estates were built in the
post-war period.
In the 1960s, the Monument of Gratitude
dedicated to the liberators of the city - soldiers of the Polish Army
and the 1st and 2nd Panzer Army of the 1st Belorussian Front was
unveiled on Kościuszko Market Square.
Since 1971, the Łowicz
Baroque Music Days have been held in the city. In People's Poland, the
"Sztuka Łowicz" Cooperative operating in the city employed numerous folk
artists from the vicinity of the city. In 1979, an open-air museum was
built here.
In the years 1975–1998, the city was administratively
part of the Skierniewice Province.
On March 25, 1992, Pope John
Paul II, with the Bull Totus Tuus Poloniae Populus, erected the diocese
of Łowicz, thus raising the Łowicz collegiate church to the dignity of a
cathedral. During his VII. During the Apostolic Journey to Poland, the
Pope visited Łowicz and on June 14, 1999, he gave the Łowicz cathedral
the title of minor basilica.