Initially part of the PiastDuchy of Silesia, the Oleśnica area became part of the Duchy of Głogów in 1294, following an armed conflict between Duke Henry III of Głogów and his cousin Henry V the Fat, Duke of Wrocław. After the death of Duke Henry III in 1309, it gained significant autonomy during the division of the Głogów lands and the creation of the Duchy of Oleśnica for Henry's son Bolesław in 1313, succeeded by his brother Konrad I in 1321. Dukes Bolesław and Konrad I still claimed to be heirs of the entire Kingdom of Poland, even though they ruled only in their duchy, which caused animosity from other Polish dukes in Silesia and monarch of all Poland Władysław I Łokietek.[3]
Konrad sought protection from the inheritance claims raised by his Piast cousins and King Władysław I the Elbow-high of Poland at the Bohemian crown and in 1329 swore allegiance to the Luxembourg king John of Bohemia. Falling under Bohemian suzerainty hindered the growth of Oleśnica, as the important trade route linking Wrocław via Oleśnica with Kalisz and Toruń was severed.[3] On good terms with King John and his son Emperor Charles IV, Duke Konrad I was able to acquire the Koźle area upon the death of Duke Bolesław of Bytom in 1355. His son Duke Konrad II the Gray further purchased the town of Kąty and half of the Duchy of Ścinawa from Duke Henry VIII the Sparrow. He bequested considerable possessions to his successor Konrad III the Old in 1403.
After the local branch of the Silesian Piasts had died out with the death of Duke Konrad X in 1492, the duchy was supposed to pass to future Polish King John I Albert in accordance with an agreement from 1491,[3] but it Duke Henry of Münsterberg, son of the predeceased Bohemian King George of Poděbrady, also claimed the ceased fief for him and his descendants. His claims were finally acknowledged by George's successor King Vladislav II Jagiellon in 1495, after the state countriesSyców (Groß Wartenberg), Żmigród (Trachenberg), and Milicz (Militsch) had been split off.
Ducatus in Silesia Inferiore Olsnensis, engraving by Pieter Schenk the Younger, about 1720
When the Poděbrad dynasty became extinct in 1647, the Habsburg emperor Ferdinand III, King of Bohemia, enfeoffed Silvius I Nimrod of Württemberg with Oleśnica, who had married the daughter of the last Podiěbrad duke. In the 17th century, Oleśnica remained an important center of Polish printing, and Polish religious writers Adam Gdacius (nicknamed Rey of Silesia) and Jerzy Bock published their works there. In the 18th century, one of two main routes connecting Warsaw and Dresden ran through the duchy and Kings Augustus II the Strong and Augustus III of Poland often traveled that route.[4] The duchy remained under the Crown of Bohemia until in 1742 it was conquered by the Kingdom of Prussia in the course of the Silesian Wars.
^(in Polish and English) Panorama miast, OleśnicaArchived October 13, 2007, at the Wayback Machine Accessed 2008-01-04. "Oleśnica had been an important trade settlement and the capital of a Duchy, undergoing its prime development during the Renaissance period."
^Zofia Uszyńska, University of Michigan, Poland, Travel Guide Publisher: AGPOL, 1960. Digitized Nov 13, 2006. Accessed 2008-01-04. "Oleśnica used to be the capital of the Duchy of Oleśnica, which was ruled until the end of the 15th c. by Polish dukes of the Piast dynasty."
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