Głogów

Głogów stands on the Oder, where an old Slavic stronghold grew into one of Lower Silesia's fortified towns. Its position on trading routes favoured merchants and craftsmen, whose clothmaking and brewing brought prosperity. In 1251 it became the seat of a Piast duchy, and Duke Konrad granted the town Magdeburg rights two years later. Its walls and castle guarded a place repeatedly contested by neighbouring powers.

The duchy acknowledged Bohemian overlordship in 1331. In 1462 Głogów hosted a meeting of King Casimir IV of Poland and King George of Poděbrady of Bohemia, who concluded an alliance here. Duke Jan II was expelled by the forces of Matthias Corvinus in 1488; the future Polish kings John Albert and Sigismund subsequently ruled the duchy before its incorporation into the Bohemian Crown in 1506. It passed with that crown to the Habsburgs in 1526. During the Thirty Years' War the town was fortified and changed hands several times before returning to Habsburg rule in 1648. Prussia captured Głogów in 1741. French forces took the fortress in 1806 and held it through a long siege in 1813–14, surrendering only after hunger and hardship had greatly reduced the garrison.