Namysłów

Namysłów lies on the Widawa, on the road between Wrocław and Kraków. Refounded after the Mongol invasion of 1241, it developed as a trading town whose brewers and clothmakers supplied its markets. Its castle, recorded in 1312, was a residence of King Casimir III of Poland during the shifting divisions of Silesia.

In 1348 Casimir and Charles IV of Bohemia concluded the Treaty of Namysłów here, settling claims to Silesia. The town resisted a Hussite siege in 1428, but was plundered by Swedish troops after a long and destructive siege during the Thirty Years' War. Emperor Leopold I gave the castle to the Teutonic Order in 1703, and it became the seat of a commandery. Namysłów passed to Prussia in 1742 after the First Silesian War.