Nysa

Nysa lies on the Nysa Kłodzka, beneath the mountains of Silesia. It became the capital of a principality ruled by the bishops of Wrocław and one of the region's leading towns. Merchants and craftsmen prospered under its staple right, while linen from Nysa reached distant markets, including Venice. The town received the right to mint its own coins in 1286, a sign of its growing standing. The great church of St James and St Agnes stood at the heart of a town often called the Silesian Rome for its many religious buildings.

The bishops' principality came under Bohemian suzerainty in 1351. Nysa's walls helped defend it during the Hussite Wars, and the city appeared among the important towns of central Europe in the Nuremberg Chronicle of 1493. In 1622 Bishop Charles of Austria brought the Jesuits here; their Carolinum college opened two years later and became a renowned school. Churches, the college and the bishops' patronage gave the town a prominent place in Silesian religious and intellectual life.

Prussian forces captured Nysa in 1741 during the First Silesian War. Frederick II strengthened its defences, turning the episcopal town into a major fortress guarding the newly acquired province. The buildings of its bishops and the works of its later garrison reflected two different sources of authority over the same strategic town.