Oleśnica

Oleśnica grew around a Piast castle and a trading settlement on the road from Wrocław towards Kalisz and Toruń. Granted town rights in 1255, it became the capital of its own Silesian duchy in 1313. Its castle was enlarged into a Renaissance residence, with arcades around the inner courtyard, while the town became a centre of Polish printing.

The dukes accepted Bohemian overlordship in 1329, though the local Piast line continued until 1492. Hussite forces invaded Oleśnica in 1432, and later negotiations with the Hussites took place here. In 1495 the duchy was sold to Henry of Münsterberg, a son of King George of Poděbrady; his grandson founded a school in the town in 1530. After the Poděbrad line died out, the dukes of Württemberg inherited Oleśnica in 1647. Prussian suzerainty followed the First Silesian War in 1742.