Racibórz

Racibórz stands where a road from the Moravian Gate towards Kraków crossed the Oder. An old fortified settlement and one of the historic capitals of Upper Silesia, it became the seat of a Piast duchy in 1172. Its brewers enjoyed early privileges, and their beer found buyers in Silesia and neighbouring Bohemia. The castle chapel of St Thomas recalls a bishop of Wrocław who took refuge here in a dispute with a Silesian duke.

Duke Leszek acknowledged Bohemian overlordship in 1327. When he died without an heir in 1336, King John of Bohemia granted the duchy to Nicholas II of Opava, whose Přemyslid descendants ruled it thereafter. The townspeople retained their municipal rights, and clothmaking, tanning and brewing supported a growing commercial centre. In 1521 Racibórz passed to the Piast Duke Jan II of Opole, reuniting two important Upper Silesian duchies before his death in 1532 brought them to the Bohemian Crown.