Tarczyn

Tarczyn lies southwest of Warsaw in Mazovia, on routes that once linked Radom and Warsaw with towns farther north and west. A market settlement existed beside the Tarczynka in the Middle Ages. In 1353 Duke Casimir of Mazovia granted it town rights after the efforts of its parish priest John, who also served as ducal chaplain. From 1406 the town belonged to the provosts of St John's collegiate church in Warsaw. Construction of the brick Gothic parish church of St Nicholas began in the early sixteenth century; a separate church of St Dorothy also stood on the outskirts from the late fifteenth to the eighteenth century. During the Great Northern War troops were stationed at Tarczyn in 1702–1704, and fire and wartime destruction badly damaged the town. Its market and parish nevertheless remained centres for the surrounding countryside.