Turek

Turek is a town in the historic land of Sieradz, once an estate of the archbishops of Gniezno. It appears among their possessions in a papal bull of 1136. Archbishop Janisław granted it town rights in 1341, and Casimir the Great confirmed the archbishops' authority over the town and its market in 1357.

In 1383 Turek was plundered during a struggle over the Polish succession, as opponents sought to pressure Archbishop Bodzęta. Centuries later the partitions brought Prussian rule, followed by the Duchy of Warsaw and Congress Poland. In the 1820s weavers from Bohemia and Saxony settled here, helping establish a textile industry and contributing to the town's rapid growth. Entirely new quarters, houses and workshops arose as the settlement was rebuilt for manufacturing.