History
PIOTRKÓW TRYBUNALSKI - HISTORICAL OUTLINE
Piotrkow Trybunalski, situated in the centre of the Lodz Upland that borders on historical districts of Poland, is a city of roughly 80,000 inhabitants with an area of 68 square kilometres.According to a local legend, the city was set up by a XIIth century Polish magnate Piotr Dunin nicknamed Wlostowic who – as an act of atonement for unchivalrous behaviour - had to build 77 churches. (Including the eldest one in Piotrkow - the St. Jacob Church.) It was from his given name that the first, patronymic part of the city name came - the second part was given to commemorate the Royal Tribunal - the highest court of justice of the former Polish Republic – located in Piotrkow for 214 years, since 1578 up to the partition of Poland in the XVIIIth century.
The details concerning Piotrkow’s historical origins are to unknown. First information connected with Piotrkow found in medieval annals is a settlement grant given to the Cistercian Monastery in Sulejow by the Prince of Krakow in 1217 – a document which confirmed legal efficacy of a prior legal verdict of the ducal court of law.
During the XIIIth century Piotrkow developed into a crowded settlement where rulers of both the Leczyca and Sieradz principalities convened knights and produced legal acts. It was probably during one of such convents in 1291 that Piotrkow was granted settlement and charter by the then Prince of Sieradz Wladyslaw Lokietek. Legal documents from the beginnings of the XIVth century confirm that Piotrkow was already a city at that time and enjoyed the protection of the crown. However the majority of Piotrkow’s first legal documents were destroyed around the year 1400 during a huge fire that also damaged the buildings and the city walls form the 2nd part of the XIVth century. Roughly around that time the city saw the building of Fara - one of the oldest churches in Piotrkow, one within the confines of which Polish history was made. It was there where general convents of Polish noblemen took place, together with the proceedings of both the lower house of the Polish Parliament (the Sejm) and the Royal Tribunal. Also the progeny of Polish king Wladyslaw Jagiello (who in 1404 confirmed all former charters of Piotrkow) officially began their reign in this very church. Of great importance is also the fact that Piotrkow was also the place where Masters of the Teutonic Order paid homage to the Polish rulers.
PIOTRKOW TRYBUNALSKI - THE CRADLE OF POLISH DEMOCRACY AND PARLIAMENTARISM
In January 1493, during a general convent in Piotrkow led by King Jan Olbracht, the rulers decided upon the shape of the Polish Parliament with its current two chambers - the Senate and the lower chamber, the Sejm. Such events made Piotrkow the then second political capital of Poland. Thus the XVth and XVIth centuries are commonly regarded as “the golden age” in the history of Piotrkow. And despite the fact that the city was being plagued by natural disasters, by the end of XVIth century the city boasted 3,000 inhabitants.
"Piotrkow Trybunalski's Parliamentary Traditions" Conference held under the auspices of the then-Deputy Speaker of the Sejm, Janusz Wojciechowski (Piotrkow Trybunalski, May 23, 2003).
It took the wars with Sweden (in the XVIIth century and the beginning of the XVIIIth) and their aftermath companied with many natural disasters to bring the decline of the city. In September 1786, a huge fire consumed the Old Town’s baroque buildings. (The area was then rebuilt in the beginnings of the XIXth century, reproducing the Old Town’s medieval architectural arrangement and the historic churches.) The city walls, having lost their defensive character due to the damage, had been demolished before the year 1827. So was the Town Hall, shortly after 1867. What added luster to the city in this difficult period was the educational activity performed by the newly established Jesuit and Piarist collegiate churches that educated the offspring of the Polish noblemen. In the XVIIIth century, many notable individuals later proven invaluable to the Polish history studied there, including the authors of the 3rd May Constitution Tomasz Maruszewski and Stanislaw Malachowski and the reformer of the educational system Stanislaw Konarski.
Interestingly, it was during the period of the base partitions of Poland that Piotrkow began restoring its position. After the first Polish railway line had been established in the city in 1846 (the Warsaw – Vienna connection), Piotrkow was chosen as the seat for the authorities of the newly established Piotrkow Guberniya. In this period, the city’s urban area was considerably expanded, as well as the population which, at that time, was being estimated at 40,000; newly established heavy industry thrived and the city centre shifted to the area between the Old Town and the new railway station.
"Piotrkow Trybunalski's Parliamentary Traditions" Conference held under the auspices of the then-Deputy Speaker of the Sejm, Janusz Wojciechowski (Piotrkow Trybunalski, May 23, 2003).
It took the wars with Sweden (in the XVIIth century and the beginning of the XVIIIth) and their aftermath companied with many natural disasters to bring the decline of the city. In September 1786, a huge fire consumed the Old Town’s baroque buildings. (The area was then rebuilt in the beginnings of the XIXth century, reproducing the Old Town’s medieval architectural arrangement and the historic churches.) The city walls, having lost their defensive character due to the damage, had been demolished before the year 1827. So was the Town Hall, shortly after 1867. What added luster to the city in this difficult period was the educational activity performed by the newly established Jesuit and Piarist collegiate churches that educated the offspring of the Polish noblemen. In the XVIIIth century, many notable individuals later proven invaluable to the Polish history studied there, including the authors of the 3rd May Constitution Tomasz Maruszewski and Stanislaw Malachowski and the reformer of the educational system Stanislaw Konarski. Interestingly, it was during the period of the base partitions of Poland that Piotrkow began restoring its position. After the first Polish railway line had been established in the city in 1846 (the Warsaw – Vienna connection), Piotrkow was chosen as the seat for the authorities of the newly established Piotrkow Guberniya. In this period, the city’s urban area was considerably expanded, as well as the population which, at that time, was being estimated at 40,000; newly established heavy industry thrived and the city centre shifted to the area between the Old Town and the new railway station.
During World War I, Piotrkow – then under Austrian and Hungarian occupation - once again became an important political centre of patriotic activity. The city was the seat of the General Department of the National Military Committee, the Polish Legions Headquarters, many military hospitals and schools and printing houses which, with their nationwide-distributed political leaflets, campaigned for national independence.
After Poland became a sovereign state in 1918, Piotrkow lost its position of a political and administrative centre. However, during World War II the city emerged as a centre of a well organized resistance movement. (In the occupation period, Piotrkow lost 30% of its citizens, including 100% of the Jew population.) From the year 1945 to 1975 Piotrkow was a district city in the Lodz province, then from 1975 to 1999 the seat of the authorities of the Piotrkow province, finally to come back to the status of a district city with rich political, cultural and educational traditions.
