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Duchy of Siewierz
Duchy of Siewierz coat of arms
The Duchy of Siewierz was an old Silesian duchy with its capital in Siewierz , established around 1341 during the times of fragmentation of Poland . It was one of many Duchies of Silesia and till 1443 was under rule of Piasts and Crown of Bohemia. Alongside Duchy of Nysa , it was the only ecclesiastical Duchy in the region (ruled by a bishop of Catholic Church ).
Since 1443, after its acquisition by Zbigniew Cardinal Oleśnicki , it was a property of bishops of Kraków . On many levels this tiny principality was almost a 'country within a country': it had its own laws, treasury and army. It was only in 1790 that the Great Sejm formally incorporated the Duchy into the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth . In 1795 , the duchy, because it was a part of Silesia and its adjacent regions were annexed by Prussia , into the new province of New Silesia (in German : Neuschlesien third partition of Poland . In 1800, the seat of the bishop moved away from the duchy. Temporarily recreated in 1807 by Napoleon as a gift for his ally, Jean Lannes , after Congress of Vienna the lands became part of Congress Poland under Imperial Russian rule. In 1918 , Siewierz became part of the Second Polish Republic , from 1939 to 1945 of Nazi Germany . The bishops of Kraków continued to use a title of Prince of Siewierz until the death of Adam Stefan Sapieha in 1951.
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