Free City of Kraków

The Free, Independent, and Strictly Neutral City of Kraków with its Territory (Polish: Wolne, Niepodległe i Ściśle Neutralne Miasto Kraków z Okręgiem), more commonly known as either the Free City of Kraków or Republic of Kraków (Polish: Rzeczpospolita Krakowska, German: Republik Krakau), was a city-state created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815, and controlled by its three neighbors (Russia, Prussia, and the Austrian Empire) until 1846, when in the aftermath of the unsuccessful Kraków Uprising it was annexed by the Austrian Empire. It was a remnant of the Duchy of Warsaw partitioned between the three states in 1815.

[edit] History

The Free City was formally established on May 3, 1815. It comprised the city of Kraków and its environs (1164 km²), and had a mainly Polish population of about 88,000 (1815 figures).

The statelet received an initial constitution in 1815 which had mainly been devised by Prince Adam Jerzy Czartoryski. The constitution was revised and expanded in 1818, establishing significant autonomy for the city. Legislative power was vested in the Assembly of Representatives (Izba Reprezentantów), and the executive power was given to a Governing Senate. The law was based on the Napoleonic civil code and French commercial and criminal law. The official language was Polish.

The Free City was a duty-free area, allowed to trade with Russia, Prussia and Austria. The Jagiellonian University could accept students from the partitioned territory of Poland that had been divided between the three states.

During the November Uprising of 1830-1831, Kraków was a base for the smuggling of arms into the Russian-controlled Kingdom of Poland. After the end of the uprising the autonomy of the Free City was restricted.

Kraków was subsequently occupied by the Austrian army from 1836 to 1841.

After the unsuccessful Kraków Uprising of 1846, the Free City was annexed by Austria on November 16, 1846 as the Grand Duchy of Kraków.