Silesian County

Silesian County (Polish: powiat śląski) was an administrative unit (powiat) of both the Kingdom of Poland and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. With seats in the towns of Zator and Oswiecim, it was part of Kraków Voivodeship.

Silesian County was created at the General Sejm in Warsaw, in 1564, when King Sigismund II Augustus merged territories of the Duchy of Zator and the Duchy of Oswiecim, incorporating them into the Kraków Voivodeship of the Polish Crown.^[1] The kings retained both ducal titles, and names of both duchies remained in common use. It existed for over 200 years, and was dissolved after the third partition of Poland (1795).

The total area of Silesian County was 2600 sq. kilometers, and in the mid-17th century it had five towns: Wadowice, Zywiec, Kety, Oswiecim and Zator.

References

Administrative division of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth Province of Greater Poland Brześć Kujawski Chełmno Gniezno Inowrocław Kalisz Łęczyca Malbork Masovian Płock Pomeranian Poznań Rawa Sieradz Prince-Bishopric of Warmia Province of Lesser Poland Bełz Bracław Chernihów Kiev Kraków Lublin Podlaskie Podolian Ruthenian Sandomierz Volhynia Duchy of Siewierz Grand Duchy of Lithuania Brest Litovsk Minsk Mstsislaw Nowogródek Połock Smolensk Trakai Vilnius Vitebsk Duchy of Samogitia Polish Livonia Duchy of Livonia (1561–1621): Dorpat, Parnawa, Wenden Inflanty (1621–1772) Fiefs Lauenburg and Bütow Land Duchy of Prussia Duchy of Courland and Semigallia