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Kraków (medieval Polish capital)

Type Object Region Eastern Europe Time c. 1000–1596

Kraków, on the Vistula, was an important Polish capital and cathedral city from the Piast dynasty era;…

Timeline

  1. c. 1000–1227Kraków (Wawel Hill) · Lesser Poland VoivodeshipBolesław I and his successors built a castle and cathedral on Wawel Hill, making Kraków the coronation and burial center of the Polish kingdom; salt-mine trade and Vistula river transport drove the city's commercial development.
  2. 1231–1240Kraków · Lesser Poland VoivodeshipAfter the assassination of Leszek the White, Poland fell into ducal fragmentation; Henry the Bearded was Duke of Kraków from 1232 to 1238, followed by Henry the Pious from 1238 to 1241, while the capital maintained cathedral and royal administrative functions, and German settlers and the Jewish community spurred the city's handicrafts and trade.
  3. 1241–1300Kraków · Lesser Poland VoivodeshipIn 1241 Mongol forces invaded Lesser Poland, plundering around Kraków, and Henry the Pious fell at the Battle of Legnica; Wawel Castle and the city were subsequently rebuilt, and the city continued as a Polish political and academic center through the later Middle Ages until the 14th-century unification under Władysław the Elbow-high.

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