Świny is a village in the administrative district of

Gmina Bolków __NOTOC__ Gmina Bolków is an urban-rural gmina (administrative district) in Jawor County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in south-western Poland. Its seat is the town of Bolków, which lies approximately south-west of Jawor and west of the regio ...

, within Jawor County,

Lower Silesian Voivodeship Lower Silesian Voivodeship, or Lower Silesia Province, in southwestern Poland, is one of the 16 voivodeships (provinces) into which Poland is divided. The voivodeship was created on 1 January 1999 out of the former Wrocław, Legnica, Wałbrz ...

, in south-western Poland.

Geography

It lies in the Lower Silesia region on the Polish National road 3 north-east of

Bolków Bolków (german: Bolkenhain) is a town in Jawor County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in south-western Poland. It is the seat of the administrative district ( gmina) called Gmina Bolków and part of the '' Neisse-Nysa-Nisa'' Euroregion. Overvi ...

, about south-west of

Jawor Jawor (german: Jauer) is a town in south-western Poland with 22,890 inhabitants (2019). It is situated in the Lower Silesian Voivodeship (from 1975 to 1998 it was in the former Legnica Voivodeship). It is the seat of Jawor County, and lies appro ...

and west of the regional capital

Wrocław Wrocław (; german: Breslau, or . ; Silesian German: ''Brassel'') is a city in southwestern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the River Oder in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Europe, rou ...

History

A settlement on the historic road leading from the Kingdom of Poland across the

Western Sudetes The Western Sudetes ( pl, Sudety Zachodnie; cs, Krkonošská oblast; german: Westsudeten) are a geomorphological macroregion, the western part of the Sudetes subprovince on the borders of the Czech Republic, Poland and Germany. They are formed mo ...

to the Duchy of Bohemia already existed in the 10th/11th century. According to legend, a Bohemian knight Biwoy about 716 killed a wild boar ("swine") by his own hand and dedicated it to the Přemyslid ancestress

Libuše , Libussa, Libushe or, historically ''Lubossa'', is a legendary ancestor of the Přemyslid dynasty and the Czech people as a whole. According to legend, she was the youngest but wisest of three sisters, who became queen after their father died; s ...

, wherefore he received her sister Kazi's hand and was enfeoffed with the surrounding estates. Indeed, the forebears of the local Lords of Świny (''Schweinichen'') may have established themselves in the area when

Silesia Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. Silesia is split ...

came under the rule of the Piast duke

Mieszko I of Poland Mieszko I (; – 25 May 992) was the first ruler of Poland and the founder of the first independent Polish state, the Duchy of Poland. His reign stretched from 960 to his death and he was a member of the Piast dynasty, a son of Siemomysł and ...

. Świny Castle was first documented in 1108 by the medieval chronicler Cosmas of Prague, author of the ''Chronica Boemorum'', who mentioned one

Voivode Voivode (, also spelled ''voievod'', ''voevod'', ''voivoda'', ''vojvoda'' or ''wojewoda'') is a title denoting a military leader or warlord in Central, Southeastern and Eastern Europe since the Early Middle Ages. It primarily referred to the me ...

Mutina of the Vršovci dynasty meeting his uncle Nemoy at ''Castrum Suini in Poloniae'' to plot against Duke

Svatopluk of Bohemia Svatopluk the Lion ( cz, Svatopluk Olomoucký; died 21 September 1109) was Duke of Bohemia from 1107 until his assassination in 1109. His rule was overshadowed by the fierce conflict around the Bohemian throne in the 12th century. Family A memb ...

. ''Suini'' is thereby the oldest known castle in Lower Silesia. It again appeared as ''Zpini'' in an 1155 deed issued by

Pope Adrian IV Pope Adrian IV ( la, Adrianus IV; born Nicholas Breakspear (or Brekespear); 1 September 1159, also Hadrian IV), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 4 December 1154 to his death in 1159. He is the only Englishman t ...

From the 13th century on, Świny apparently was the administrative seat of a Polish castellany on the trade route from the Silesian capital

across the Bohemian border at Kamienna Góra to Trutnov and

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

. A parish church is first documented in 1313. However, over the centuries it lost its meaning, after the Silesian duke

Bolesław II Rogatka Boleslav or Bolesław may refer to: In people: * Boleslaw (given name) In geography: * Bolesław, Dąbrowa County, Lesser Poland Voivodeship, Poland * Bolesław, Olkusz County, Lesser Poland Voivodeship, Poland * Bolesław, Silesian Voivodeship, ...

about 1270 erected neighbouring

Castle, and the castellany was relocated by the

Silesian Piast The Silesian Piasts were the elder of four lines of the Polish Piast dynasty beginning with Władysław II the Exile (1105–1159), eldest son of Duke Bolesław III of Poland. By Bolesław's testament, Władysław was granted Silesia as his he ...

dukes of

and

Świdnica Świdnica (; german: Schweidnitz; cs, Svídnice; szl, Świdńica) is a city in south-western Poland in the region of Silesia. As of 2019, it has a population of 57,014 inhabitants. It lies in Lower Silesian Voivodeship, being the seventh larges ...

. Nevertheless, Świny, spared from demolitions in both the

Hussite Wars The Hussite Wars, also called the Bohemian Wars or the Hussite Revolution, were a series of civil wars fought between the Hussites and the combined Catholic forces of Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund, the Papacy, European monarchs loyal to the Cat ...

and the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (80 ...

, remained one of the largest castle complexes in the Silesian lands. In the 16th century the members of the Schweinichen noble family hosted a circle of mystics, among them

Jakob Böhme Jakob Böhme (; ; 24 April 1575 – 17 November 1624) was a German philosopher, Christian mystic, and Lutheran Protestant theologian. He was considered an original thinker by many of his contemporaries within the Lutheran tradition, and his first ...

Abraham von Franckenberg Abraham von Franckenberg (24 June 1593 – 25 June 1652) was a German mystic, author, poet and hymn-writer. Life Abraham von Franckenberg was born in 1593 into an old Silesian noble family in Ludwigsdorf bei Oels. He attended the Gymnasium in ...

and Angelus Silesius. Plundered by Russian troops in the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (1754� ...

, the castle was put up for compulsory sale in 1769. It was later held by the Austrian House of Hoyos and rapidly decayed.

References

External links

View of the Castle in Świny from the drone
{{DEFAULTSORT:Swiny, Lower Silesian Voivodeship Villages in Jawor County