village
A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...
in the administrative district of
Gmina Paczków
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Gmina Paczków is an urban-rural gmina (administrative district) in Nysa County, Opole Voivodeship, in south-western Poland, on the Czech border. Its seat is the town of Paczków, which lies approximately west of Nysa and west of the ...
, within
Nysa County
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Nysa County () is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Opole Voivodeship, south-western Poland, on the Czech border. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local government reform ...
,
Opole Voivodeship
Opole Voivodeship ( , , ), is the smallest and least populated voivodeships of Poland, voivodeship (province) of Poland. The province's name derives from that of the region's capital and largest city, Opole. It is part of Silesia. A relatively lar ...
, in south-western Poland, close to the
Czech
Czech may refer to:
* Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe
** Czech language
** Czechs, the people of the area
** Czech culture
** Czech cuisine
* One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus
*Czech (surnam ...
border, where neighboring Horní Hoštice is located. It lies approximately south-west of
Paczków
Paczków (; ) is a town in Nysa County, Opole Voivodeship, in southern Poland, with 7,460 inhabitants (2019). It is one of the few towns in Europe in which medieval fortifications have been almost completely preserved.Nysa, and west of the regional capital
Opole
Opole (; ; ; ) is a city located in southern Poland on the Oder River and the historical capital of Upper Silesia. With a population of approximately 127,387 as of the 2021 census, it is the capital of Opole Voivodeship (province) and the seat of ...
.
History
The village was first mentioned in the ''
Liber fundationis episcopatus Vratislaviensis
(, 'Book of endowments of the Bishopric of Wrocław') is a Latin manuscript catalog of documents compiled in the later 13th or in the early 14th century. It lists towns and villages obliged to pay a tithe to the Bishopric of Wrocław. As a pr ...
'' from around 1295, when it was part of the
Duchy of Nysa
The Duchy of Nysa (, ) or Duchy of Neisse () was one of the duchies of Silesia with its capital at Nysa in Lower Silesia. Alongside the Duchy of Siewierz, it was the only ecclesiastical duchy in the Silesian region, as it was ruled by a bis ...
within fragmented
Piast
The House of Piast was the first historical ruling dynasty of Poland. The first documented Polish monarch was Duke Mieszko I (–992). The Piasts' royal rule in Poland ended in 1370 with the death of King Casimir III the Great.
Branches of ...
-ruled Poland. Later on, the duchy passed under Bohemian (Czech) suzerainty within the
Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation
The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...
. After the 18th-century
Silesian Wars
The Silesian Wars () were three wars fought in the mid-18th century between Kingdom of Prussia, Prussia (under King Frederick the Great) and Habsburg monarchy, Habsburg Austria (under Empress Maria Theresa) for control of the Central European ...
, the newly drawn border divided the village in two. The present-day Polish village Gościce fell to
Prussia
Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...
, while the present-day Czech village Horní Hoštice remained within the Duchy of Nysa under Bohemian suzerainty. In 1936, during a massive Nazi campaign of renaming of placenames, the village was renamed to ''Gostal'' to erase traces of Polish origin. After the defeat of Germany in the war, in 1945, the village became part of Poland and its historic name was "restored". The division between Gościce and Horní Hoštice continued through the
Communist era
A communist era is a sustained period of national government by a single party following the philosophy of Marxism–Leninism. Many countries have experienced such a period of communist rule.
Current communist states China
The Chinese Communist ...
of 1945–1990, and the border was not easily crossed until the Poland and Czechia joined the
Schengen Area
The Schengen Area ( , ) encompasses European countries that have officially abolished border controls at their common borders. As an element within the wider area of freedom, security and justice (AFSJ) policy of the European Union (EU), it ...