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Jednorożec () is a village in
Przasnysz County __NOTOC__ Przasnysz County () is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Masovian Voivodeship, east-central Poland. It came into being on 1 January 1999, as a result of the Polish local government reforms passed in 199 ...
,
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
. Located in the
Mazovian Voivodeship Masovian Voivodeship or Mazowieckie Province (, ) and any variation thereof, is a voivodeship (province) in east-central Poland, containing Poland's capital Warsaw. Masovian Voivodeship has an area of and had a 2019 population of 5,411,446, m ...
, the town is one of the centres of the historical region of
Kurpie Kurpie () is one of a number of ethnic regions in Poland, noted for its unique traditional customs, such as its own types of traditional costume, traditional dance and distinctive type of architecture and livelihoods. Kurpie is also the name of ...
. It lies approximately northeast of
Przasnysz Przasnysz () is a town in north-central Poland. Located in the Masovian Voivodship, about north of Warsaw and about south of Olsztyn, it is the capital of Przasnysz County. It has 18,093 inhabitants (2004). It was one of the most important towns ...
and north of
Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...
.


Etymology

The town was named based on the local legend of a beekeeper who saw a unicorn in the area, which was at the time a royal hunting preserve. According to the legend, Prince Janusz III Mazowiecki ordered the building of a hunting lodge on the spot, which he named Jednorożec, meaning "
unicorn The unicorn is a legendary creature that has been described since Classical antiquity, antiquity as a beast with a single large, pointed, spiraling horn (anatomy), horn projecting from its forehead. In European literature and art, the unico ...
." The coat of arms and the municipal flag of Jednorożec consist of a unicorn accompanied by two bees. The unicorn is shown in the position of a Polish battle horse. The color green symbolizes the area's forested
Kurpie Kurpie () is one of a number of ethnic regions in Poland, noted for its unique traditional customs, such as its own types of traditional costume, traditional dance and distinctive type of architecture and livelihoods. Kurpie is also the name of ...
past, as well as the current "green" values of the local inhabitants, and the green color also refers to the area as part of what was once "Poland's Green Lungs."


Government

The village of Jednorożec is the seat of the Gmina Jednorożec (administrative district) in
Przasnysz County __NOTOC__ Przasnysz County () is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Masovian Voivodeship, east-central Poland. It came into being on 1 January 1999, as a result of the Polish local government reforms passed in 199 ...
. The Jednorożec municipal office is located at ul. Odrodzenia 14, 06-323 Jednorożec. Current departments include: * Mayor * Secretary * Treasurer * Finance and Budget Office * Investment and Development Team * Head of the Office of Civil Status * Independent Workplace Affairs and Local Government Personnel * Independent Position for Defense, Civil Protection and Economic Crisis Management * Independent Workplace - Computer Science * Stand-alone post for Land Reclamation * Project Coordinator


History

Jednorożec has a history going back at least three hundred years. It survived the "
Swedish invasion of Poland The Deluge was a series of mid-17th-century military campaigns in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. In a wider sense, it applies to the period between the Khmelnytsky Uprising of 1648 and the Truce of Andrusovo in 1667, comprising the Pol ...
" during the
Second Northern War The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of ...
in the 17th century and subsequent occupations by
Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
and
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
. The area now known as Jednorożec was part of a royal estate in the
Kurpie Kurpie () is one of a number of ethnic regions in Poland, noted for its unique traditional customs, such as its own types of traditional costume, traditional dance and distinctive type of architecture and livelihoods. Kurpie is also the name of ...
forest, and contained no permanent residents in the second half of the 16th century, only meadows and small huts of
beekeeper A beekeeper is a person who keeps honey bees, a profession known as beekeeping. The term beekeeper refers to a person who keeps honey bees in beehives, boxes, or other receptacles. The beekeeper does not control the creatures. The beekeeper ow ...
s. Beekeeping was highly regulated by law and beekeepers were required to provide "forty hands of honey" (40 rączek miodu) per year as tribute to the estate. In addition, they were required to pay the estate a rent and to serve as
serfs Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism and similar systems. It was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude with similarities to and differences from slavery. It developed dur ...
for three days during harvest time. Nearby neighbors in Lipa and Małowidz, however, were required to serve as serfs three days a week. Between 1609 and 1616 the heavily forested area was destroyed by violent storms and forest fires which put the beekeepers out of business. Beekeepers who suffered severe losses appealed to the royal court and were provided sixteen hectares of land, allowed the right to bear arms, and, along with settlers in Lipa and Małowidz, were removed from serfdom by the court. This special status and privilege, first started here, was later extended to other settlement areas in the Puszczy Zagajnica forest of Kurpie, and marked the beginning of agriculture in the area. The Jednorożec settlement was officially incorporated as a village on August 7, 1650, by a decree from King
John II Casimir Vasa John II Casimir Vasa (; ; 22 March 1609 – 16 December 1672) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1648 to his abdication in 1668 as well as a claimant to the throne of Sweden from 1648 to 1660. He was the first son of Sigis ...
, which allowed the beekeepers and farmers, who were already settled there, the official title to their land. The village grew from approximately 40 families in the early 1700s to 80 families in 1781, and Jednorożec then became the second largest town of the parish, after
Chorzele Chorzele is a town in Przasnysz County, Masovian Voivodeship, Poland, on the Orzyc (river), Orzyc River. As of December 2021, the town has a population of 3,047. The town is crossed by the national road No. 57 Bartoszyce - Pułtusk and provinc ...
. A census in 1827 indicated the town's population was 693 inhabitants housed in 111 homes. A resolution of the
Duchy of Warsaw The Duchy of Warsaw (; ; ), also known as the Grand Duchy of Warsaw and Napoleonic Poland, was a First French Empire, French client state established by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1807, during the Napoleonic Wars. It initially comprised the ethnical ...
, dated March 12, 1808, allowed the creation of
parochial school A parochial school is a private school, private Primary school, primary or secondary school affiliated with a religious organization, and whose curriculum includes general religious education in addition to secular subjects, such as science, mathem ...
ing in Jednorożec, and, in 1809, the first school opened in the village in an old building. A newly built school was funded and established in 1817, and the teacher, John Krajewski, received 300 złoty a year, plus contributions. School attendance was low and often interrupted by the children having to remain at home to help with farm chores. The settlement and surrounding area survived the Swedish invasion of Poland at the turn of the 17th century and, during the
November Uprising The November Uprising (1830–31) (), also known as the Polish–Russian War 1830–31 or the Cadet Revolution, was an armed rebellion in Russian Partition, the heartland of Partitions of Poland, partitioned Poland against the Russian Empire. ...
and the
January Uprising The January Uprising was an insurrection principally in Russia's Kingdom of Poland that was aimed at putting an end to Russian occupation of part of Poland and regaining independence. It began on 22 January 1863 and continued until the last i ...
of the years 1863–1864, many of the young men of the town joined the insurgency. During the January Uprising, the surrounding forests provided shelter to the insurgents. It is in this area, near Drążdżewo, the commander of the insurgents hid
Zygmunt Padlewski Zygmunt Padlewski (1836–1863) was a Polish insurgent who participated in the January Uprising. He was one of the leaders of the "Reds (January Uprising), Red" faction among the insurrectionists as a member of the Central National Committee (''K ...
with his division after Padlewski's defeat at Myszyniec. Russian czarist troops moved into the area, and a battle was fought which resulted in Padlewski losing the battle with 50 of his insurgents killed in action or drowned while escaping. In 1867 a
gmina The gmina (Polish: , plural ''gminy'' ) is the basic unit of the administrative division of Poland, similar to a municipality. , there were 2,479 gminy throughout the country, encompassing over 43,000 villages. 940 gminy include cities and tow ...
(commune) was established with Jednorożec as its seat. Gmina Jednorożec contained 586 houses and 4,376 inhabitants (in 1882) and was contained within an area of 35,391
hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), that is, square metres (), and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. ...
s. In the Jednorożec gmina were the chapel, the office of the municipality, the municipal court, post border guards, forestry office, four tar factories, three windmills, and two inns. The village prospered well until the middle of the 19th century when natural disasters (drought, fire, hailstones) and resultant soil depletion caused an economic crisis. In addition, on May 18, 1848, a fire, initially caused by lightning, burned down 80 houses and injured 50 people. The economic situation became so desperate the church urged parishioners to "cease drinking vodka." Education suffered during this period of Russian czarist occupation when the Jednorożec school was directed to teach all courses in the
Russian language Russian is an East Slavic languages, East Slavic language belonging to the Balto-Slavic languages, Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family. It is one of the four extant East Slavic languages, and is ...
, which was strongly resented and opposed by the villagers. In addition, since villagers now had not the money to pay for school tuition, attendance fell to twenty percent by 1890. In 1889, Jednorożec contained around 118 farms and there were also 45 families with no land. In 1890 villagers refused to pay taxes, which resulted in the arrival of Russian troops to collect taxes by force. Severe economic hardship continued through the end of the 19th century, causing many of the townspeople to emigrate to the United States or to seek seasonal work in
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, ...
. When
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
occurred, inhabitants of Jednorożec and nearby towns in the gmina were displaced and in turmoil in November and December 1914 when Germans and Russians fought fierce battles near
Przasnysz Przasnysz () is a town in north-central Poland. Located in the Masovian Voivodship, about north of Warsaw and about south of Olsztyn, it is the capital of Przasnysz County. It has 18,093 inhabitants (2004). It was one of the most important towns ...
. Many fled to nearby towns or hid in the woods until the fighting was over. Another fight broke out in early spring 1915. Until then, Jednorożec was occupied by Tsarist troops. German forces attacked on Feb. 17, 1915 in the direction of Jednorożec with the objective of attacking Przasnysz. As a result of heavy fighting on 24 February Przasnysz was captured, but soon the Russians went into a counteroffensive, but were not able to oust the Germans from the area. In early March, when the Russians attacked the Germans, Jednorożec was on the front lines and, by March 1915, more than half of the village was destroyed. A Polish resistance group, called "
Polish Military Organisation The Polish Military Organisation, PMO (, POW) was a secret military organization that was formed during World War I (1914–1918). Józef Piłsudski founded the group in August 1914. It adopted the name ''POW'' in November 1914 and aimed to gathe ...
" (Polska Organizacja Wojskowa) was formed during the war and included a number of the village's residents, including Franciszek Berk, Stanisław Kardaś, Władysław Mordwa, Jan Sobieraj, Antoni Wilga and Józef Wilga. When, in August 1915 residents began returning to Jednorożec, which was now under German occupation until 1918, there were only three remaining buildings: the parsonage, a house and a granary. Inhabitants were dying of starvation, and efforts were made to reconstruct the town. Peace eventually returned to the area until August 1920, when, for a few days, the area was occupied by
Bolshevik The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...
troops. Residents quickly rebuilt after the devastation of the village in 1914–1915. Jednorożec in the interwar period once again became economically strong and a thriving village with 160 houses and 869 inhabitants. All were of Polish nationality and observed the
Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
faith. A monument on the main street in town is dedicated to all those who emigrated from the town to America during the mass emigration period of 1870–1910.


Today

Modern Jednorożec is largely agricultural. Today, residents in the town live in new homes alongside refurbished and preserved older homes. Historic sites, monuments and buildings are well preserved by the townspeople who are proud of their Jednorożec heritage. A nearby cemetery is well-tended and visited often by residents, to honor their forebears of the past centuries. As a measure of permanence of the population, in June 2001 a festival was held to celebrate the 300th anniversary of some of the town's families whose Jednorożec roots were traced back to 1701. The celebration was attended, not only by the local townspeople, but by Jednorożec descendants from America who came to pay honor to their heritage.


Historic Jednorożec families

Family surnames of those born in Jednorożec during the period 1700 to 1890 include: Antosiak, Bakula, Berk, Bilek, Bitkiem, Blaszkiewicz, Bolinski, Cesarz, Chudzik, Deptula, Duda, Dybinski, Forman, Frontczak, Giardow, Godlewski, Grabowski, Gwiazda, Jozwik, Kardas, Kiec, Kieszczyk, Krajewski, Krawczyk, Krulak, Kuligowski, Kulpan, Kuta, Maka, Maluchnik, Matusiak, Matwicki, Merchel, Mordwa, Mortwionek, Nowotka, Nowotkow, Obrebski, Olender, Opalach, Orzol, Ososki, Pazdrag, Piorkowski, Piotrak, Podym, Pogorzelski, Prusik, Przybylek, Przybytek, Renof, Rykoski, Sasin, Sedrowski, Sidwa, Sierpienski, Sobieraj, Sobiski, Sopech, Stancel, Stefaniak, Suchowiecki, Symolon, Szczepanik, Szewczyk, Szlaga, Sztambor, Wilga, Wroblow, Zaleski, Zokewski, Zygmunt.


Churches

Four churches located in Jednorożec serve the Catholic population of the town and surrounding areas: * Christ Redeemer, Polon 74 * Saint Anthony, Olszewka 79 * Saint Florian, ul. Koscielna 1 A * Saint Stanislaus Bishop and Martyr, Parciaki 28


Local newspapers and publications

* Głos Gminy Jednorożec * Źródła do dziejów Ziemi Jednorożeckiej * Słowa najprostsze :pl:Jednorożec (województwo mazowieckie) Polish Wikipedia


Gallery

File:Jed old library.jpg, Old library (2001) File:Jed old church.jpg, Old presbytery, (2001) File:Jed new church.jpg, Modern church (2001) File:Jed grammar school.jpg, Jednorożec grammar school File:Jed red houe.jpg, Very old restored
Kurpie Kurpie () is one of a number of ethnic regions in Poland, noted for its unique traditional customs, such as its own types of traditional costume, traditional dance and distinctive type of architecture and livelihoods. Kurpie is also the name of ...
homes File:Jed homes.jpg, Typical Jednorożec homes File:Jed modern house.jpg, A very modern home File:Jed cemetery.jpg, Jednorożec cemetery File:Jednorozec traffic cicle.jpg, Town traffic circle File:Jednorozec view.jpg, View of town and fields File:Jednorozec stork.jpg, Town stork


See also

*
Kurpie Kurpie () is one of a number of ethnic regions in Poland, noted for its unique traditional customs, such as its own types of traditional costume, traditional dance and distinctive type of architecture and livelihoods. Kurpie is also the name of ...
* Gmina Jednorożec


References


External links


Village website
{{Gmina Jednorożec Villages in Przasnysz County