Krosno Odrzańskie () is a town in

Lubusz Voivodeship Lubusz Voivodeship ( ) is a voivodeships of Poland, voivodeship (province) in western Poland with a population of 972,140. Its regional capitals are Gorzów Wielkopolski and Zielona Góra. The region is characterized by a landscape of forests, lake ...

in western

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 ...

, on the east bank of

Oder The Oder ( ; Czech and ) is a river in Central Europe. It is Poland's second-longest river and third-longest within its borders after the Vistula and its largest tributary the Warta. The Oder rises in the Czech Republic and flows through wes ...

River, at the confluence with the Bóbr. With 11,319 inhabitants (2019) it is the capital of

Krosno County __NOTOC__ Krosno County () is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Subcarpathian Voivodeship, south-eastern Poland, on the Slovak border. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local gove ...

History

The town was first mentioned as ''Crosno'' in 1005, when Duke Bolesław I Chrobry of Poland had a fortress built here in the course of his armed conflict with Emperor

Henry II Henry II may refer to: Kings * Saint Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor (972–1024), crowned King of Germany in 1002, of Italy in 1004 and Emperor in 1014 *Henry II of England (1133–89), reigned from 1154 *Henry II of Jerusalem and Cyprus (1271–1 ...

and the West Slavic

Veleti The Veleti, also known as Veletians, Wilzi, Wielzians, and Wiltzes, were a group of medieval Lechitic tribes within the territory of Western Pomerania, related to Polabian Slavs. They had formed together the Confederation of the Veleti, also kn ...

confederation. Due to its strategic location as a point of passage across the Oder, it played an important role at the western border of the Polish kingdom with the

Holy Roman Empire 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 ...

during the 11th to 13th centuries. As a result of the fragmentation of Poland, in 1163 Krosno was part of the

Duchy of Silesia The Duchy of Silesia (, ) with its capital at Wrocław was a medieval provincial duchy of Poland located in the region of Silesia. Soon after it was formed under the Piast dynasty in 1138, it fragmented into various Silesian duchies. In 1327, t ...

ruled by

Bolesław I the Tall Bolesław I the Tall (; 1127 – 7 or 8 December 1201) was Duke of Wrocław from 1163 until his death in 1201. Early years Boleslaw was the eldest son of Władysław II the Exile by his wife Agnes of Babenberg, daughter of Margrave Leopold II ...

of the

Silesian Piasts 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 Wrymouth, Bolesław III of Poland. By Bolesław's Testament of Bolesław III Krzy ...

. In 1201 it received its town charter by Bolesław's son Duke

Henry I the Bearded Henry the Bearded (, ; c. 1165/70 – 19 March 1238) was a Polish duke from the Piast dynasty. He was Dukes of Silesia, Duke of Silesia at Wrocław from 1201, Seniorate Province, Duke of Kraków and List of Polish monarchs, High Duke of all Kin ...

. Henry erected a stone castle at Krosno, where he died in 1238 and where his widow, Hedwig of Andechs, took refuge during the 1241

first Mongol invasion of Poland The Mongol invasion of Poland from late 1240 to 1241 culminated in the Battle of Legnica, where the Mongols defeated an alliance which included forces from Testament of Bolesław III Wrymouth, fragmented Poland and their allies, led by Henry ...

. When the Duchy of Wrocław was finally divided in 1251, the town became part of the newly created

Duchy of Głogów The Duchy of Głogów (, ) or Duchy of Glogau () was one of the Duchies of Silesia, formed in course of the medieval fragmentation of Poland into smaller provincial duchies. Its capital was Głogów in Lower Silesia. It existed in 1177–1185 an ...

under Konrad I. The town changed hands several times; once it was given as payment to soldiers of the Ascanian margraves of

Brandenburg Brandenburg, officially the State of Brandenburg, is a States of Germany, state in northeastern Germany. Brandenburg borders Poland and the states of Berlin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony. It is the List of Ger ...

. When the last Piast duke Henry XI of Głogów died without issue in 1476, his widow Barbara of Brandenburg, daughter of Elector Albert Achilles of Brandenburg, inherited the territory of Krosno. The Brandenburg influence met with fierce opposition by Henry's cousin Duke Jan II the Mad of

Żagań Żagań (French language, French and , ) is a town in western Poland, on the Bóbr river, with 25,731 inhabitants (2019), capital of Żagań County in the Lubusz Voivodeship, located in the historic region of Lower Silesia. Founded in the 12th ce ...

, who devastated Krosno but in 1482 had to sign an agreement with Albert Achilles, who was able to retain the Krosno (''Crossen'') area. As a former part of the Duchy of Głogów it officially remained a

lien A lien ( or ) is a form of security interest granted over an item of property to secure the payment of a debt or performance of some other obligation. The owner of the property, who grants the lien, is referred to as the ''lienee'' and the pers ...

of the

Bohemian kingdom The Kingdom of Bohemia (), sometimes referenced in English literature as the Czech Kingdom, was a medieval and early modern monarchy in Central Europe. It was the predecessor state of the modern Czech Republic. The Kingdom of Bohemia was an Im ...

until in 1538 King Ferdinand I, renounced all rights to Krosno, thereby finalizing the district's belonging to the

Neumark The Neumark (), also known as the New March () or as East Brandenburg (), was a region of the Margraviate of Brandenburg and its successors located east of the Oder River in territory which became part of Poland in 1945 except some villages o ...

region of the Brandenburg margraviate. With Brandenburg, Crossen became part of the

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (, ) was a German state that existed from 1701 to 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Rev. ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1946. It played a signif ...

in 1701. In reforms after the

Napoleonic Wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...

, the town became part of the Province of Brandenburg in 1815 and was the seat of Landkreis Crossen as part of Regierungsbezirk Frankfurt. As a result of the

Unification of Germany The unification of Germany (, ) was a process of building the first nation-state for Germans with federalism, federal features based on the concept of Lesser Germany (one without Habsburgs' multi-ethnic Austria or its German-speaking part). I ...

, it became part of the

German Empire The German Empire (),; ; World Book, Inc. ''The World Book dictionary, Volume 1''. World Book, Inc., 2003. p. 572. States that Deutsches Reich translates as "German Realm" and was a former official name of Germany. also referred to as Imperia ...

in 1871. In May 1886 the town was devastated by a whirlwind. In 1945 during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the town was conquered by the Soviet

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

. After Germany's defeat in the war, the town once again became part of Poland. Already in March 1945 the town was claimed by the Polish state, with the assignment of the town being switched back and forth between Western Pomerania and Lower Silesia several times. On May 2, a group of Polish communists from

Poznań Poznań ( ) is a city on the Warta, River Warta in west Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business center and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John's ...

arrived to assume administration of the town. The situation complicated when another group with 66 members arrived, who likewise intended to rule the town. By June 1945, conflicts between these groups had been resolved. The adjective ''Odrzańskie'' after the

river, upon which the town is situated, was added for distinction from other settlements of the same name in Poland, most notably the town of

Krosno Krosno (in full ''The Royal Free City of Krosno'', ) is a historical town and Krosno County, county in the Subcarpathian Voivodeship, in southeastern Poland. The estimated population of the town is 47,140 inhabitants as of 2014. The functional ...

. From 1975 to 1998, it was administratively located in the Zielona Góra Voivodeship.

Demographics

Notable people

Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff (Hans) Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff (17 February 1699 – 16 September 1753) was a painter and architect in Prussia. Knobelsdorff was born in Kuckädel, now in Krosno Odrzańskie County. A soldier in the service of Prussia, he resigned his ...

(1699–1753) German painter and architect * Alexander von Knobelsdorff (1723–1799), Prussian field marshal * Christiane Becker-Neumann (1778–1797), German actress * Eduard Seler (1849–1922), German anthropologist, archaeologist, philogian, and Mesoamerica scholar * Rudolf Pannwitz (1881–1969), German author * Alfred Henschke ps. Klabund (1890–1928), German author * Siegfried Müller aka ''Kongo-Müller'' (1920–1983), German mercenary * Aneta Konieczna (born 1978), canoe racer, Olympic medallist * Tomasz Kuszczak (born 1982), footballer

Twin towns – sister cities

See twin towns of Gmina Krosno Odrzańskie.

References

External links

Official town websiteJewish Community in Krosno Odrzańskie
on Virtual Shtetl {{Authority control Cities and towns in Lubusz Voivodeship Krosno Odrzańskie County Populated riverside places in Poland