Wojcieszków () is a

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 ...

Łuków County __NOTOC__ Łuków County () is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Lublin Voivodeship, eastern Poland. It was established on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local government reforms passed in 1998. Its ...

Lublin Voivodeship Lublin Voivodeship ( ) is a Voivodeships of Poland, voivodeship (province) of Poland, located in the southeastern part of the country, with its capital being the city of Lublin. The region is named after its largest city and regional capital, Lu ...

, in eastern Poland. It is the seat of the

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 ...

(administrative district) called

Gmina Wojcieszków __NOTOC__ Gmina Wojcieszków is a rural gmina (administrative district) in Łuków County, Lublin Voivodeship, in eastern Poland. Its seat is the village of Wojcieszków, which lies approximately south of Łuków and north of the regional capital ...

. It lies in historic

Lesser Poland Lesser Poland, often known by its Polish name ''Małopolska'' (; ), is a historical region situated in southern and south-eastern Poland. Its capital and largest city is Kraków. Throughout centuries, Lesser Poland developed a separate cult ...

, approximately south of

Łuków Łuków is a city in eastern Poland with 30,727 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2005). Since 1999, it has been situated in the Lublin Voivodeship, previously it had belonged to the Siedlce Voivodeship (between 1975–1998). It is the capital of Ł ...

and north of the regional capital

Lublin Lublin is List of cities and towns in Poland, the ninth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest city of historical Lesser Poland. It is the capital and the centre of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 336,339 (December 2021). Lublin i ...

. The village was a town from 1540 to 1819.

History

The village of Wojcieszkow was founded in 1437 by a local nobleman Klemens Bielinski. In the same year, Bishop of Kraków Zbigniew Olesnicki established a Roman Catholic parish church here. On January 21, 1540, upon request of Mikolaj Dzik, the owner of Wojcieszkow, King Sigismund I Old granted

Magdeburg rights Magdeburg rights (, , ; also called Magdeburg Law) were a set of town privileges first developed by Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor (936–973) and based on the Flemish Law, which regulated the degree of internal autonomy within cities and villages gr ...

to it. In 1767, a wooden church of Holy Trinity was built, and in 1771, a Suchodolski family library was opened. Until the

Partitions of Poland The Partitions of Poland were three partition (politics), partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth that took place between 1772 and 1795, toward the end of the 18th century. They ended the existence of the state, resulting in the eli ...

, Wojcieszkow belonged to the County of Stezyca,

Sandomierz Voivodeship Sandomierz Voivodeship (, ) was a unit of administration and local government in Poland from the 14th century to the partitions of Poland in 1772–1795. It was part of the Lesser Poland region and the Lesser Poland Province. Originally Sandomier ...

. In the late 18th century, the Plater family built a large manor house, which was burned 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 ...

. According to documents, in 1802 Wojcieszkow had a marketplace, a church, and a castle. The town, however, was on poor soil, among forests and sands, which had a negative impact on its development. As a result, Wojcieszkow gradually declined and, in 1819, was stripped of its town charter.

Today

The location of Wojcieszkow turned out to be an advantage. Owing to its clean environment, hilly landscape and forests, the village is emerging as a local tourist center. It has a historic church and a cemetery, where Maria Babska, the wife of

Henryk Sienkiewicz Henryk Adam Aleksander Pius Sienkiewicz ( , ; 5 May 1846 – 15 November 1916), also known by the pseudonym Litwos (), was a Polish epic writer. He is remembered for his historical novels, such as The Trilogy, the Trilogy series and especially ...

, is buried.

References

{{Gmina Wojcieszków Villages in Łuków County