The village of Opatowiec was first mentioned in 1085, when Judyta, the wife of Prince
Władysław I Herman, presented it to the
Benedictine monks from
Tyniec. In 1271, Duke
Boleslaw V the Chaste granted Opatowiec a town charter under
Magdeburg rights, upon the request of
abbot Modlibob. The town became a local trade center, due to its location along the Vistula waterway, and on a merchant trail from
Silesia in the west to
Kievan Rus in the east. In 1283, abbot Tomasz founded an abbey of the
Dominican Order, and in 1341, King
Casimir III the Great granted Opatowiec the right to organize trade
fairs. In the mid-14th century, Opatowiec was inhabited by around 1,500 people. Here, in 1474, an assembly of Lesser Poland's
nobility took place, during which war with Hungarian king
Matthias Corvinus was discussed. In the same year, King
Casimir IV Jagiellon hosted at Opatowiec envoys from the
Republic of Venice, to discuss war with the
Ottoman Empire. By 1500, Opatowiec had a parish church, bath houses, hospital and several
guilds. In 1579, it had 55 different workshops, and four mills. For centuries, the town was administratively located in the
Wiślica County in the
Sandomierz Voivodeship in the
Lesser Poland Province. Like almost all municipal centers of Lesser Poland, the town was completely destroyed by Swedish soldiers in the
Deluge (1655–1660). In 1772, when after the
First Partition of Poland the Tyniec abbey became part of
Austrian Galicia, Opatowiec changed hands and became the property of the government. Soon afterwards, it was purchased by the
Walewski family. After the Polish victory in the
Austro-Polish War of 1809, it became part of the short-lived
Duchy of Warsaw, and after the duchy's dissolution in 1815, the town was part of
Russian-controlled Congress Poland, and began to lose its importance. By 1862, it had only 459 residents and 67 houses. In 1869, as a punishment for the
January Uprising, it was stripped of its town charter and became a mere village. Opatowiec suffered during
World War I and later further destruction was brought by
World War II. In September 1939, the village was burned by the
Wehrmacht and on 8 September 1939 German soldiers shot 45 Polish prisoners of war. On 28 July 1944, a skirmish took place here between a local
Home Army unit and the
Russian Liberation Army under Nazi command. As a result, 31 persons were murdered, including children. ==References==