Middle Ages and early Modern period The oldest settlement evolved around a small
gord and wooden church in what was later known as
Stara Wieś. The modern town (around
Market Square) was probably founded in the second half of the 13th century. The first reference in sources to the place dates from 1303. The main trading route between
Kievan Rus and the
Moravian Gate ran through Pszczyna in the early
Middle Ages, and the small settlement probably provided protective measures for merchants on the ford (surrounded by marshlands) of the small Pszczynka river. The land around Pszczyna was historically part of
Lesser Poland.
Casimir II the Just ceded the land to
Mieszko Plątonogi, another
Piast duke, of the
Duchy of Opole and Racibórz, about 1177. Mieszko Plątonogi was succeeded by other dukes from the Opole-Racibórz line:
Casimir I of Opole,
Mieszko II the Fat, his brother
Władysław Opolski, his two sons -
Casimir of Bytom and
Bolko I of Opole, and finally
Leszek of Racibórz, who was the last to preserve the Duchy's independence. In 1327, he was forced to acknowledge sovereignty of
John, King of Bohemia. After Leszek died childless in 1336, his lands passed down to his brother-in-law,
Nicholas II, Duke of Opava, of the Czech
Premyslid royal dynasty. Nicholas II, his son
John I, Duke of Opava-Ratibor, and his grandson
John II, Duke of Opava-Ratibor (Jan II Żelazny) ruled the land for seven decades. In 1407, John II separated the area that is modern-day Pszczyna from his duchy as a
wittum for his new wife, Helena of Lithuania (Helena Korybutówna, niece of
Władysław II Jagiełło, the king of Poland). The boundaries outlined by John II survived well into the 20th century. The contemporary land (
powiat) of Pszczyna is only about half the size it was during the Middle Ages. , originally from the 13th century, rebuilt in
Polish Renaissance style in the 17th century In 1433, Pszczyna was attacked by the
Hussites, who laid siege to the castle but were eventually repulsed. Helena of Lithuania outlived John II, and reigned until 1449. The land was inherited by her son,
Nicholas V, Duke of Krnov and then his widow, Barbara Rockenberg, daughter of a wealthy
Kraków merchant. She was expelled by her stepson,
John IV, who assumed power in the years 1462–1465. His rights were in turn disputed by his brother,
Wenceslaus III, Duke of Rybnik. Aggressive policies caused a conflict between Wenceslaus III and the King of Hungary and Bohemia,
Matthias Corvinus. Matthias overran the land and held the duke in captivity until his death.
Casimir II, Duke of Cieszyn, the last of the local Piast dynasty bloodline, received the land in 1480 as a dowry of his wife, Joanna. Casimir II sold it to a Hungarian noble Elek Thurzó () in 1517. Two years later,
Louis II, King of Hungary, Bohemia and Croatia instituted the
"Free State of Pszczyna", with its ruler responsible not to him but directly to the
Holy Roman Emperor. The new state was expanded to include fifty villages and four towns (including
Bieruń,
Mysłowice, and
Mikołów), and was sworn allegiance by another 27
vassal villages. The Thurzo family were in close relations with Polish King
Sigismund I the Old. Queen
Bona Sforza stayed for a night on her way to her wedding to Sigismund in Kraków in (1518). Thurzo possessions were diminished over time (stripped of
Mysłowice in 1536) and eventually the land of Pszczyna was purchased by Balthasar von Promnitz, bishop of
Wrocław, under a special provision that the land should be further divided.
Late Modern period Pleß was ravaged and pillaged during the
Thirty Years' War. During the
War of the Austrian Succession, the
Kingdom of Prussia clashed with
Austria for Silesia and
Frederick The Great, the king of Prussia, seized most of Silesia in the
First Silesian War of 1741–1742. The town was pillaged again during the
Seven Years' War. Shortly afterwards, the last Promnitz gave the land to his nephew, Frederic Erdmann. Erdmann's line, the Anhalts, held Pleß until the middle of the 19th century, when it passed to Hans Heinrich X of the powerful
Hochberg family who held extensive lands around present-day
Wałbrzych. The Hochbergs reached great prominence and wealth in the 19th century. From 1816 to 1922, the town was the seat of . The oldest Polish newspaper in Upper Silesia,
Tygodnik Polski Poświęcony Włościanom, began publishing in the town in 1845. During the Polish
January Uprising in 1863
Poles smuggled large amounts of gunpowder through the town to the
Russian Partition of Poland. From 1871 Pleß was part of Germany, however, at the beginning of the 20th century, over 80 percent of the district's population spoke Polish; during the 1910 census 86 percent declared as Polish speakers, though in the town itself the percentage of Polish speakers was 33. When
World War I erupted, the Hochbergs lent the estate to the German state for military purposes. The German chief of staff held his headquarters at the castle of Pleß, often visited by Emperor
Wilhelm II himself. in Pszczyna in 1922 After the war ended, the newly established
Second Polish Republic and the German
Weimar Republic struggled for control of the region. Prince
Hans Heinrich XV favored the creation of an independent Silesian Republic or at least an independent Upper Silesia. The latter was supported by the
Union of Upper Silesians (1919–1924), which he financed. With the outbreak of the
Silesian Uprising, the Hochbergs sided firmly with the German cause and made the estate available to German paramilitary organizations, including for a prison for the Polish insurgents. Hans Heinrich XV supplied units at his own expense, commanded by his son, Hans Heinrich XVII; they took part in the bitter struggles for
Góra Świętej Anny in 1921. Earlier that year a plebiscite was held to determine the future of the region. In
Kreis Pleß 53 thousands voted for Poland and 18 thousands for Germany. By contrast, voting in the town alone gave victory to Germany, with 2843 over 910. In view of the plebiscite results and in consequence of the
Third Silesian Uprising the
Versailles Treaty gave the land of Pszczyna to the
Second Polish Republic. On May 29, 1922, the Polish army officially entered the city and the Polish administration took over, with
Jan Figna becoming the first Polish mayor.
World War II and Polish boy scouts and civilian defenders murdered by the Germans in September 1939 During the German
invasion of Poland, which started
World War II, fighting occurred in the surroundings of Pszczyna, which can be seen by observing the leftovers of concrete strongholds around the town. In that area, the
Battle of Pszczyna took place on September 1–2, 1939, where German forces breached main Polish defensive lines protecting the Silesian area. On September 4, in the local park, the German
Freikorps murdered 14 Poles who had taken part in the defense of nearby
Katowice (13 boy scouts and one school teacher). They were buried in the nearby forest in an unmarked mass grave. Poles arrested during the
Intelligenzaktion, aimed at the extermination of the Polish
intelligentsia, were imprisoned in a local court prison, and then deported to
concentration camps. At least twelve Poles from Pszczyna, including a local elementary school principal, the local police chief, and several policemen, were murdered by the Russians in the
Katyn massacre in 1940. From November 1942 to April 1943, the German administration operated a
forced labour subcamp of the
Auschwitz concentration camp in the present-day district of
Stara Wieś. In the final stages of the war, in January 1945, the Nazi Germans murdered many prisoners of the
Auschwitz concentration camp, who tried to escape during a
death march. Between the end of January and beginning of February 1945, the war storm came through Pszczyna with no serious damage to the city. Unfortunately, the wooden historic church of
Saint Jadwiga burned down in 1939. The city was liberated on February 10, 1945.
After 1945 Unlike the rest of
Upper Silesia, Pszczyna never experienced rapid industrialization. The ELWO factory was expanded and a new creamery and mill were founded. This, however, helped to preserve the historic old town and the palace located in the city center. It was administratively part of the
Katowice Voivodeship from 1975 until the
1998 administrative reforms. ==Population==