An anonymous medieval document from around 850, the
Bavarian Geographer, mentions the tribe of
Prissani having 70 strongholds (
Prissani civitates LXX). The territory became part of the emerging Polish state under
Mieszko I around 967. The settlement was first mentioned in 1124 by bishop
Otto von Bamberg, who
baptized the first Pomeranians here, as part of a mission entrusted to him by Polish monarch
Bolesław III Wrymouth. It was among the first towns in Western Pomerania to convert to Christianity. In 1140, a church was founded, and a castle is first mentioned. In 1250, the church of St. Mauritius was consecrated. An
Augustinian cloister was founded in 1256 and a
Franciscan monastery in 1281. In 1263, the town received
Magdeburg town rights from Duke Barnim I. By this time, the previous Slavic settlement had become known as
Altstadt. By the
Contract of Pyritz of 1493, the
Dukes of Pomerania recognized the succession rights of the
House of Brandenburg. A large fire destroyed most of the town in 1496. Pyrzyce was the first town in Pomerania to implement the
Lutheran Reformation in 1524. It suffered repeated plundering and was largely destroyed by fire in 1634. At the end of the war, the
Red Army captured the town during the
Pomeranian Offensive. Soviet artillery bombardment in February 1945 destroyed much of the old town. Following the
post-war boundary changes, Pyrzyce was restored to Poland. The local population was expelled in accordance with the
Potsdam Agreement and replaced by
Poles, including those displaced from
former eastern Poland annexed by the Soviet Union. From 1975 to 1998, Pyrzyce was part of the
Szczecin Voivodeship. ==Economy==