Description

• Title:
  Wleń as a central place
• Creator:
  Chorowska, Małgorzata;
  Duma, Paweł;
  Furmanek, Mirosław;
  Legut-Pintal, Maria;
  Łuczak, Anna;
  Piekalski, Jerzy
• Description:
  The article presents an analysis of conditions and course of historical development of the microregion around the castle and the town Wleń in pre-industrial times. The previous knowledge about the structure of the settlement unit and its changes based on the results of historical and archaeological research conducted by traditional methods. They were focused on the medieval castle, while other elements of the unit remained outside the scope of research. Currently available non-invasive research techniques, as well as interdisciplinary collaboration, created new analyses capabilities. They allowed to break the impasse and to look at the Wleń district from a different perspective. There were not challenged the existing research achievements, the aim is rather to enrich them. The development of settlements in the Wleń microregion was initiated by creation of stronghold and adjacent settlement on Góra Zamkowa (Castle Hill) in the second half of the 10th or the early 11th century. Their remains are poorly preserved, making it difficult to determine the original range and transformations. The presence of the stronghold and the settlement was confirmed by excavations in some points. The attempts to clarify their range were carried out by non-invasive techniques – geomagnetic prospection and analysis of digital terrain model. The results lead to general conclusions requiring further research. This applies particularly to the northern range of the early medieval settlement, as well as the transformations of structure of a village functioning in the late Middle Ages and in Post-medieval period. We know that its boundaries were not stable, they underwent changes associated with organization of castle’s foregrounds and construction of Postmedieval fortifications. The structure of the village was repeatedly destroyed during sieges of the fortresses, especially in the 15th century, during the Hussite wars. The stabilization of the village structure occurred as late as after abandonment of the castle in 1646 and construction of a new, Baroque mansion. Written sources concerning transformations of ownership, tax system and ranges of parishes allow to conclude that at least in the early 13th century around the castle a settlement background formed. Hence, there are mentioned in 1217 villages Bystrzyca, Nielestno, Strzyżowiec and Pilchowice, a few kilometers away from the castle and still subordinate to it. Early dating of the villages and source suggestions about the traditional feudal duties allow to cautiously conclude that they belonged to a local, pre-colonization settlement. At the same time there is information about progressive legal and economic transformations, specific for the so-called eastern colonization. It concerns the replacement of the traditional tax in squirrel furs by new tax paid in grain. It is hard to be certain which villages of the Wleń district formed in the early stages of colonization. However, we know that by the end of the 13th century rural settlement background was already quite rich. It consisted of the following villages: Bełczyna, Dębowy Gaj, Dłużec, Golejów, Mojesz, Pławna, Płóczki Górne, Rząśnik and Sobota; another formed in the 14th century, stabilizing the network of rural settlements. Few were founded in the early Post-medieval period, covering zones with lower agricultural suitability. The town of Wleń was founded below the castle, on the left bank terrace of the Bóbr River, largely exposed to floods. The first certain information about the town comes from 1261, when Marcin mayor of Wleń was mentioned. However, there is local tradition, based on direct assumptions, according to which the town was founded as early as in 1214. Metrological analysis of cartographic sources, cadastral plans and current layout of buildings leads to conclusion that it had a band plan, closed at its main part in a rectangle with dimensions of 375–376 × 280 m. Rectangular market square, with dimensions of 102 × 77 m, was located in the centre of this system. The parish church was built on a slight elevation, at the western border of the built-up zone. Its position was marked by axis running through the centre of the market square and whole regular system. The analysis of the digital terrain model shows that the town had no fortifications – no remains of moats or ramparts were found. The only guard to the north and east remained the Bóbr River, bending there. Western edge of the town coincided with the foothills of Góra Zamkowa From the surface prospection conducted in 1986, is known a compex of medieval and post-medieval border stones and mounds. In a paper describing them was presented an attempt to interpret them and their chronological division into several series. Next surface research in 2013–2014 greatly enriched source basis for research on boundaries of the territory of the town and the castle Wleń. Newly discovered border stones and mounds are arranged in previously unknown two bands of boundary lines. The range of marks engraved on stones increased, thus requiring a new typological and chronological division. Guided by the location of marks and mounds and the form of marks a new interpretation within seven series was proposed. An attempt to reconstruct the course of boundaries was undertaken and an analysis of their visibility was carried out. The road network within the Weichbild was reconstructed using several methods. Essential was Distance Cost Analysis associated with the GIS instruments. The foundation of calculations was the digital terrain model. The results were correlated with cartographic sources, the oldest of which dates back to the 18th century. The reconstruction concerns the connections between the centre of the microregion – i.e. the castle and the town Wleń – and neighbouring central places: Jelenia Góra, Lwówek, Świerzawa, Lubomierz and Złotoryja, as well as local roads. At least some of the roads reconstructed for the Middle Ages had a substantial durability, confirmed by the presence on the 18th–20th-century maps. An important element of the cultural landscape were also remains of the law execution. In the study area the execution places had the form of gallows situated outside the built-up areas. Cartographic sources allow to locate some of these structures – one of them was excavated. An analysis of the visibility of gallows from the castle, town and villages and major roads was carried out. The GIS instruments were used, realizing the transformation of forests and land development, changing in a way, the resulting image. The results present symbolic and deterrent function of gallows, enriching the knowledge about the organization of the cultural landscape. The materials obtained in the course of the research on elements of the cultural landscape of Wleń microregion created the first in the region, interdisciplinary source base for the study on transformations of the settlement network and its background to the pre-industrial times. This paper is a summary of their analysis.;
  Artykuł zawiera próbę odtworzenia krajobrazu kulturowego wokół zamku Wleń na Przedgórzu Sudeckim. Wytypowany do badań teren daje możliwości opisania zjawisk typowych dla innych, podobnych terytoriów administracyjnych i gospodarczych, wytworzonych w podobnych warunkach geograficznych i ustrojowych. Opierając się na wynikach badań wykopaliskowych, analizie przekazów pisanych i kartograficznych, Airborne Laser Scanning (ALS), Geographical Information Systems (GIS) i prospekcji geomagnetometrycznej zrekonstruowano kolejność powstawania oraz formę poszczególnych elementów struktury osadniczej i gospodarczej. Składają się na nią: gród wczesnośredniowieczny, zamek książęcy z pełnego i późnego średniowiecza, miasto, wiejskie zaplecze osadnicze, ślady górnictwa metali nieżelaznych i kamienia budowlanego, granice podziałów własnościowych, sieć dróg i materialne relikty egzekucji prawa. Mikroregion ten stanowił od X wieku zwartą jednostkę administracyjną: okręg grodowy, dystrykt, weichbild, kreis, powiat. Obecna struktura powiatu jest odzwierciedleniem rozwoju historycznego.
• Object availability:
  free access
• Rights:
  Prawa autorskie (c) 2017 Archaeologia Historica Polona
• Date:
  2017.07.25
• Type:
  info:eu-repo/semantics/article;
  info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
• Language:
  Polish
• Source:
  Archaeologia Historica Polona; Vol. 24 (2016); 155-193;
  Archaeologia Historica Polona; Tom 24 (2016); 155-193;
  1425-3534
• Format:
  application/pdf
• Publisher:
  Uniwersytet Mikołaja Kopernika w Toruniu
• Relation: https://apcz.umk.pl/AHP/article/view/AHP.2016.009/12555
• Subject:
  cultural landscape;
  Silesia;
  settlement microregion;
  Middle Ages;
  Post-medieval period;
  krajobraz kulturowy;
  Śląsk;
  mikroregion osadniczy;
  średniowiecze;
  nowożytność
• Identifier: https://apcz.umk.pl/AHP/article/view/AHP.2016.009
• Data provider:
  Akademicka Platforma Czasopism
• Can I use it?:
  seek permission
• Type:
  text