Ryczyn Castle

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Ryczyn (German: Ritschen) is a rampart in Las Ryczyński or Las Odrzański (German: Oderwald) east of Oława (Ohlau), 30 km up the Oder from Breslau (Polish: Wrocław).

history

In the Middle Ages the castle was located near the right bank of the Oder, which has since changed its course. It was not a refuge , but served to rule the country, primarily to control a ford through the Oder.

Whether it belonged to the 15 civitates of the Slenzanen (Silesians), which were mentioned in the second half of the 9th century in the Geographus Bavarus , cannot be verified. Around the year 1000 the area around Oława and Ryczyn which placed the Benedictine and later St. Andrzej Świerad (lat. Andreas Zoerardus ) evangelized .

The castle remained Christian during the pagan uprising that hit large parts of Poland and Silesia in 1037. After the occupation of Silesia by the Bohemian Duke Břetislav I , the Bishop of Wroclaw, who initially fled to Smogorzów (Schmograu), moved to Ryczyn in 1038, where he stayed until the Polish Duke Casimir I reinstated him in Wroclaw in 1051. The oldest mention of Ryczyn by name can be found in the Chronica Boemorum of Bishop Cosmas of Prague from 1093. In 1103 the Bohemian Duke Bořivoj II and Svatopluk II of Olomouc besieged the castle. In 1109 the Ryczyn Castle stopped a campaign by Emperor Henry V to Krakow .

In the 13th century the castellans of Ryczyn had a highly respected position in Silesia. There are documents of the Dukes of Silesia , which are sealed by them. In the 14th century, the Oderfurt lost its importance near Ryczyn. Then in 1340 the administrative functions of the castle were transferred to Ohlau and Brzeg (Brzeg).

In 1390, Duke Ludwig I of Liegnitz and Brieg had an expedition search for the remains of the legendary first bishops of Breslau. The first archaeological excavations in Silesia were carried out in Ryczyn.

During a campaign by the Polish king and Lithuanian grand duke Casimir IV Jagiełło , the village and the church near the castle were destroyed in 1474.

archeology

During excavations from 1958 to 1962, the structure of the ramparts was examined and the location of the cemetery and the surrounding rural settlements determined. In fact, there was a big castle and a small castle. However , no information was given about the role of Ryczyn Castle in the formation of the state of Poland .

Since 2004, scientists from several universities and disciplines have carried out new studies. Remains of a pagan temple, as well as a wooden and a stone village church were found. In addition to the cemetery, there were also numerous graves in the courtyard of the great castle, the latter being a pagan burial place similar to the Kurganen found in Russia . Even a boat grave was discovered. The castellan's palace has been so well researched that it is now considering building a reconstruction elsewhere.

Web links

  1. ↑ zeno.org: Complete Lexicon of Saints 1858

Coordinates: 50 ° 55 ′ 37 ″  N , 17 ° 24 ′ 28 ″  E