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Mysteries of Milicz
Milicz, a town situated on the border of the Lower Silesia
and Greater Poland voivodeships, is associated by the Poles with
fish-breeding ponds and habitats of often rare bird species.
Scarcely anybody knows that this unique nature of the Barycz
river valley conceals the monuments of the past, which are the
pride of the town’s dwellers and the whole region. Two of them
deserve the special attention, that is, the Hop Hill, an old
stronghold, and the medieval ruins of the bishop’s residence,
hidden among the trees of the palace complex. These two
defensive, visible in the present Milicz’ landscape buildings
reflect the political relations prevailing at the Milicz
castellany in the Middle Ages. Its peculiarity consists in the
power wielded parallelly by two castellans – the prince’s and
the episcopal, of the Wrocław cathedral chapter, one.
These two monuments, valuable not only for the reconstruction of
the oldest history of Milicz, but also for the reconstruction of
the settlement processes in the northern part of the Lower
Silesia, have become the subject of the archaeological research
conducted in 2003–2006 by the Institute of Archaeology and
Ethnology of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Wrocław. The
research was realized within the framework of the scientific
project titled “Social topography of the local power center in
the Piast State. The Milicz’ case”. Its supervisor was Prof.
Lech Leciejewicz.
Let’s move now, for a moment, to the Middle Ages times. At that
time the buildings of Milicz were situated on the sandbacks and
the holms surrounded by numerous branches of the Barycz river.
The centre laid on the trade route leading from the south, from
Bohemia and Moravia, to the north, to Pomerania. The merchants
traversing the territory of Poland, when staying at the passage
on the left, southern bank of the Barycz, saw in the distance
the fortress surrounded by over three metres high wooden-earth
bulwark, which dominated the marshy meadows. The fortress is a
Piast stronghold that has survived till the present in a
relatively good condition. Currently, it can be seen in a form
of an earth rise called “grodzisko” (an old castle), which still
dominates the meadows and fields of the right-bank Milicz. The
place, marked by the past, along with the neighbouring Kaszowo
and Sądowel castles, situated ca.50 km to the west, attracts the
attention of numerous lovers of the region’s medieval history.
For archaeologists, the culture layers preserved within the old
castle are the fundamental source of information about the past
centuries. From these layer, as from a book, we interpret the
data concerning the beginnings of the settlement, its forms and
transformations. The monuments found in them, such as fragments
of pottery and bones, metal products show the level of
development of the society living within the area.
The data obtained during the archaeological research allowed to
see the history of Milicz in a new light. In the excavation
marked out in the northern part of the castle the relics of
earth bulwark, reinforced with the scaffold of oak beams have
been discovered. Due to the conducted analyses of the preserved
fragments of wood, the time of the erection of those
fortifications has been determined to be after 960. The exposure
of the bulwark’s remnants in the eastern part of the Milicz
stronghold has allowed to state that the 10th-century fortress
was different in its form and size from the present stronghold –
the Hop Hill. This might be explained by the fact that the line
of fortifications of the oldest layout could have surrounded
smaller area that it does now. In the process of exploration of
layers an interesting discovery has been made in another
excavation, in the western part of the stronghold and about
thirty metres from the bulwark. In the lowest settlement level a
fragment of stone construction, 4,5 metres long and from 2,5 to
1,7 metres wide, has been found. On the basis of the preserved
stone layout a hypothesis has been put forward that the
discovered elements might be the remnants of a sacred or secular
stone building .
In the second half or at the end of the 12th century the old,
functioning already for two centuries fortress required “modernization”.
The citizens of Milicz rebuild the stronghold – they partly
pulled down the 10th-century bulwark, and erected farm and
residential buildings on the place. The new bulwark surrounded
the bigger area, thereby expanding the plane of the whole
defensive building.
Another monument inseparably related to the medieval history of
Milicz is the bishop’s palace, situated on the left bank of the
Barycz. The time of its erection might date back to the close of
the 13th century, and in particular to 1290, when bishop Tomasz
II obtained for the Wrocław’s church full immunity from services,
tributes, and legal payments for the prince. As a result, the
chapter’s castellan took over the power in Milicz.
The verifying research conducted in 1996-1998 by dr hab.
Małgorzata Chorowska (Institute of History of Architecture, Art
and Technology of Technical University in Wrocław) allowed to
set apart few stages of development in the palace’s layout. For
500 years of its existence (from the close of the 18th century
it stays ruined) it went through considerable extensions, which
remained numerous traces within the walls.
Thanks to its size, the brick, medieval bishop’s palace not only
dominated over the wooden architecture of other buildings in
Milicz, but also was the most important element of the Barycz
valley. Monumental residence was a form of manifestation of the
victory of bishop’s power in the Milicz castellany, which thus
became the church castellany. Only few experts on the history of
medieval architecture and culture can find in the Milicz ruins
the old splendor of the bishop palace or the subsequent prince
castle. It was a grand, stone-brick building erected in a
rectangular form, furnished with butresses in its northern and
southern parts. The lowest level, partly deeped in the ground,
was built of stone, the other two levels –
of brick, with gothic applications. The palace was 14,25 metres
wide and 32-33 metres long on the north-south axis. The
residence consisted of the southern part, which performed
residential-farming function, and the northern one, with a large
representative room in it – a hall measuring 14,25 x 11 metres.
At the beginning of the 14th century the palace was enlarged by
adding the third segment to the northern part.
The importance of the whole Milicz centre in the Middle Ages is
proved by the fact, that it has been besieged and taken over by
the Bohemian king, John of Luksemburg. At that time the centre,
lying on the border of Lower Silesia and Great Poland, in the
Barycz backwaters, was described by the medieval scribe as
Milich clavis Regni Poloniae (Milicz the key of the Polish
Kingdom). The confiscation of the residence away from Nanker,
the bishop of Wrocław, resulted in excommunication of the ruler.
The sale of the palace together with the town in 1358 to prince
Konrad Oleśnicki had its consequences in rebuilding of the
structure. The northern part of the palace has been taken apart,
and the castle bailey was formed. The whole building has been
surrounded with a wall, erected probably on the older wooden
bulwark. In the eastern part the duke has built the gateway. The
taking over of the castle by the Kurzbach family at the close of
the 15th century is the end of its medieval history.
JKolenda
The text was written on the basis of results of the
archaeological research conducted in 2003-2006, and publication
of M. Chorowska, A. Kudła, Architektura i historia
średniowiecznego zamku w Miliczu [Architecture and history of
the medieval castle in Milicz], [in:] Nie tylko zamki [Not only
castles], Wrocław 2005, pp. 83-96.
Old castle
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