Editing Piła (section)

===In the Kingdom of Poland===
====Overview====
Piła traces its origins to an old fishing village.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.pila.pl/content.php?cms_id=55&lang=pl&p=p1&s=s7 |title=Piła Oficjalny Serwis Miasta-Historia |access-date=2011-11-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110906162226/http://www.pila.pl/content.php?cms_id=55&lang=pl&p=p1&s=s7 |archive-date=2011-09-06 }}</ref> Following the [[Germans|German]] [[colonist]] movement of the 13th century, and particularly after the end of the [[first Mongol invasion of Poland]] of 1241, many German colonizers came to this densely wooded area of Poland. General immigration of German settlers diminished, however, when Poland, under King [[Casimir IV Jagiellon]] (1447–1492), finally defeated the [[Teutonic Knights|Teutonic Order]] in 1466.

====Early history====
A [[Slavic peoples|Slavic]] settlement of [[Lumberjack|woodcutters]] in the [[Fisherman|fishing village]] Piła may have existed before any of the later villages and surrounding towns of the area were established. Thus, in the 14th century Piła grew to some extent because of its position on the Gwda, a mere {{convert|11|km|0|abbr=off}} from where it joins the river Notec. Yet, the settlement developed less than others that were on such major water routes as the rivers [[Warta]] or Vistula. Piła's simple layout of unpaved streets and primitive clay and timber houses gave little protection to its inhabitants and was still far from becoming a commercially interesting locale. If one were to credit a Privilegium ([[charter]]) of the early 1380s as evidence, a document associated with the building of a church in Piła and ascribed to the very young Queen [[Jadwiga of Poland]]—a copied document that still existed in the archives of the town before 1834—then that period could well be regarded as the time when the village of Piła/Snydemole was elevated to the status of town. The recurring double naming Piła-Snydemole may be because two originally separate localities took their name from the water-powered sawmill that had been part of the town's raison d'être from the beginning.

Documented references to Snydemole and Piła are reportedly found in parish church sources of 1449, where there is mention of a sawmill and of the name of the current [[wojewoda]] (governor) Paul. Evidence also exists of a letter from 1456 by the [[Margraviate of Brandenburg|Brandenburg]] [[Frederick II, Elector of Brandenburg|Friedrich II Hohenzollern]] who had bought the Neumark region from the [[Teutonic Order]] in 1455. The letter is addressed to bishop Andrzej of Poznań and to Łukasz Górka, the local [[Starosta]], the royal constable of [[Wielkopolska]]. The elector complained that in prevailing peace times some burghers of Snydemole and Piła were making raids on his lands. This accusation may tend to give additional credence to the earlier claim that Queen Jadwiga in the 1380s was indeed the founder of the town of Piła.

====City rights====
[[File:Kazimierz IV Jagiellonczyk (275186).jpg|thumb|upright|left|During the reign of King [[Casimir IV Jagiellon]] Piła became a royal city of the Kingdom of Poland]]
Until 1480 Piła was a town owned by the nobility, belonging to Maciej Opaliński who later presented his holdings to King [[Casimir IV Jagiellon]], at which time Piła became a [[royal city in Poland|royal town]]. Administratively it was located in the Poznań County in the [[Poznań Voivodeship (14th century to 1793)|Poznań Voivodeship]] in the [[Greater Poland Province, Crown of the Kingdom of Poland|Greater Poland Province]] of the Kingdom of Poland.<ref>{{cite book|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Atlas historyczny Polski. Wielkopolska w drugiej połowie XVI wieku. Część I. Mapy, plany|year=2017|language=pl|location=Warszawa|publisher=Instytut Historii [[Polish Academy of Sciences|Polskiej Akademii Nauk]]|page=1a}}</ref> It is known that ten years later the burghers of the town were accused and penalized for tax evasion that had been occurring over a period of five years. However, King [[Sigismund I the Old]]—during whose reign immigration of numerous [[Jews]] from the [[Iberian peninsula]], [[Kingdom of Bohemia|Bohemia]] and German states was encouraged—bestowed municipal rights upon the town of Piła on 4 March 1513, a landmark decision. This was an important achievement for Piła since it gave the burghers not only status, but also the rights to self-administration and its own judiciary. The administration of the town's affairs was now in the hands of three legislative bodies, elected from among the burghers. They were the council with the mayor, jury court and the elders of the guilds. Only the position of the [[Wójt]] remained in the hands of the crown or its deputy, the Starosta. The sovereign, however, remained the ultimate judge, warlord and owner of the land. Being free from the arbitrariness of a [[Castellan]] or of [[Wojewoda]] (governor of the province)—Piła's town folk took advantage of the town's privileges by owning property, carrying on any trade and enjoying the right to hold much needed [[Trade fair|market fairs]].

====16th century====
Economic circumstances or personal feuds may have been responsible for the frequent changes of ownership of the town, as Piła was 'purchased' in 1518 by Hieronymus von Bnin; the document outlining the deed and ownership during his lifetime was given to him by King Sigismund I in 1525. Following the demise of Bnin, the town became the property of the dynasty of the mighty Gorka family. This family, secretly leaning toward [[Protestantism]] and in power until the 17th century, included some of the wealthiest landowners and most influential [[Szlachta|nobles of Poland]] and was known to be benevolent to their town's folk.

In 1548 Piła obtained a privilege that banned any foreign [[Pottery|potter]] from the town's markets, and in 1561 a fishing privilege was obtained. Piła was part of the [[Poznań Voivodeship (14th century to 1793)|Poznań Voivodeship]], the region divided into the four ''starostwa'' (land holdings) of [[Poznań]], [[Kościan]], [[Wschowa]] and [[Wałcz]], the latter encompassing the Starosty Ujscie-Piła, the area between the rivers Gwda, Notec and Drage. ''Stara'' Piła, the old Piła, a town that never had walls, was slow to grow.

[[File:Anonymous Stephen Báthory (detail) 02.jpg|thumb|upright|King [[Stephen Báthory]] confirmed old privileges of Piła in 1576 and moved the weekly market from Thursdays to Mondays]]
By the middle of the 16th century, many German Protestant craftsmen and traders, driven out of [[Bohemia]] by religious persecution during the [[Reformation]], settled in numerous towns in the region. Some may have settled in Piła too, yet in 1563 the small town had no more than 750 inhabitants. They are known to have lived in 153 houses, primitively built, primarily with timber and clay, covered with straw and grouped mainly around the Old Market. When King [[Stephen Báthory of Poland]] confirmed two of the town's privileges on 3 September 1576, the burghers were granted the right to hold their weekly market on a Monday (instead of Thursday),<ref name=sgk1>{{cite book|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->|title=Słownik geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego i innych krajów słowiańskich, Tom VIII|year=1887|language=pl|location=Warszawa|page=152}}</ref> an important feat. Over the following 150 years, numerous privileges and charters were re-issued by the Polish crown, mainly as a result of loss by fire. By 1591 a statute allowing apprenticeships in various trades was obtained. In 1593 King [[Sigismund III Vasa]] confirmed old privileges of Piła.<ref name=sgk1/>

====17th century: Queen Constance reshaping the town====
When the widowed [[Sigismund III Vasa]] married princess [[Constance of Austria|Constance]], an Austrian archduchess from the [[House of Habsburg]], in 1605, he presented the town of Piła, together with the lands of the domain of Ujście, as a wedding gift to his new bride. She became responsible for changing Piła in several ways over the next few decades. Acting in concert with the tenets of the prevailing [[Roman Catholic Church|Catholic]] [[Counter Reformation]], the queen first attended to what seemed closest to her heart. She saw to it that numerous Protestant churches in the region of [[Wałcz]], the most German of areas where seventeen Protestant villages existed, be handed over to the Roman Catholic clergy, hounding many a German Protestant burgher in the process.

After one of the town's frequent fires in 1619, the queen—in a benevolent gesture and as her 'present' to the burghers of Piła—appropriated funds from the large estate to have the old burnt-out wooden Catholic Church rebuilt. Alas, given the random, close proximity of houses to one another, town fires occurred with such regularity in numerous communities during that period that in 1626 another devastating fire broke out in Piła. This time the entire town was laid to ashes, including the newly built church. Constance subsequently charged her secretary Samuel Targowski on 15 July 1626 to survey what was left of the town.  His proposal for a new layout was to be drastic for [[Christians|Christian]] burghers; to the developing Jewish community it was most consequential and of particular detriment. Constance also decided on a distinct segregation of Jews and Christians. The Jewish community was to resettle in a [[ghetto]], what was to become a virtual town within a town. The new site, from thereon often referred to as ''Judenstadt'', the Jews' town. To demarcate the newly created ghetto, the decree called for a sizable trench to be dug to surround the Jewish quarters where feasible; otherwise a tall wooden fence had to serve to close in the area completely.

[[File:Piła dom staszica.JPG|thumb|right|Birthplace of [[Stanisław Staszic]], a leading figure of [[Enlightenment in Poland|Polish Enlightenment]]]]
A new church arose in 1628. Unlike most other buildings in town, the choir room section of this edifice was to remain intact in its original form until 1945. New houses were constructed of brick and stone and the town was reconstructed in plain [[Renaissance architecture|Renaissance]] style. Polish Kings confirmed old privileges of Piła again in 1633 and 1650, and granted new privileges in 1660, 1670 and 1688, which were then confirmed in 1716.<ref>''Słownik geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego i innych krajów słowiańskich, Tom VIII'', pp. 152–153 (in Polish)</ref> On 24 July 1655, during [[The Deluge (Polish history)|the Deluge]], [[Swedish Empire|Swedish]] troops captured the predominantly [[Lutheranism|Lutheran]] town and destroyed most of its buildings and infrastructure. During October 1656, a Polish troupe of [[Stefan Czarniecki]]'s army sought retribution upon the largely German and Protestant burghers of Piła, accusing them of collusion with the Swedes. During the consecutive [[Great Northern War|Great Northern]] and [[Seven Years' War]]s similar havoc was visited upon the remaining inhabitants. To add to the plight, it was discovered that the [[Black Death|plague]] had been carried in.