Name variations

In 13th century Ruthenian documents, Przeworsk was spelt Pereworesk. In the 14th and 15th centuries, its name was subject to variation. It was called Preworsko, Przeworsko, Przeworszko, Przeworscho, Przeiworsko, Przyworsko and Prziborsko. Since the 15th century, the name Przeworsko was most often used.

Recorded history

In the early Middle Ages, a defensive gord existed there. The area was included in the emerging Polish state by its first historic ruler Mieszko I in the 10th century. In 981 it was annexed from Poland by the Kievan Rus', and afterwards, in the High Middle Ages, it changed owners several times between Poland and the Rus', and even fell to the Mongol Empire in the mid-13th century. It was first mentioned in documents from 1280, when, after the Battle of Gozlice (23 February 1280) between Lesser Polish and Ruthenian-Tatar forces, Duke Leszek II the Black raided the Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia, then vassal of the Golden Horde, capturing and setting alight the city of "Perevoresk"

"Въ лѣт̑ 6789 (1281) Иде Льстько на Лва и взѧ оу него городъ Переворескъ и исъсѣче и люди в нем̑ вси ѿ мала и до велика и город̑ зажьже и поиде назадъ во своӕси"^[2]

In the year 6789, (1281) Leszek attacked Leo I of Galicia, and took his city of Perevoresk and killed all in it, sparing neither young or old and having burnt the town to the ground he left.

Monument of Polish King Władysław II Jagiełło who vested Przeworsk with town rights in 1393

After the Galicia–Volhynia Wars in mid-14th century, this territory of the Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia, was reincorporated to the Kingdom of Poland by King Casimir III the Great and afterwards transformed into the Ruthenian Voivodeship within the larger Lesser Poland Province of the Polish Crown. Soon Polish settlers came to the deserted border areas, and in November 1387, King Władysław II Jagiełło ceded Przeworsk to the Voivode of Sandomierz, Jan of Tarnow, Leliwa coat of arms. Przeworsk grew fast, and on 25 February 1393, Jagiełło granted it a town charter.

Until the 18th century, Przeworsk was a private town of several Polish noble families, as it passed through Tarnowski, Ostrogski and Lubomirski ownership. Since 1470, it was the seat of the Land court for the western territory of Przemyśl Land in the Ruthenian Voivodeship. Przeworsk became the second largest town in the area after Przemyśl, prospering in the period known as, the Polish Golden Age. It was situated on a round hill, 212 metres (696 feet) above sea level. Its center was protected by a rampart with a moat. The town hall was built in the 15th century.

Since Crimean Tatars often raided the southeastern Poland, and sometimes even reached its south-central parts, in 1510 the construction of ramparts was started. The defences of Przeworsk consisted of three main elements: a fortified Bernardine monastery in the east, a fortified Order of the Holy Sepulchre monastery in the west, and the town with its three gates in the middle. These fortifications turned out to be inadequate, as both in 1612 and 1624, Przeworsk was captured by the Tatars. Later, the town was captured by the Cossacks (1672, 1677), Swedes (1702) and Russians during the Great Northern War. On 22/23 March 1656, Charles X Gustav of Sweden spent one night here, during his failed raid on south-central Poland. Przeworsk suffered in several successive fires (1712, 1717, 1739, 1740, 1759). All these events contributed to the town's steep decline.

Sugar factory in the early 20th century

In First Partition of Poland, in 1772, Przeworsk was annexed by the Habsburg Empire, remaining in Austrian Galicia until November 1918. In the late 18th century, the Austrian authorities pulled down the obsolete late-medieval ramparts and gates. The town remained in decline until the late 19th century, when it became a railway junction, and a center of sugar production, with the Przeworsk Sugar Refinery (1895). In 1859, Przeworsk was connected by rail with Kraków by the Galician Railway of Archduke Charles Louis. In 1902 it had a new railroad to Rozwadów, and in 1904, a narrow gauge line to Dynów was completed. The population began to grow, new housing was built, together with a monument dedicated to King Władysław II Jagiełło (1910), but World War I brought destruction to the town.

In 1918 Poland regained independence, and in the Second Polish Republic Przeworsk was part of Lwów Voivodeship. In 1929, it became of a county seat and in 1930, several buildings burned down in a fire.

During the joint German-Soviet invasion of Poland, which started World War II, Germany conducted air raids on 3, 5 and 6 September 1939, in which several people were killed and many were wounded.^[3] Przeworsk was captured by the Wehrmacht on 9 September 1939, and then the Einsatzgruppe I entered the town to commit various atrocities against Poles.^[4] The German occupation lasted until 27 July 1944. During the Intelligenzaktion, on November 3, 1939, the Germans deceitfully gathered the local Polish intelligentsia for a formal meeting, then arrested 58 people and imprisoned them in Rzeszów.^[5] The Jewish community was decimated in German extermination camps.

The Pshevorsk Hasidic dynasty, which originated in Przeworsk, is now mainly located in Antwerp, Belgium.

Twin towns – Sister cities

Przeworsk is twinned with: