The Łęczyca of 1200 stands at Tum, about 2 km east of the present town: a ducal castle (the earthwork now called the Swedish Hill) beside the Romanesque collegiate church, dated 1161 and the largest Romanesque church in Poland (de.wikipedia).
Bolesław I founded a Benedictine abbey here early in the 11th century. It is the head of a castle district and of the Łęczyca land, which belongs to the senior province of Kraków (see Łęczyca land); the Church holds synods here, and the first recorded assembly of lords and bishops met at Łęczyca under Casimir II in 1180. The town with law on the present site is later (town law in 1267 from Leszek the Black).
Who holds it
- Name
- Mieszko III the Old as senior duke at Kraków (per Kraków (Mieszko III); not pinned against Casimir's sons' party); castellan not named
- Title
- holder of the senior province, through the castellan of Łęczyca
- Since
- not pinned
- Born
- not pinned
- Family
- see the krakow record and Łęczyca land
- Confidence
- low
en.wikipedia Duchy of Łęczyca; de.wikipedia Łęczyca
Lord in 1200
Whoever holds the senior province of Kraków that morning (Mieszko III under the 1198 agreement, or Casimir's sons' party), through the castellan of Łęczyca, not named for 1200.
How things stand that morning
Held for the senior duke at Kraków: Mieszko III by the reckoning followed in Kraków (Mieszko III).
Charter
None in 1200; town law in 1267 (de.wikipedia).
Council
None: the castellan and the duke's officers govern the settlement.
Communities
Polish townsfolk; the canons of Tum.
Fairs and markets
Not pinned; a weekly market under the castle by Polish custom.
Militia
The castle levy; the settlement's men serve under the castellan.
Walls and castle
Ducal earth-and-timber castle at Tum beside the collegiate church.
Trade and crafts
The market at the castle; the crossing of the Bzura marshes on the road from Kuyavia and Masovia to Sieradz and Kraków.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: de.wikipedia Łęczyca gives Tum, the collegiate church, the 1180 assembly and the 1267 law; the holder of the land in 1200 follows Łęczyca land.
Primary sources for Kraków (Mieszko III)
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- Chronicle of the Poles, by Master Vincent (Wincenty Kadłubek), Wincenty Kadłubek (about 1190 to 1208). Book 4 is a contemporary's account of the fight for the senior throne of Kraków. Read online
- The annals of the Kraków chapter and the other Polish annals (kept from the 11th century; the Kraków chapter annals continued to 1266). Short dated entries that fix the chronology Kadłubek blurs: the deaths of dukes and bishops, Mieszko the Old's captures of Kraków, Prussian raids on Masovia, church consecrations. Read online
- The Hypatian Chronicle (the Kievan Chronicle compiled about 1200 at the Vydubichi monastery; the Galician-Volhynian Chronicle in the 13th century). The southern record. Read online
- The Book of Census of the Roman Church, Cencius Camerarius (Cencio Savelli, later Pope Honorius III) (1192, with later additions). The papal rent roll: every church, monastery, town and kingdom that owed a census to Rome in 1192, diocese by diocese, with the sums, followed by lists of papal lands and castles, the ceremonial Ordo and copies of charters. Read online
- The Registers of Pope Innocent III for 1199 to 1201, Innocent III and the papal chancery (22 February 1199 to 21 February 1201). The pope's outgoing letters for the year, in his chancery's own copy, touching nearly every realm in the atlas. Read online
Sources and studies
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.