Upon his appointment as Bishop of Wrocław in 1198, Jarosław of Opole, elder son of the Silesian duke Bolesław I the Tall, received the territories around the town of Nysa from his father.

After Jarosław's death in 1201, his half-brother Duke Henry I the Bearded of Silesia decided to leave Nysa, as well as the castellany of Otmuchów, under the control of the Diocese of Wrocław, while the rest of the late Jarosław's Upper Silesian lands were annexed by his uncle Mieszko IV Tanglefoot in the following year.

The duchy in its original form only lasted until 1335, when Silesia passed to the Kingdom of Bohemia by the Treaty of Trentschin.

Pogorzeli also significantly enlarged his territory by acquisition of Grodków from Duke Bolesław III the Generous of Brzeg in 1344.

For the next two hundred years, the Polish, Czech and German inhabitants of Nysa-Grodków lived in relative harmony, even during the beginnings of the Reformation as the control of the region switched between Protestant and Catholic rulers.