Following the fragmentation of Poland in 1138, it belonged to the Seniorate Province, then possibly temporarily passed to the Duchy of Racibórz after 1179.

It was regained by Poles in the Austro-Polish War of 1809 and included within the short-lived Polish Duchy of Warsaw.

Construction of the railway line from Kraków to Vienna had caused migration and settlement of the population in these areas.

The turning point in the history of Libiąż came when rich deposits of coal were discovered in the late nineteenth century.

Around the mine began to form a new residential and public buildings (schools , post office and telegraph).

It was located in the Kraków Voivodeship, and the interwar period was also a time of strong development of the local government.

During the invasion of Poland, which started World War II in September 1939, the town was invaded by Germany, and was one of the sites of executions of Poles carried out by German troops (see Nazi crimes against the Polish nation).

During the German occupation, the occupiers operated the E562 forced labour subcamp of the Stalag VIII-B/344 prisoner-of-war camp at the Janina Coal Mine.