Magdeburg rights

[2] The Magdeburg rights were adopted and adapted by numerous monarchs, including the rulers of Bohemia, Hungary, Poland, and Lithuania, a milestone in the urbanization of the region which prompted the development of thousands of villages and cities.

[1] Being a member of the Hanseatic League, Magdeburg was one of the most important trade cities, maintaining commerce with the Low Countries, the Baltic states, and the interior (for example Braunschweig).

Soon many towns were vested with the law including Wrocław, Opole, Inowrocław, Sandomierz, Gniezno, Poznań, Bochnia, Głogów, Bytom, Sieradz, Kraków, Legnica, Opatów, Konin, Piotrków, Racibórz in the 13th century, whereas Szczecin and Stargard were granted the rights in 1243 by the duke of Pomerania.

[7] It was combined with a set of civil and criminal laws, and adjusted to include the urban planning popular across Western Europe – which was based (more or less) on the ancient Roman model.

Following the formation of the Polish–Lithuanian union in 1385, Magdeburg rights spread to Lithuania, first granted to the chief cities of Vilnius,[3] Brest and Kaunas, although more slowly than earlier in Poland, especially late in the east and in private towns.

[8] In the 15th and 16th centuries, the rights were granted to many other towns, including, chronologically, Trakai,[9] Grodno, Kyiv, Polotsk, Minsk,[10] Novogrudok,[11] Rechytsa,[12] Slonim,[11] Barysaw, Mogilev, Mazyr, Mir,[11] Pińsk, Alytus, Nyasvizh,[13] Šiauliai, Biržai, Lida,[13] Kėdainiai and Vitebsk.

[10] Hundreds of towns in Poland and Lithuania, some now located in Belarus, Latvia and Ukraine, were formerly governed on the basis of the location privilege known as the "settlement with German law", excluding local variants of Magdeburg rights, with some of the more notable cities being, chronologically, Lublin,[14] Zielona Góra, Tarnów, Olkusz, Sanok, Bydgoszcz, Rzeszów, Lwów, Będzin, Kielce, Krosno, Wieliczka, Częstochowa, Jarosław,[15] Przemyśl,[16] Chełm, Kazimierz Dolny, Łódź, Kamieniec Podolski, Łuck, Żytomierz, Rivne, Kowel, Siedlce, Leszno, Tarnopol, Rydzyna, Augustów, Płoskirów, Zamość, Daugavpils,[17] Brody,[18] Orsza,[19] Biała Cerkiew, Nowogród Siewierski, Czernihów, Nizhyn, Krzemieńczuk, Vinnytsia, Poltava, Stanisławów, Jēkabpils,[20] Suwałki, Białystok, Uman, Palanga, Telšiai, Cherkasy and Marijampolė.

[25] The old towns of Kraków, Lviv, Vilnius and Zamość, considerably developed under the Magdeburg rights, are World Heritage Sites, and Kazimierz Dolny, Lublin, Paczków, Poznań, Przemyśl, Rydzyna, Sandomierz, Stary Sącz, Tykocin and Wrocław are also designated Historic Monuments of Poland.