Founded in the late Middle Ages, Piotrków was once a royal city and holds an important place in Polish history; the first parliament sitting was held here in the 15th century.

The old town in Piotrków features many historical and architectural monuments, including tenements, churches, synagogues and the medieval Royal Castle.

The watershed of Poland's two main rivers, the Vistula and the Oder (Odra), runs along the meridional line three km west of Piotrków.

Two small rivers, the Strawa and the Strawka flow through the city, and it is between their valleys that the first settlement of Piotrków was founded in the early Middle Ages.

In the early Middle Ages the Piotrków region was part of the province of Łęczyca of Poland ruled by the Piast dynasty.

The foundation of the city and its development were connected with its geographical position and the advantageous arrangement of the roads linking the provinces of Poland in Piast times.

The first record of Piotrków is in a document issued in 1217 by Polish monarch Leszek I the White, where there is a mention of the duke's tribunal held "in Petrecoue".

During the 13th century, apart from the tribunals, Polish provincial princes made Piotrków the seat of some assemblies of the Sieradz knights, which according to historical sources were held in 1233, in 1241, and in 1291.

It might have been during the 1291 assembly that the Prince of Sieradz, Władysław I the Elbow-high, granted Piotrków civic rights, because in documents from the beginning of the 14th century he mentions "civitate nostra Petricouiensi".

During the reign of Casimir III, many expelled German Jews from the Holy Roman Empire migrated to the town, which grew to have one of the largest Jewish settlements in the kingdom.

Around 1705, German settlers (often Swabians) arrived in the town's vicinity and founded villages; they largely retained their customs and language until their expulsion in 1945.

[5] Thousands of Poles passed through the prison, were subjected to flagellation and tortures, and then either deported to the Warsaw Citadel or to Siberia, or executed in Piotrków.

[5] In 1867 the Russian authorities formed the Piotrków Governorate, which included Łódź, Częstochowa, and the coal fields of Dąbrowa Górnicza and Sosnowiec.

The city was a seat of the Military Department of the National Committee, and a headquarters for the Polish Legions, which were voluntary troops organized by Józef Piłsudski, Władysław Sikorski and others to fight against Russia.

During the invasion of Poland at the beginning of World War II, Piotrków was the setting for fierce fighting between the Polish 19th Infantry Division and the 16th Panzer Corps of the German Wehrmacht on 5 September 1939.

In autumn of 1939, the Germans carried out mass arrests of dozens of Poles, including teachers, local activists, judges, parliamentarians, editors and bank employees, however some were later released.

Among the victims were 14 students aged 17–18, eight reserve officers, and people of various professions, including pharmacists, an architect, railwayman, teacher, farmer and local secretary.

[15] As early as October 1939 Piotrków became the site of the first Jewish ghetto of World War II set up in occupied Poland.

In the summer of 1944, the 25th Infantry Regiment of the Home Army was formed in the district; it was the largest military unit of the Łódź Voivodeship, and fought against the Germans until November 1944.

[17] After the fall of the uprising, the headquarters of the Polish Red Cross was temporarily located in the local Royal Castle from October 1944 to January 1945.

Direct trains go among others to Kraków, Zakopane, Katowice, Bielsko-Biała, Wrocław, Łódź, Poznań, Szczecin, Świnoujście, Gdynia, Olsztyn and Białystok.