Sulejów received its town rights in the middle of the 13th century, later confirmed by King Władysław I the Elbow-high.

This rally was the official ceremony of adopting and enacting the papal conditions and the resumption of the Polish Kingdom.

In 1410 the Cistercian abbey was one of the stopping places for the Polish army, led by King Władysław II Jagiełło.

[4] In 1807–1809 it was regained by Poles and included within the short-lived Duchy of Warsaw, and in 1815 it fell to the Russian Partition of Poland.

Further destruction of the town occurred on 4 September 1939, during the German Luftwaffe bombing in time of the invasion of Poland which started World War II.

In mid-1940 the German police carried out mass arrests of over 100 Poles, including teachers, judges and students of secret Polish schools.