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Chapter 8. Outline history of Muszyna
It is difficult to say when Muszyna first appeared. For
a dozen-odd years now archaeologists have been engaged in research. However
except for the castle ruins and the research taking place in the vicinity
of the old forestry office and court buildings, the remaining area remains
effectively unexplored. But in summer 2010 near the court buildings small
fragments of flint arrowheads, probably dating from the younger Palaeolithic
period (about BC 8000) were found.
Historians of the Carpathian Mountains have routinely
had problems pinpointing the date of Muszyna’s emergence. For a century
and a half, an erroneous view has been circulating alleging that that
the oldest written mention of Muszyna dated from 1209. That piece of information
came from a 1209 document issued by Hungary’s King Andrew II to Demetrius
de Rasch pertaining to the collection of customs fees in Ujfal (now Pečovska
Ves upon Torysa near Preąov). It orders merchants not to avoid that customs
house when transporting goods to Ujfal, ‘usque ad fluvium pop rath versus
Muschina’ But the document was a forgery written in script typical of
the 16th century. . Unfortunately, from 1864 Polish historians
(thanks to Eugeniusz Janota) accepted the document as authentic. And that
despite the fact that in 1874 the outstanding historian Franciszek Piekosiński
published the first volume of Kodeks dyplomatyczny katedry krakowskiej
(Diplomatic code of Kraków Cathedral), in which he published two documents
of 1288, where Muszyna was undisputedly mentioned (as ‘Mussina que iacet
sub Ungaria”, ie lies on the border with Hungary). We should add that
in 1889 Franciszek Piekosiński precisely and correctly described the oldest
documents pertaining to Muszyna and its location.
Thus, the first authentic mention of Muszyna as a locality
(but not yet a town) dated from documents of Kraków Duke Leszek the Black
bearing the dates of 18th and 23rd May 1288. It
pertained to an agreement concluded by Comes Mironieg, son of the Castellan
of Połaniec Dzierżykraj, and Mironieg’s wife Bogusława (as heir to Canon
Wysz of Niegowić of the Połkozic clan who had died before 1279) with the
Bishop of Kraków. Wysz of Niegowić willed his private holdings — the village
of ¦winiarsko near Nowy S±cz and the village of Muszyna — to Kraków Bishop
Paweł of Przemanków. Hence, in 1288 a small fortified town had existed
on the hilltop together with the village of Muszyna between where the
brooks Szczawnik and Muszynka emptied into the River Poprad. In 1973–1974,
archaeologist Maria Cabalska had studied that fortified town, situated
some 200 metres to the north-east of the castle ruins, and uncovered the
remains of a stone, timber and earthen rampart, with a wooden structure
known as ‘the post’ at its centre. The little fortified town atop Koziejówka
Hill was meant to protect Poland’s holdings in the area, since the Hungarians
had seized villages situated to the south-east of Muszyna: : Čirč on Poprad,
Now± Wolę (ie. Ruska Voµa), Obručne, Lenartov, Malcov and Lukov on Topla.
Little known in our literature is a document of the Spią Chapter to Hungarian
King Charles Robert d’Anjou, dated 22nd April 1323. It contained
information on lands belonging the castles of Lubovla and Plaveč as well
as on the then Polish-Hungarian border which ran from Mniszek (Mnniąek)
on Poprad near Piwniczna along the Poprad up to the River Muszynka and
farther to its source at Tylicz Pass between Mount Jawor (809 metres)
and Mount Chorgo (ie Wysoka Horka – 765 metres). The border ran along
the River Muszynka (according to the document: ‘aqua Mussina vocata’).
The fact that the Chapter of Spią regarded the land on the left bank of
the Muszynka as belonging to Hungary suggested that the then village of
Muszyna covered the area between the fortified town on Mount Koziejówka
and the rivulet Szczawnik. At any rate, that did not include the area
of the present town on the left bank of the Muszynka. It should be noted
that in 1269 Čirč, Ruska Voµa, Obručne, Lenartov, Malcov i Lukov are mentioned
as villages still belonging to Poland.
From 1294, the owner of Muszyna was the Bishop of Kraków
Jan Muskata. Taking advantage of his position as an advocate of the Bohemia’s
Přemyslid Dynasty, in 1303-1305 as the starost of King Vaclav II (from
1297 King of Bohemia, from 1300 of Poland and from 1301 of Hungary) he
permanently annexed to his Muszyna holdings the River Biała basin from
Mount Chełm near Grybów up to Lackowa Hill near Beskid Pass. Bishop Muskata
most probably founded Miastko on Muszynka as a defensive locality close
to Tylicz Pass. As a result of a dispute with Władysław the Short, who
was busy unifying Polish lands, Muskata lost his Muszyna holdings which
Władysław confiscated in 1312 following the bishop’s involvement in the
rebellion of Kraków Mayor Albert.
In the years that followed, the area of the future Muszyna
estates became the object of interest of the Hungarians who succeeded
in shifting the border from the village of Łomnica near Piwniczna to Muszyna
along the Poprad, and in the south-east (as mentioned above) up to the
Muszynka. In 1337, as a privilege Charles Robert granted Rykold Berżewicz
and his sons “the Muszyna brook forest” (Mussina pätaka feu) — an area
covering the entire left bank of the Muszynka including the Czerchowkie
Hills. That land grant was never implemented, since it involved Polish
territory. Similarly in 1338, the Comes of Zadvar Bartłomiej Pangracz
received land between the rivers Malczów and Topla, and neither did that
grant come to pass. Finally in 1349, the Berżewiczes were again endowed
with the lands granted them in 1337, but again they could not take possession
of them. In 1366, in a document for Plaveč, the land on the right bank
of the Poprad from Leluchów and the brook Smereczek all the way to Muszyna
was proclaimed ‘possesio Mussina’ i ‘Regnum Poloniae.’
The Hungarian designs on those lands piqued the interest
of Poland’s King Casimir the Great in the borderlands on the Rivers Poprad
and Biała. In 1348 he founded Piwniczna in what had been an largely unpopulated
green field and set about building a stone castle in Muszyna. The urban
centre of Miastko (now Tylicz) was believed to have been transferred to
Muszyna. That took place in 1364, since the royal privilege of the 29th
November granted Mayor Ankon permission to settle the new town of Muszyna
with new settlers, especially merchants. It also exempted Muszyna inhabitants
from paying Czchów customs apparently in order to facilitate their trade
with Bochnia and Kraków. Unfortunately, Muszyna’s original foundation
document was destroyed in the 16th century (during fires in
1589, 1596 or 1600). Therefore, the documents of 26th and 29th
November 1364 are the first documented mentions of Muszyna as a town.
The next document pertaining to Muszyna dates from 1368-1369 is known
as a transumpt contained in a document of King Władysław Jagiełło of 5th
August 1391. It mentioned the mayor, councillors and populace of ‘the
new town of Muszyna’ and contained the king’s assurances that he would
not change the course of ‘Muszyna’s roads and divert arriving merchants
away from the town, counting on the townsfolk to mend its bridges.’ On
5th August 1391, Władysław Jagiełło renounced his rights to
Muszyna in favour of Kraków Bishop Jan Radlica, whilst simultaneously
reaffirming all the rights and freedoms granted the town by Casimir the
Great. Thereafter, until 1782, Muszyna would belong to Bishops of Kraków.
However, in 1770 Muszyna and the S±cz region were seized by Austrian Empress
Marie Theresa. In 1782, Austria made the Muszyna holdings the property
of the Austrian Empire.
In general, according to its age-old rhythm Muszyna led
a calm and peaceful existence. With the exception of fires, floods, famine
and plagues, the town was bypassed by many great historical calamities.
In 1410, during the war against the Teutonic Knights, the Hungarian troops
of Sigismund of Luxembourg, then allied with the Teutonic Knights, poured
into the S±cz region and sought to capture Muszyna Castle. The town survived,
but unfortunately in 1474 a Hungarian invasion penetrated as far as Dukla,
Krosno and Pilzno. Nearly 200 localities went up in smoke including Muszyna
and its castle. In the 16th century the town flourished thanks
to the extended period of peace and the entire state’s economic development.
The Kraków Bishops looked after the development of the town, the principal
commercial centre of their prospering Muszyna estates. Thanks to an intensive
settlement campaign, the estates comprised the towns of Muszyna and Tylicz
as well as 34 villages. In the 17th century, Muszyna began
to decline and deteriorated to the status of an ‘oppidum’, a semi-rural
settlement concentrating on cattle and grain production, barter trade
and crafts. In the wake of the great fire of 1596, when the church, a
good share of the town and part of the castle went up in smoke, in 1629
there were 20 houses in the market square and 14 on its side streets.
Five craftsmen pursued their trades and seven bailiffs lived there. By
1655, there were seven bailiffs and eight craftsmen and the same number
in 1680. After the 1596 blaze of the castle, it was not rebuilt, was abandoned
and went to ruin, and the seat of the starost was moved to a different
manor house. On the basis of the extant Book of Admissions to Muszyna’s
Municipal Law from 1601, it would appear that the influx
of newcomers (mainly from the estates’ villages) barely offset the town’s
demographic degradation caused by the economic crisis, wars and basic
disasters in the mid-17th century and above all by an epidemic
(most likely the bubonic plague) which decimated the population by one-third
in 1705–1713. Similar consequences were produced by a famine caused by
poor harvests, particularly in 1714-1715. The turmoil caused by the Confederation
of Bar luckily bypassed the town. Despite its period of stagnation in
1676 Muszyna received a beautiful, brick parish church, founded by Bishop
Andrzej Trzebicki, which has survived down to the present without nay
significant changes. It was then that the town expanded to include the
area from the large market square to the church. In the town’s south end,
a manorial complex was built comprising the starost’s manor and a set
of manorial outbuildings (including a sawmill, mill and brewery).
But it was not until Muszyna became part of the Hapsburg
monarchy in 1770 that the town’s development accelerated. In 1772, Muszyna
counted 1,015 inhabitants and 162 houses and buildings. By 1800, its population
had grown to 1,289 and the number of buildings to 206. In 1835 there were
1,589 townsfolk and 1846 — 2,200 inhabitants and 357 houses. But soon
the town suffered the greatest misfortune in its annals — a cholera and
typhus epidemic in 1847–1849 that killed nearly half its population. As
a result, in 1861 the population wasn't yet back to the 1835 level, and
in 1870 Muszyna counted 1,852 inhabitants. Another cholera epidemic in
1873 claimed a deadly toll, killing one-sixth of the population. It wasn’t
until 1890 that Muszyna counted 2,358 inhabitants.
In 1876, a rail line from Tarnów to Muszyna and on to
Hungary via Preąov and Koąice was completed. That enlivened Muszyna by
providing jobs for local carriage drivers transporting health resort goers
from Muszyna to Krynica. A sizable portion of the townsfolk found seasonal
employment at the fashionable, quickly developing spa. But the opening
of a rail line from Muszyna to Krynica was a disaster for local carriage
drivers. Luckily the Great War bypassed Muszyna. Only briefly Russian
troops entered the town on 1st -5th December 1914.
In 1930, Muszyna acquired official health-resort status
which entitled it to levy a climate tax. The then mayor Antoni Jurczak
and the local physician Dr Seweryn M¶ciwujewski were largely instrumental
in turning a sleepy, stagnating town into a modish spa. In their honour,
the first mineral springs tapped in Zapopradzie at the turn of the 1930s
were named Antoni and Wanda (after Dr M¶ciwujewski's wife). The town enjoyed
swift development in the 1930s. Muszyna received cobbled streets, storm
sewers, marketplace squares, and for a time even a petrol station operated
there. A concert shell was built on the bank of the Poprad, and a sandy
beach was created with changing cabins as well as a kayak and beach-chair
rental. A pump room and bath house were also built. A municipal power
station was built on the Muszynka river, and a cinema opened its doors
in the town’s Main Square. There was also an abattoir, marketplace, sawmill
and lace-making workshop. Muszyna became well known and fashionable. In
1934 it obtained municipal rights. During the 1938 summer season it played
host to more than 10,000 visitors.
During World War Two Muszyna was temporarily occupied
by Slovak troops, soon replaced by Nazi Germany’s Wehrmacht. A tragic
fate befell local Jews (accounting for nearly one-quarter of the town’s
inhabitants). In winter 1940-41, they were transported to a ghetto in
Grybów and were murdered during its subsequent liquidation. During the
war, Muszyna was one of the points on an underground route from Warsaw
and Kraków to Budapest. The local outpost of the Home Army, operated by
local chief forester Stefan Ajdukiewicz and his deputy Bolesław Witowski,
was in charge of guiding secret couriers to their destination. The couriers
operated until the outbreak of the August uprising in Slovakia. The Gestapo
had set up a torture chamber in Muszyna’s Helin guesthouse, and many Polish
patriot pension was subjected to that ordeal. On 21st January
1945, Soviet troops entered Muszyna from Krynica, putting an end to German
subjugation. But the Germans had managed to cart away or destroy the health
resort’s balnaeological equipment.
Major changes bypassed Muszyna during the communist period.
But the Lemkos, a Ukrainian ethnic subgroup that had been an inseparable
element of local culture since their colonisation in the 15th
and 16th centuries, were expelled during a campaign codenamed
Vistula. They were replaced by settlers from the overpopulated villages
of the Nowy S±cz area. Fortunately, the Poprad Valley was bypassed by
major industrial projects. Holiday camps for youngsters and teenagers
became Muszyna’s principal form of recreational activity. Health-resort
functions were gradually taken over by nearby Złockie, where a number
of sanatoriums were built in the 1970s and over a dozen mineral springs
were tapped. As a result, Muszyna managed to retain its historic layout
with Ko¶cielna, Kita and Piłsudski streets, St Joseph’s Church and the
Main Square. After the necessary tidying-up campaign, they became Muszyna's
major tourist asset. Newer investments have included the Żerań (now Korona),
Ursus (now Muszyna) and Budowlani (Builders — now Revita) sanatoriums.
A housing estate has also been built at Piłsudski street.
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