The topic of the article is the process of spatial development in the area of Łęczyca in the Middle Ages. In the early Middle Ages Łęczyca was one of the most important settlement centres in Poland. The author distinguishes three phases in its development. The first phase was the “Tum Łęczyca”, named so after the stronghold and the Romanesque collegiate church in Tum. “The second” Łęczyca was the so-called “Old Town”, which emerged in the 13th century and vanished quite soon, having not developed into a significant urban centre. “The third” Łęczyca was the chartered town, which gained its final shape only in the 14th century, during the reign of Casimir the Great, the last Polish king of the Piast dynasty (†1370). Describing the fortified town of regular layout, with nine distinct quarters including a market square located in the centre, the author notes an interesting regularity: the four quarters situated in the corners were outside the municipal jurisdiction. The south-eastern quarter was occupied by the castle, the south-western one by the parish church, the north-eastern one by the Dominican monastery, while the north-western corner was the Jewish quarter. The author finds analogies to the development of Łęczyca in the three phases of development known from the history of Szamotuły in Greater Poland, while a similar layout of the urban space within town walls can be found in Inowrocław in Kuyavia. Studies on the spatial development of Łęczyca in the Middle Ages require on the one hand intensive historical research and on the other – large-scale professional archaeological excavations.
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