Duchy of Jawor

The Duchy of Jawor was one of the Silesian duchies created during the fragmentation of Piast Poland. It was established in 1274 as a subdivision of the Duchy of Legnica and was ruled by the Silesian Piasts, with its seat at Jawor in Lower Silesia. At its foundation it belonged to the line of Boleslaw II the Bald; in 1278 his son Henry V the Fat assigned the Jawor lands to his younger brothers Bolko I the Strict and Bernard the Lightsome. The duchy lay in the far south-west of the Polish realm, along the northern slopes of the Western Sudetes, and repeatedly changed shape as neighboring districts were divided or inherited. In 1291 Bolko I acquired Swidnica, and the combined territory was sometimes called the Duchy of Swidnica-Jawor. After the last duke, Bolko II, died in 1368, Jawor passed to Bohemia; his widow Agnes held it until her death in 1392.