1440 - A bit of redrawing Silesia

[Redguy325 222]

I will be using mostly Polish sources to strengthen my claims.

Generally, the provinces quite nicely allow for a faithful reconstruction of the Silesia of that time, but still 1440 borders tend not to use them.

1. Duchy of Teschen/Cieszyn
Currently, in 1440 scenario, it controls two provinces - Cieszyn and Katowice. While the first one is an obvious capital, the second one is weird. I see no reason for Katowice or this part of Silesia in general to be part of Duchy of Cieszyn. In reality, Duchy of Cieszyn from XIV to XX century hadn't changed and looked like this:



It never controlled any part of the Katowice province, but it controlled something else; Territory east of Olza river, on the modern Czech territory. It controlled more or less the territory of later Zaolzie region, in game represented as Třinec. What's better, if we merge these two provinces into one state, we get almost perfect Duchy of Teschen. I think Třinec should be taken away from Bohemia and given to Teschen, while Katowice should be taken away from Teschen.

What should be done exactly with Katowice? I believe that new duchy should be added - Duchy of Pszczyna. It was small duchy that in fact controlled what is modern day city of Katowice. Also I believe that when owned by Pszczyna, province should be also named Pszczyna - as Katowice didn't even exist in 1440. Pszczyna was ruled by Helena Korybutówna, Niece of King Jagiełło, so it could have good relations with Poland at the beginning of the game.

2. Jeseník
Jeseník as province is obviously meant to be part of Silesia. Jeseník as a real town was at the time part of the Duchy of Nysa. It was actually historically a very important part of this Duchy, as much later on, in XVIII century after Silesian Wars, City of Nysa was annexed by Prussia. The Duchy of Nysa didn't cease to exist however, as the modern-day-Czechian part was still under the control of Nysian bishop. So, in reality Jesenik province was actually more or less how the Duchy of Nysa looked like, and before Silesian Wars it was almost exactly half of the Duchy. This should be annexed by Nysa.

3. Klodzko
Klodzko town was at the time under the direct of the Bohemian crown, so it should be returned to Bohemia

4. Zgorzelec
Zgorzelec wasn't the part of the Silesia at the time. It was part of Lusatian region. Moreover, when under Lusatian control, it should be named "Görlitz" as I see no reason for it to have a Polish name. It was not Polish city at the time. It should be either part of Lusatian vassal state of Bohemia, or direct part of Bohemian crown.

Map after my changes:



The outcome would look like that:




5. Small addition: - Rawicz was not a Silesian city. It belonged to Greater Poland (Wielkopolska). Rawicz isn't even on the territory of the province of Rawicz. I believe that this city should be replaced with either Ścinawa (small town today, but was important in the middle ages) or Wołów (Not much important in the middle ages, but the largest city in this region today, twice as large as the Ścinawa).

[Redguy325 222]

Important note* What is duchy of Silesia/Wroclaw here was at the time actually direct realm of Bohemian King, but I believe it was not considered part of Bohemia, rather still part of Silesia. And as part of Silesia, proper starosts were appointed to rule that land. It was kept in vassal-like scheme. Still I believe territories that weren't Silesia shouldn't be controlled by this entity. Klodzko was at the time part of Bohemia proper, Gorlitz was in the similar state but it was Lusatia, not Silesia.

@Łukasz Jakowski Do you consider at this point any changes on map in any scenario?