Biała, informally Biała Prudnicka (, ), is a small town in southern Poland, located in the southern part of Opole Voivodeship in Prudnik County near the border with the Czech Republic. It is the administrative seat of Gmina Biała. As of December 2021, it has a population of 2,336.
The town was founded in the 13th century, making it one of the oldest in the country, and was historically part of the Polish Duchy of Opole and the Austrian Habsburg Empire. Over the centuries, Biała was located within Poland, Austria, Prussia, Germany, and eventually again Poland. A significant German minority resides in the vicinity. The town also possesses numerous architectural monuments and historic buildings.
Etymology
The name "Biała" was created after Polish word biały (white).
Geography
Biała is located in the historic Silesia (Upper Silesia) region at the confluence of the Biała river. The city is situated on the Biała Uplands (; a part of the Silesian Lowlands).
History
Middle Ages
The region became part of the emerging Polish state under its first historic ruler Mieszko I of Poland in 990. A Polish stronghold existed in present-day Biała, and in the 12th-13th century it was already a seat of local castellans. Biała was located on a trade route connecting Kraków and Nysa, and various crafts developed. As a result of the fragmentation of Poland, it was part of the duchies of Silesia, Opole, Niemodlin and Oleśnica, and remained ruled by local Polish dukes of the Piast dynasty until 1532, although in 1327 it fell under the suzerainty of Bohemia. In the southwestern corner of their domain, the dukes of Opole built a castle, named Biała (in medieval documents mentioned under the Latinized name Bela), on the Biała river. This castle was the seat of power of a local mayor of the palace. Around the foot of the castle, a village, settled by new colonists, including Germans, the seat of its local parish, served as a setting-off point for further settlement in the region, which was densely forested and bordered Moravia. The village was first mentioned historically in 1225.
In 1270 Biała, was a county seat, and it was granted town rights in 1311, later modeled on Środa Śląska and Wrocław. Around the year 1270, a new settlement, named Zolez and later Zülz, was founded between castle and the small surrounding village. Its construction was highly traditional. The town was walled after its completion, with two gates being constructed to allow access. A marketplace was built in the center of the town as well. Around this time, several surrounding municipalities changed their names. Biała, named for the castle, became the Old Town, while the new settlement, 4 km (2 mi) to the east, was already named Zülz, by the colonists, and was renamed Alt Zülz (English: Old Zülz). The church at Alt Zülz, which had been the main church in the area, was made a satellite church of a new, larger city church, built in 1400 by local Polish dukes. Zülz became the seat of a vogt in 1311. In 1428 it was plundered by the Hussites. In 1502 and 1503 Duke Jan II the Good granted various new privileges to the town.
In 1335, the town became a Presbyterium, a local seat of power of the Roman Catholic Church. However, this was not permanent. After the death of the last duke of Opole, Jan II the Good in 1532, the town was incorporated to the Habsburg-ruled Kingdom of Bohemia and the Habsburgs soon mortgaged the town's ecclesiastical position to pay off debts. Also by the end of the 14th century, the city had acquired a large Jewish population. Over the next 200 years, the town passed into the possession of various groups, including the barons of Prószków. This was significant, as under the rule of the barons, Zülz was only one of two Silesian cities, the other being Głogów, which did not expel their Jewish populations. Under a 1601 petition of the barons, Bohemian King Rudolf II extended special protective privileges to the Jewish population of Zülz. In 1645 along with Opole and Racibórz it returned to Poland under the House of Vasa, and in 1666 it fell to Bohemia again. Despite being outside of Polish rule after 1666, in the late 17th century church services in Polish were still held in Biała and surrounding villages.