Duchy of Zator
# Duchy of Zator

The Duchy of Zator was one of many Duchies of Silesia.

It was split off the Duchy of Oświęcim, when after eleven years of joint rule the sons of Duke Casimir I in 1445 finally divided the lands among themselves, whereby his eldest son Wenceslaus received the territory around the town of Zator. The fragmentation of the duchy continued after Wenceslaus' death in 1468, when in 1474 his sons Casimir II and Wenceslaus II as well as Jan V and Władysław again divided the Zator territory in two along the Skawa river.

After the death of Casimir II in 1490 however both parts of the duchy were reunited, and in 1494 Jan V as the last surviving brother became its sole ruler. As Jan himself had no heirs, he decided in the same year to sell the duchy to King John I Albert of Poland, under a guarantee that he would remain duke until his death. Jan was killed in 1513 and Zator was united with Poland. At the General sejm of 1564, King Sigismund II Augustus issued privileges of incorporation recognizing both Duchies of Oświęcim and Zator as part of the Polish Crown into the Silesian County of the Kraków Voivodeship, although the Polish kings retained both ducal titles and the name of the Duchy survived in the legal acts (it had however no special privileges).

The lands of the former Duchy became part of the Habsburg monarchy after the First Partition of Poland in 1772. Though part of Austrian Galicia, Zator and Oświęcim from 1818 to 1866 belonged the German Confederation. Until 1918, the Emperor of Austria also called himself Duke of Zator as a part of his grand title.

When the Second Polish Republic was established in 1918, even the ducal title ceased to exist.

## Dukes of Zator

The Dukes of Zator belonged to the Silesian branch of the Piast dynasty (see also Dukes of Silesia).

* 1434–1468 Wenceslaus I
* 1468–1490 Casimir II, from 1474 coregent with his brother
   * 1468–1487 Wenceslaus II
* 1468–1494 Jan V, from 1474 coregent with his brother
   * 1468–1482 Władysław, retired to Wadowice
   * 1493–1503 Agnes, daughter, "Duchess of Wadowice"

Semi-officially from 1494 and officially from 1513 the duchy was part of the Kingdom of Poland.

### Rulers claiming the title of Duke during Austrian partition of Poland

| Emperor | Acceded | Deceded |
| - | - | - |
| Joseph II | 1772 | 20 February 1790 |
| Leopold II | 20 February 1790 | 1 March 1792 |
| Francis I | 1 March 1792 | 2 March 1835 |
| Ferdinand I | 2 March 1835 | 2 December 1848 |
| Francis Joseph I | 2 December 1848 | 21 November 1916 |
| Charles I | 21 November 1916 | 11 November 1918 |

vteTimeline of the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria :

Area

Zamość (Zamosch)

Lublin New Galicia

Kraków

Nowy Sącz (Neu Sandez)

Lviv (Lemberg/Lwów)

Ternopil (Tarnopol)

Chernivtsi (Czernowitz)

before 1769

               Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth

Moldavia

1769–1772

to Austria, ca. 1769

1772–1775

First Partition of Poland, 1772

First Partition of Poland, 1772

1775–1789

Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria including the duchies of Auschwitz and Zator; part of the Habsburg Empire, 1772–1804; of the Austrian Empire, 1804–1867; of Cisleithania, Austria-Hungary, 1867–1918

Bukovina Military District, 1775–1789

1789–1795

Bukovina District, 1789–1849

1795–1803

Third Partition of Poland, 1795 New Galicia (or West Galicia)

1803–1809

New Galicia merged into Galicia, 1803

1809–1815

Duchy of Warsaw, 1809–1815

to Russia, 1809–1815

1815–1846

"Congress" Kingdom of Poland, 1815–1918

Free City of Cracow, 1815–1846

1846–1849

Grand Duchy of Kraków, 1846–1918

1849–1918

Duchy of Bukovina, 1849–1918

1918–1919

Poland, 1918

WUPR, Lemko, Komancza, 1918–1919

Romania, 1918

after 1919

Galicia

Other Austrian territories :

49°59′47″N 19°26′17″E﻿ / ﻿49.996389°N 19.438056°E﻿ / 49.996389; 19.438056

