Stronghold organization vs. stronghold-castellan organization : the example of Silesia

Hradská a hradsko-kastelánská soustavana na příkladu Slezska

In the paper, an attempt was made to compare the structures of territorial governance existing in the second Piast monarchy (ca. 1040–1077) with the structures created at the turn of the 12th and 13th centuries in one of the several principalities of the dukes from the Piast dynasty, into which the monarchy was divided. The subject of this case study is Silesia, i.e. the first of the Piast dukedoms where local governance in form of castellanies was created. The institutions of governance existing in Silesia in the second Piast monarchy seem to be quite similar to the ones known from Polabia under the Ottonian and Salic Dynasties. Elements of those structures were certainly assimilated in the post-division dukedoms but placed in a new institutional order, inspired by the actual needs of the dynasts, who creatively adopted the institution of castellany (Burgrafschaft).