Dobrzyca

Dobrzyca
Town
The museum, palace and park complex
Dobrzyca
Coordinates: 51°51′54″N 17°36′7″E / 51.86500°N 17.60194°E / 51.86500; 17.60194
Country	Poland
Voivodeship	Greater Poland
County	Pleszew
Gmina	Dobrzyca
Elevation	132 m (433 ft)
Population	3,250
Website	www.ugdobrzyca.pl

Dobrzyca [dɔˈbʐɨt͡sa] is town in Pleszew County, Greater Poland Voivodeship, in west-central Poland. It is the seat of the gmina (administrative district) called Gmina Dobrzyca. It lies approximately 13 kilometres (8 mi) west of Pleszew, 15 kilometres (9 mi) northeast of Jarocin, 25 kilometres (16 mi) from Krotoszyn, and 76 km (47 mi) south-east of the regional capital Poznań. The town has a population of 3,250.

The first written mention of Dobrzyca dates to 1327, when the noble Mikołaj Dobrzycki took possession of the city. In 1440, King Władysław III of Warna granted town privileges to the community. Dobrzyca lost this status only in 1934. Is again a town from 1 January 2014.

The small city had, in the 18th century, no more than 1,000 inhabitants. In the 17th century, Dobrzyca was destroyed by Swedish troops. In 1655, Hetman Jerzy Sebastian Lubomirski led an aristocratic rebellion against King Johann II, using Dobrzyca as a staging area. The rebels had a victory over the royal troops at , but later they withdrew to the Polish hinterland.

In 1717, wealthy landed aristocrat Alexander Gorzeński acquired the city. His grandchild was General Augustyn Gorzeński, aide to King Stanislaus II August Poniatowski, Sejm (Polish parliament) delegate and participant in the development of the Constitution of May 3, 1791, which provided stimulation to the urban economy in 1772.

Due to political changes in Poland, Dobrzyca came under Prussian rule in 1793. Over the next century, there were several rulers and in 1890, the bibliophile Count Zygmunt Czarnecki took over. The city remained the family estate of the Czarnecki family until 1939. The counts connected the city to the railway, increased agriculture and created an agricultural bank. The return to the newly re-formed country of Poland in 1918 brought the establishment of further cooperatives and associations. Stanisław Mikołajczyk, Sejm delegate and later prime minister of the Polish government-in-exile while it was headquartered in London, was baptised in the town.