Duchy of Nysa

Duchy of Nysa
Księstwo Nyskie (pl) Herzogtum Neisse (de) Niské knížectví (cs)
Silesian duchy
1290–1850
Coat of arms
Map of Silesia by Martin Helwig, native of Nysa, published in 1645 in Atlas novus of Willem and Joan Blaeu. The Duchy of Nysa (here depicted as DVCATUS GROTKAVIENSIS) extends to Jeseník (Freiwaldau) in the south and Osoblaha (Hotzenplotz) in the east.
Capital		Nysa
Government		Principality
Historical era		Middle Ages Early modern period
•	Partitioned from     Wrocław	1290
•	Vassalized by     Bohemia	1342
•	Acquired Grodków	1344
•	Partitioned by Prussia     and Austria	1742
•	Incorporated by     Prussia	1810
•	Seized by Austria	1850
Preceded by Succeeded by Duchy of Silesia Silesia Province Austrian Silesia

Coat of arms

The Duchy of Nysa (Polish: Księstwo Nyskie, Czech: Niské knížectví) or Duchy of Neisse (German: Herzogtum Neisse) was one of the duchies of Silesia with its capital at Nysa in Lower Silesia. Alongside the Duchy of Siewierz, it was the only ecclesiastical duchy in the Silesian region, as it was ruled by a bishop of the Catholic Church. Nowadays its territory is divided between Poland and the Czech Republic.

Upon his appointment as Bishop of Wrocław in 1198, Jarosław of Opole, elder son of the Silesian duke Bolesław I the Tall, received the territories around the town of Nysa (German: Neisse) from his father. After Jarosław's death in 1201, his half-brother Duke Henry I the Bearded of Silesia decided to leave Nysa, as well as the castellany of Otmuchów, under the control of the Diocese of Wrocław, while the rest of the late Jarosław's Upper Silesian lands were annexed by his uncle Mieszko IV Tanglefoot in the following year. In 1290 Henry IV Probus, duke of Lower Silesia at Wrocław, gave the bishops privileges of autonomy on their lands in Nysa, creating the legal basis for the Duchy of Nysa. Henry of Wierzbna, Bishop of Wrocław from 1302 to 1319, was the first to actually use the title of a Duke of Nysa.