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Battle of Tarczek

1241 in Europe1241 in the Mongol EmpireBattles during the first Mongol invasion of PolandConflicts in 1241

The Battle of Tarczek took place on 13 February 1241, during the first Mongol invasion of Poland. It ended in the defeat of the Polish armies of Lesser Poland. In March 1241, after a successful winter campaign, in which Mongol forces captured and ransacked Sandomierz, Asiatic hordes entered Poland in full force. Near Sandomierz, the Mongol forces were divided into two groups. The stronger one, probably with 15,000 warriors under Baidar and Orda Khan, headed westwards, defeating Poles in the Battle of Chmielnik. The second army, with 10,000 warriors under Kadan (according to Jan Długosz) headed northwards, to the Land of Łęczyca and Kujawy. On 19 March 1241 this army clashed with Polish knights near Tarczek. Most likely, the Polish forces which participated in the battle, were knights from Lesser Poland, survivors of the Battle of Chmielnik. They were defeated, and Tarczek itself was burned to the ground. After the battle, the Mongols ransacked central Poland for a few more days. On 1 April 1241 they appeared in Kraków, and on 8 April they reached Wrocław, where they joined the army of Baidar.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Battle of Tarczek (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors).

Battle of Tarczek
752, gmina Pawłów

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N 50.943056 ° E 21.003333 °
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752
gmina Pawłów
Holy Cross Voivodeship, Poland
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Tarczek
Tarczek

Tarczek [ˈtart͡ʂɛk] is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Pawłów, within Starachowice County, Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, in south-central Poland. It lies approximately 8 kilometres (5 mi) west of Pawłów, 13 km (8 mi) south of Starachowice, and 28 km (17 mi) east of the regional capital Kielce. Tarczek lies on the Psarka river, among the hills of Gory Swietokrzyskie, north of Lysogory. The village is divided into two parts: Lower Tarczek (Tarczek Dolny), and Upper Tarczek (Tarczek Gorny). It has the parish church of Saint Giles. The village is located along regional road 752, which goes from Starachowice to Kielce. In the Middle Ages, Tarczek belonged to the Bishops of Kraków, who had a manor house here, together with a church, erected in 1067 by Wladyslaw Herman, as a votum for the birth of his son Boleslaw Krzywousty. In 1227, Bishop Iwo Odrowaz, with permission of Prince of Sandomierz Leszek I the White allowed German settlers (see Ostsiedlung) to come and settle in the area of Tarczek. The village was granted Magdeburg rights in the year 1259, and was the seat of a castellan. It was a trade center of local importance, together with such towns, as Iłża and Wierzbica. In 1244, Tarczek was destroyed by Prince Konrad I of Masovia, and in 1268, it was burned in a Lithuanian raid. In the late 13th century, with permission of King Wenceslaus II of Bohemia, Tarczek was surrounded by a defensive wall. In the mid 14th century, Bishop of Kraków Jan Bodzanta founded the town of Bodzentyn, located five kilometers from Tarczek. The bishop moved the market place and the castellany to Bodzentyn, after which Tarczek lost its importance and in 1412 was stripped of town charter. In the 15th century, Jan Długosz wrote that Tarczek used to be an important town of the bishops (oppidum notabile). Until the Partitions of Poland, the village was part of Lesser Poland's Sandomierz Voivodeship, and in 1815–1915, it belonged to Russian-controlled Congress Poland. Main object of interest in the village is Romanesque church of Saint Giles from the first half of the 13th century, built in the location of the earlier church from 1067. It has one nave, and the church is made from limestone, with Romanesque walls, except for Western facade, which was rebuilt in the 16th century. In the southern wall of the presbytery there is a late Gothic portal. Gothic vault was rebuilt after World War II. Inside the church there are remains of a late Renaissance polychrome, a Gothic relief, a Renaissance triptych (1540), a Romanesque baptismal font, and a Baroque pulpit. The church was partly destroyed in the Swedish invasion of Poland. In the parish cemetery there are two 300-year-old tilias.