Frýdek-Místek is a statutory city in the Moravian-Silesian Region, formed by the merger of two formerly separate towns on the Ostravice river. Frýdek and Místek were merged in 1943, and both developed from the 13th century.
Frýdek-Místek is a statutory city in the Moravian-Silesian Region. It arose from two towns, Frýdek and Místek, lying on both banks of the Ostravice river in the Pobeskydí area.[1]
Middle Ages
The oldest written sources attest settlements in Pobeskydí around the middle of the 13th century. The village of Friedeberg, later Místek, is mentioned in 1267 as a market village with forty lans of land. It is recorded in a will drawn up by Bruno von Schauenburg, Bishop of Olomouc.[1] An agreement of 1256 was concluded by Ottokar II of Bohemia and Duke Władysław of Opole. It determined that the border of Moravia with the Duchy of Opole would run along the Ostravice. Until 1 December 1928 the river served as the provincial border separating Moravia from Silesia.[1]
In the domestic wars at the end of the 14th century Friedeberg was destroyed and a small town called Newenstetil, that is Nové Městko or Místko, came into being. In 1402 Místek, together with the whole estate, was attached to the Těšín region.[1] The exact founding of Frýdek is not known. It apparently replaced the older village of Jamnice in the years 1327 to 1335.[1]
The estate in the early modern period
In the 16th century there were disputes over the joint estate of Frýdek and Místek, since the part with Místek might be detached from Moravia and assigned to the Těšín region. The matter was settled in 1581. Bishop Stanislav Pavlovský then purchased the Místek lands and also the Frýdek lands, which until then had belonged to Jiří of Lohov. Three years later he sold the Frýdek estate to Bartoloměj Bruntálský of Vrbno, while the Místek lands he joined to the Hukvaldy estate, of which they remained a part until 1850.[1]
In 1580 the estate comprised twenty-two villages and 681 holdings. The two towns had 267 holdings, of which Frýdek had 163. Frýdek served as the seat of the estate owner, it held the right of toll and the mile right, and cloth-making predominated among the crafts. Místek had a rather agricultural character. Both towns benefited from the trade in salt and cattle, timber processing and pond farming. They did not escape fires, plague epidemics or the hardships of war.[1]
Anti-feudal resistance against the Pražma family is associated with the figure of Ondráš, son of the reeve of Janovice, who in 1715 died at the hands of his companions in an inn in Sviadnov and became a legend of the region. After the Pražmas, the Habsburgs owned the Frýdek lands until the republic came into being.[1]
The year 1939 and the merger of the towns
The German army began occupying the Ostrava region on 14 March 1939. Members of the Wehrmacht and the field gendarmerie arrived at Místek to take over the administration of the town. They stopped in front of the gate of the former Czajanka textile factory, which housed the barracks of the 3rd battalion of the 8th infantry regiment, and a guard roused the soldiers. The acting commander, Captain Pavlík, ordered defence. According to the municipal history, it was an armed resistance without parallel in the then Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.[1]
Frýdek and Místek were separate towns until 1 January 1943, when Nazi administration officials merged them into a single unit bearing the name Frýdek. When liberation came in 1945, there were discussions about the name of the city.[1]
Pages linking here
- Award for the revitalisation of the Těšínské divadlo in the Moravian-Silesian Region construction competition
- Czech Republic men's national ice hockey team
- Moravian-Silesian Region