Stężyca Land

Stężyca Land (Polish: ziemia stężycka) was an administrative unit (ziemia) of both the Kingdom of Poland and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. It had its seat in the town of Stężyca after which it was named.

It was the composed of only one county (powiat, known as the Stężyca County); as such the terms ziemia (land) and county (powiat) in this case are mostly interchangeable.

The Land (County) of Stezyca was created in 1568. In the south and east, it bordered Lublin Voivodeship, in the north Mazovia’s Czersk Land, and in the west its border went along the Vistula river. Stezyca was the seat of the starosta and of the land court.

Stężyca County was the only county of Sandomierz Voivodeship, located east of the Vistula river, in the northeastern corner of the voivodeship. In the 17th century, the area of Stezyca County was 1780 sq. kilometres, with nine towns: Stezyca, Zelechow, Laskarzew, Bobrowniki, Okrzeja, Adamow, Jeziorzany, Wojcieszkow and Maciejowice.

The county existed until 1793, when its territory was merged into Lublin Voivodeship.

In contemporary Poland, the territory of former Stezyca County covers all of Ryki County, the southern part of Garwolin County, and the southwestern corner of Lukow County. Its biggest urban center is Deblin, which was granted town rights in 1954.

Sources

• History of Stezyca Land