Rychvald


is a town in the Karviná District, Moravian-Silesian Region, Czech Republic, in the historical region of Cieszyn Silesia. It has a population of about 7,500.

History

The village was first mentioned in a Latin document of Diocese of Wrocław called Liber fundationis episcopatus Vratislaviensis from around 1305 as item in Richinwalde XL) mansi. It meant that the village was supposed to pay tithe from 40 greater lans. The walde ending of its name indicates that the primordial settlers were of German origins. The village could have been founded by Benedictine monks from an Orlová abbey and also it could a part of a larger settlement campaign taking place in the late 13th century on the territory of what will be later known as Upper Silesia.
Politically the village belonged initially to the Duchy of Teschen, formed in 1290 in the process of feudal fragmentation of Poland and was ruled by a local branch of Piast dynasty. In 1327 the duchy became a fee of Kingdom of Bohemia, which after 1526 became part of the Habsburg Monarchy.
The village became a seat of a Catholic parish, mentioned in the register of Peter's Pence payment from 1447 among 50 parishes of Teschen deaconry as Reychenwald. It is now served by the Saint Anne Church.
After World War I, fall of Austria-Hungary, Polish–Czechoslovak War and the division of Cieszyn Silesia in 1920, it became a part of Czechoslovakia. Following the Munich Agreement, in October 1938 together with the Zaolzie region it was annexed by Poland, administratively organised in Frysztat County of Silesian Voivodeship. It was then annexed by Nazi Germany at the beginning of World War II. After the war it was restored to Czechoslovakia.

Notable people