SCHWEIDNITZ, a manufacturing and trading town of Lower Silesia in Prussia, is picturesquely situated on the left bank of the Weistritz, 28 miles south-west of Breslau. Well built, with wide streets, the town contains several old churches (one of which has a tower 338 feet high) and an ancient town-house with a tower 130 feet high. The surrounding country is fertile and highly cultivated, and the large quantities of flax and hemp there raised encourage an active weaving industry in the town. Beetroot for sugar, grain, and fruit are also grown. The manufacture of furniture, leather gloves, machinery and tools, carriages, nuts and screws, needles, and other hardware goods is carried on. The beer of Schweidnitz has long been famous under the name of “Schwarze Schöps,” and in the 16th century it was exported as far as Italy. Schweidnitz is the chief grain market of the district. The population in 1885 was 23,775 (an increase of 6 per cent. since 1880); in 1816 it was 10,046.

Schweidnitz, dating from about the 11th century, received town rights in 1250. About 1278 it became the capital of a principality, with an area of 935 square miles, which belonged to Bohemia from 1353 till 1741, when it passed into the possession of Prussia. The “Pölerei of Schweidnitz” is the name given to the riotous revolt of the town, in 1520-22, against a royal edict depriving it of the right of coining its own money. The town was four times besieged and taken in the Seven Years’ War; and in 1807 it was captured by the French, who demolished the fortifications. In 1816 new works were raised, but in 1864 they were converted into a public park.