...Leszno.

A settlement first mentioned in historical documents in 1393, Leszno was at that time the property of Stefan z Karnina of Clan Wieniawa.

The family adopted the surname of Leszczyński from the name of their estate according to the medieval custom of the Polish nobility.

Earlier in the century, a community of Unity of the Brethren refugees from Bohemia had settled in Leszno on the invitation of the Leszczyński family, who have since 1473 been imperial counts and have converted to Calvinism.

The arrival of the Bohemian Protestants as well as weavers from nearby Silesia has helped the settlement to grow and made it possible to become a town in 1547 under a privilege granted by Poland’s King Sigismund I the Old.