Impact of German Ostsiedlung
Town-like settlements already existed before the Ostsiedlung, as craftsmen and merchants formed suburbs of fortified strongholds (burg(h)s, castra). Usually, Slavic marketplaces were set at an open range with few or no permanently inhabited buildings and, after Christianization, a church. Market fields (ring, rynek) were in close proximity to fortified strongholds. This system was borrowed from 10th century East Francia and persisted in the Slavic regions until the Ostsiedlung. As the Silesian dukes initiated the German Ostsiedlung the border forests offered the chance to plan irrespective of older settlements. This approach was started by Henry I in the late 12th century, and soon other noble and clerical landlords competitively followed his example. The German settlers cleared the forests and thus destroyed the protective effect of the Preseka. To defend their now unprotected soil the Silesian dukes replaced the dissolving Preseka by a strip of villages, fortified towns and castles. The area became the center of the evolving society (Neustamm) of the German Silesians.
Read more about this topic: Silesian Przesieka
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