Kcynia

Kcynia is a town in Nakło County, Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, in north-central Poland, with 4,702 inhabitants (2010). It is located in the Pałuki ethnographic region in the northern part of historic Greater Poland.

==History== thumb|left|Baroque in Poland|Baroque Church of the Assumption of Mary seen from the Rynek (Market Square) Kcynia started in the Middle Ages, with the rule of the founding Piast dynasty in Poland. In the 11th century, Polish ruler Władysław Herman built a church of St. Giles at the site. In 1255 Kcynia was owned by Duke of Greater Poland Przemysł I. His brother, Duke Bolesław the Pious, in 1262 granted Kcynia town rights along with privileges similar to those enjoyed by Poznań and Gniezno. Kcynia was a royal town of the Polish Crown and a county seat in the Kalisz Voivodeship in the Greater Poland Province. The coat of arms of Kcynia depicts the white eagle of Greater Poland. Kcynia suffered a fire in 1441. The town had defensive walls and a castle, which was the seat of local starosts (local royal administrators). In 1594 Polish King Sigismund III Vasa visited the town, while returning from Sweden. From 1768 Kcynia was part of the newly established Gniezno Voivodeship in the Greater Poland Province.