Pieńsk, Lower Silesia

Pieńsk () is a town in Zgorzelec County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in south-western Poland. It is the seat of the administrative district (gmina) called Gmina Pieńsk, and stands on the east bank of the Lusatian Neisse river, which forms the border between Poland and Germany. , it has a population of 5,828. Historically considered as part of Upper Lusatia, although more closely associated with Lower Silesia in the early 14th century and from 1815.

==History== thumb|left|Saint Francis of Assisi church In the Early Middle Ages, Pieńsk was a stronghold of the Bieżuńczanie tribe, one of the Polish tribes. The oldest known mention of the settlement dates back to 965. Its name is of Slavic origin, and comes from the word pień, which means "trunk". It was included in the early Polish state by first Polish King Bolesław I the Brave and in the 11th century it passed to the Duchy of Bohemia, which was elevated to a kingdom in 1198. The Upper Lusatian lords of Penzig (von Penzig) are first recorded in 1241. Besides Pieńsk the family held a number of other towns and territories on both banks of the Lusatian Neisse river. In 1250 a castle was built. In 1321 local Polish Duke Henry I of Jawor confirmed the rights of the Penzig family to the settlement.