Editing Włocławek (section)

===Middle Ages===
[[File:Castle of Włocławek.jpg|thumb|left|17th-century drawing of the medieval castle in Włocławek]]
{{Historical populations|1950|54536|1960|66820|1970|82599|1980|106771|1990|122144|2000|121833|2010|116914|2020|108561}}
The settlement was founded in the 9th century and its early inhabitants were occupied with agriculture and crafts.<ref name=atlas9>{{cite book|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->|title=Atlas historyczny miast polskich. Tom II: Kujawy. Zeszyt 4: Włocławek|year=2016|language=pl,en|location=Toruń|publisher=[[The Nicolaus Copernicus University Press|Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu Mikołaja Kopernika]]|pages=9, 40|isbn=978-83-231-3551-7}}</ref> In the 10th century it became part of the emerging Polish state under the [[Piast dynasty]].<ref name=atlas9/> Already under the rule of [[Bolesław I the Brave]] it was one of Poland's most important administrative centers, as mentioned in the ''[[Gesta principum Polonorum]]'' chronicle from the 1110s, which also happens to be the oldest known mention of the city.<ref name=atlas9/> The name is derived from the Old Polish male name Włodzisław, possibly the founder of Włocławek.<ref name=atlas10>{{cite book|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->|title=Atlas historyczny miast polskich. Tom II: Kujawy. Zeszyt 4: Włocławek|pages=10, 41}}</ref> In the mid-10th century, under [[Casimir I the Restorer]], Włocławek was the seat of a [[castellany]] and the administrative center of [[Kuyavia]].<ref name=atlas9/>

One of the earliest references to the town came from an assistant to the [[Archbishop of Gniezno]] who was noted as residing in the town in 1123. Later the [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Włocławek|Diocese of Włocławek]] ({{langx|la|Vladislaviensis}}) of [[Kuyavia]] in 1148, notates its existence in a [[papal bull|bull]] issued by [[Pope Eugene III]], while mentioning the first bishop of Włocławek as Warner. Warner was followed by an [[Italian people|Italian]], Onoldius; the diocese was recorded as "Włocławek and [[Pomerania]]" (''Vladislaviensis et Pomeraniae'').

In the 12th century, there was a mint and a customs chamber, where tolls were collected from ships and boats sailing on the Vistula and [[Zgłowiączka (river)|Zgłowiączka]] rivers.<ref name=atlas10/> A hospital was founded at the turn of the 12th and 13th centuries,<ref name=atlas10/> whereas the local school was first mentioned in 1215.<ref>{{cite book|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->|title=Atlas historyczny miast polskich. Tom II: Kujawy. Zeszyt 4: Włocławek|pages=19, 50–51}}</ref>

Włocławek received its [[town privileges|city rights]] in 1255. During the 14th and 15th centuries, the city was destroyed and captured several times by the [[Teutonic Knights]] and renamed it Leslau.{{Citation needed|date=September 2010}} The [[Second Peace of Thorn (1466)|Treaty of Thorn]], signed in 1411, resulted in short-lived peace for the city, however, it prospered from its involvement in the ransoming of the captured Teutonic Knights which was payable in three instalments and proved to be a hardship on the Prussian faction. Włocławek was located within the [[Brześć Kujawski Voivodeship]] of the [[Greater Poland Province, Crown of the Kingdom of Poland|Greater Poland Province]]. There is a possibility that [[Nicolaus Copernicus]], the later renowned astronomer, may have attended the local cathedral school in the late 15th century.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://szlakkopernikowski.pl/pl/wloclawek|title=Włocławek|website=Szlak Kopernikowski|access-date=11 December 2023|language=pl}}</ref>