It was formed in 1274 from the western part of the Duchy of Głogów and existed under Piast rule until 1304, then again from 1322 to 1394 and from 1413 to 1472. Since 1329 it was under the suzerainty of Bohemia; it was acquired by the Saxon House of Wettin in 1472, before it was finally seized by the Bohemian king in 1549.
The Żagań ducal title later passed to Bohemian and French nobility, in 1742 it was annexed by Prussia. Re-established as a fief of the Prussian throne in 1844, it formally existed until its official termination in 1935.
History
Piast rule
Żagań Palace
After the death of Duke Konrad I of Głogów, his heirs divided his duchy. The castle at Żagań became the residence of his youngest son Przemko, the first Duke of Żagań from 1278, who established a monastery of AugustinianCanons there. In 1284 he swapped his estates for the Duchy of Ścinawa and was succeeded by his elder brother Konrad II the Hunchback. When Konrad II died in 1304 all former Głogów estates were re-unified under his surviving brother Henry III.
In 1309 Henry III of Głogów was followed by his eldest son Henry IV the Faithful, who in 1321 divided the duchy again between him and his younger brothers. He ceded Głogów to Przemko II and retired to Żagań, which again became the capital of a duchy in its own right. From 1322 to c. 1324–1325, Henry IV additionally controlled the eastern part of Lubusz Land with the towns of Torzym and Sulęcin, and the Międzyrzecz castellany in north-western Greater Poland.[2] In 1329 all sons of Henry III of Głogów became vassals of King John of Bohemia - with the exception of Przemko II who died suddenly two years later. In 1353, the towns of Nowe Miasteczko and Polkowice passed to the Duchy of Żagań from the Duchy of Ścinawa.[3] When in 1393 Henry VI the Elder, grandson of Henry IV died without issue, the estates were again re-unified with Głogów until in 1412 Jan I, the eldest son of Duke Henry VIII the Sparrow became the sole ruler of the Żagań duchy. After a fierce battle for the inheritance, in 1472 his son Jan II the Mad finally sold it to the Saxon duke Albert III the Bold with the consent of the Bohemian king Matthias Corvinus, thus ending the centuries-long Piast rule.
The Duchy had a vote on the Silesian County Council, and the holder in the rank of a Duke was a member of the Prussian House of Lords. In 1900 the duchy had an area of 1,211 km2 (468 sq mi) and 65,000 inhabitants. After 1815 it was incorporated into the Prussian Province of Silesia, and was part of Landkreis Sprottau from 1932. With the implementation of the Oder-Neisse line in 1945 the Żagań territory became again part of Poland, with the exception of the strip of land on the western bank of the Neisse river, which became part of East Germany; today this territory belongs to the German municipality of Krauschwitz.
The noble title of a Duc de Sagan is maintained by the House of Pourtalès descendants of Hélie de Talleyrand-Périgord at the Palace of Marais, Le Val-Saint-Germain, France
^Skorowidz gmin Śląska Dolnego i Opolskiego z niemieckimi i polskimi nazwami miejscowości według stanu z dnia 1 stycznia 1941 (in Polish). Katowice: Instytut Śląski. 1945. p. 38.
^Rymar, Edward (1979). "Rywalizacja o ziemię lubuską i kasztelanię międzyrzecką w latach 1319–1326, ze szczególnym uwzględnieniem stosunków pomorsko-śląskch". Śląski Kwartalnik Historyczny Sobótka (in Polish). XXXIV (4). Wrocław: Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich, Wydawnictwo Polskiej Akademii Nauk: 489.
^Orzechowski, Kazimierz; Przybytek, Dariusz; Ptak, Marian (2008). Dolny Śląsk. Podziały terytorialne od X do XX wieku (in Polish). Wrocław. p. 48. ISBN978-83-923255-5-0.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
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