Książki

Książki is a village in Wąbrzeźno County, Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, in north-central Poland. It is the seat of the gmina (administrative district) called Gmina Książki.

==History== In 1635, eight families from Silesia settled in Książki. However, a true beginning of the village is 24 June 1638 – the date when a charter according to the Olęder law (the Dutch law) was granted by Polish princess Anna Catherine Constance Vasa, daughter of Polish King Sigismund III Vasa, who served as the starost of Brodnica. She settled Olęder colonists there. The village became a part of the starostwo of Brodnica. Olęders were colonists from the area of the present day Netherlands, Denmark and Rhineland, who were settling in various parts of Poland since the half of the 16th century. They were reclaiming floodlands and boggy areas, as well as introducing new agricultural techniques. In the 17th and 18th century the name “Olędrzy” was associated with colonists in general, as well as with Poles with long-term lease who settled in the area of north-western Poland. Olęder planting of villages in Poland was a part of the great settlement movement in the area covering not only mentioned regions in Poland but also north coasts of present-day Germany and Denmark. Olęders, were settling willingly in the area of north-western Poland because they were granted there economic privileges: lease, rent, end of serfdom, Lutherans – freedom of worship, tithe exemption.