The text mentions the district town of Podolia Governorate, Latyczów. The turbulent history of the town is briefly recalled, including the repeated destruction of the urban space - in 1466, Teodor Buchacki, castellan and starosta of Kamenets, ordered Piotr from Kiełczyniec to rebuild the town. Latyczów was also granted the Magdeburg Law by Sigismund I in 1537. In the 17th century, Stanisław Rewera Potocki stayed in Latyczów and was to found a church, while Mikołaj Potocki brought the Dominicans to Latyczów (Source: Tygodnik Illustrowany, Warsaw 1872, Series 2, T:10, p. 112-113, after: Digital Library of the University of Łódź).

A modernised reading of the text.

Latyczów

Today's district town of Podolia province, on the estuary of the Vlga River into the Boh river, used to have a fairly strong defensive castle, but was still ravaged by the Tatars, lying on the route through which their hordes entered the country. Nowadays, all that is left of the castle is the tower, which is shown in the attached woodcut, and a bit of a dilapidated wall, while some of the castle buildings were converted into a monastery and a church in the 17th century, where the miraculous painting of the Virgin Mary still draws crowds of devotees from near and far. Perhaps no other town in Podolia was so often destroyed and burnt down as Latyczów; Tartar incursions affected this settlement more than anywhere else, which was sometimes so completely destroyed that it had to be founded anew. The town lost its original location privileges as a result of these enemy invasions, so we cannot strictly determine the founding period of Latyczów; however, in the middle of the 15th century, it was so destroyed that in 1466 Teodor Buczacki, castellan and starosta of Kamieniec, when granting the Latyczów aldermanship to Piotr from Kielczyniec, ordered him to settle it anew ("Ancient Poland" II, 098). Burnt down again, this town was granted the Magdeburg law by Sigismund I in 1537 and a privilege for several fairs. At that time, the magistrate of Latycz consisted of two councillors, one landowner, two mayors, two jurors and two jurors, elected annually. However, Latyczów did not enjoy prosperity for long. Destroyed again by the Tartars, it received from Sigismund Augustus in 1549 exemption from paying taxes for ten years and confirmation of its former freedoms and privileges. Also, extensive land and furs called Zgar were granted to the town ("Archiw. Pól. Zach. Ross." Cz. 5, T. 1, p. 31). At that time, the town's estates stretched immeasurably far, and local records mention three suburbs that later became separate villages, as these: Zavoloch, formerly being the old town of Latyczow, as the 1569 lustration testifies, Zalatyczóteka and Zamura. However, as soon as the town started to recover, it was burnt down again by the Tatars in 1557. During the reign of King Stefan, in 1581, the town of Latyczów was established, but in such a way that the starost of Kamieniec exercised his jurisdiction in both of these towns ("Vol. Leg." II, 1016). A little later, Governor Jan Potocki, starosta of Kamieniec, erected a defensive castle here at his own expense, on the site of one demolished by the Tatars. In 1598 and 1601 a commission was appointed from the Sejm to revise the new castle, and in 1607 the Sejm constitution granted Potocki the sum of 12,000 zlotys for the costs he had incurred. Despite this, however, the town was not free from new ravages: a lustration of 1665 states: "The starosty with the town is now all desolate and decayed, and this is because it is left on the very trail which every enemy walks along, etc." ("Ancient Poland" II, 999). At the beginning of the 17th century, Latyczów was for some time the residence of Stanisław Bewery Potocki, who was supposed to have founded the local church; it seems, however, that he only renovated or rebuilt the old one, destroyed by the Tartars, because in the church documents we found a note under 1545 that the parson of the Latyczów church at that time was already a certain Wilczek, who complained about the taking of the village of Kudynówka, long belonging to the Latyczów church. Not long afterwards, Mikolaj Potocki, Great Hetman of the Crown, starosta of Latyczów, brought the Dominicans here, providing them with substantial funds from the starosty's income, for which he obtained the confirmation of Wladyslaw IV in 1638. The original royal privilege, written on parchment, is still stored in the church archives. The Dominican monastery in Latyczów, in which there were always twenty monks, became one of the richest in Podolia, with a huge library, many precious objects and a miraculous image of the Virgin Mary, which, as Okolski testifies, was more famous for its miracles than that of Barska. This monastery, converted from one part of the castle, was also a fortress-like defensive structure, as it was surrounded by a huge wall with loopholes, part of which still exists. The Latych castle was kept in good condition until the 18th century. The inspection of 1705 describes it as follows: "The castle with moats in the walls filled with stone and earth and surrounded by a double palisade from the town, while on the other side there is only one row of palisades; the entrance over the moat by a bridge, behind it a gate made of oak sticks, and next to it a courtyard for soldiers and prisoners..." ("Ancient Poland" II, 1000). This castle, as the traces of the walls still visible show, must have been very extensive, today only one tower remains and is located inside the church courtyard. Latyczów was always a royal estate, and as a starosty it passed from hand to hand, but it remained in the possession of the Potockis for the longest time. In 1792, the starosty of Latyczów, consisting of the town of Latyczów and thirteen villages, was granted to A. Markov, chancellor of the Potocki family. Markov, chancellor of the state, then returned to government ownership again. Today it has a population of about 6,000.