Free City of Cracow
The Free, Independent, and Strictly Neutral City of Cracow with its Territory, more commonly known as the Free City of Cracow, and the Republic of Cracow, was a city republic created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815, which included the Polish city of Cracow and its surrounding areas.
Free, Independent, and Strictly Neutral City of Cracow with its Territory Wolne, Niepodległe i Ściśle Neutralne Miasto Kraków i jego Okręg (Polish) | |||||||||||
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| 1815–1846 | |||||||||||
Flag
Coat of arms
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Location of the Free City of Cracow within Europe | |||||||||||
Territory of the Free City of Cracow (orange) and its three neighbours (Kingdom of Prussia, Austrian Empire and Russian Empire) | |||||||||||
| Status | Protectorate of Austria, Prussia, and Russia | ||||||||||
| Capital | Cracow | ||||||||||
| Common languages | Polish (official), Yiddish, German | ||||||||||
| Religion | Roman Catholic, Judaism | ||||||||||
| Government | Constitutional republic | ||||||||||
| President of the Senate | |||||||||||
• 1815–1831 | Stanisław Wodzicki | ||||||||||
| Legislature | Assembly of Representatives (Kraków) | ||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||
| 3 May 1815 | |||||||||||
• November Uprising | 29 November 1830 | ||||||||||
| 16 November 1846 | |||||||||||
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| Today part of | Poland | ||||||||||
It was jointly controlled by its three neighbours (Russia, Prussia, and Austria), and was a centre of agitation for an independent Poland. In 1846, in the aftermath of the unsuccessful Kraków Uprising, the Free City of Cracow was annexed by the Austrian Empire. It was a remnant of the Duchy of Warsaw, which was partitioned among the three states after the Congress in 1815.
The Free City of Cracow was an overwhelmingly Polish-speaking city-state; of its population 85% were Catholics, 14% were Jews, while other religions comprised less than 1%. The city of Cracow itself had a Jewish population reaching nearly 40%, while the rest were almost exclusively Polish-speaking Catholics.