Oppidum. The meaning of the term and the role of the urban centre in the structure of the settlement network of Silesia

This article attempts to clarify the meaning of term oppidum used in Silesian documents. Certain aspects urban structure that period have been illuminated by analysing different senses as applied 13th and 14th century chancellery writings. The research was conducted on example Silesia basis available archival sources. They shown underwent semantic changes over two centuries, which reflected a significant way transformations settlement network.