Casimir III the Great
Since the 14th century, Brześć was a royal city of the Polish Crown and capital of the Brześć Voivodeship, which, after the Union of Lublin (1569), was renamed Brześć Kujawski Voivodeship. King Casimir III the Great expanded the royal castle in Brześć in the 14th century. In 1496 Brześć was designated the location of the voivodeship's sejmik (provincial assembly). Various Polish Kings vested the town with multiple privileges in 1361, 1410, 1504, 1556, 1557, 1576, 1582, 1593, 1596, 1681, 1720, 1781, 1782, 1787 and 1793, and it was in Brześć that King Casimir III the Great granted the nearby major city of Bydgoszcz its city rights in 1346.