Brzeg is a town in southwestern Poland with 34,778 inhabitants and the capital of Brzeg County. It is situated in Silesia in the Opole Voivodeship on the left bank of the Oder river. The town of Brzeg was first mentioned as a trading and fishing settlement within fragmented Piast-ruled Poland in 1234. In 1248, Silesian Duke Henry III the White granted the settlement Magdeburg town rights and by the late 13th century the city became fortified.