The oldest text reflecting the multicultural and multilingual historic heritage of Silesia is the chronicle of the Cistercian monastery in Henryków, commonly known as The Book of Henryków (Liber fundationis claustri sanctae Mariae Virginis in Heinrichow). The main part of the book was written by two friars of German origin, who shared the name – Peter. The first of them worked on the book between 1269 and1273, the second did so around 1310. Currently the book is stored at the Archdiocesan Archive in Wrocław.

The Book of Henryków describes the beginnings of the monastery and the first several dozen years of its history, from 1227 to around 1310. It was written at the time of a great civilizational leap in Silesia, when the written word began to support, and gradually replace, oral transmission. They were initiated by the local Piast dukes, while the participants were newcomers from the South and the local population.

The authors of The Book of Henryków were eyewitnesses to the changes happening in the area. They described them on a micro-scale, giving a detailed account of the situation. Today, The Book of Henryków is a mine of historic information, with old Slavic names of people and locations. It is also an interesting literary work written in beautiful Latin. The book is characterized by rich narrative that is sprinkled with wonderful anecdotes.

The most popular of its stories refers to the origin of the name of the village of Brukalice, which is near Henryków. It comes from the alias of a Czech peasant, Boguchwał, also called Brukał. He would say to his wife, who was Polish: “Daj, ać ja pobruszę, a ty poczywaj” (Let me grind, and you rest). This is the oldest sentence written in Polish. The verb “bruszeć” meant – according to the first author of The Book of Henryków – to grind cereal with a handmill, which was normally done by women at that time. Boguchwał would substitute for his wife, so she could get some rest. It is a real mixture of languages used in the medieval Silesia – the German friar wrote in a Latin chronicle the oldest Polish sentence spoken to his Polish wife by a Czech peasant.

Thanks to that sentence, The Book of Henryków holds an important position in the history of the Polish language and literature created in the national language. In 2015, it was inscribed on the “Memory of the World” UNESCO Register.