Archeological research shows the first people lived in the area in the later stone age (500-3500 BC). Slavs came in the 7th century AD. The first written record about Chrudim comes from 1055 AD and makes it officially one of the oldest settlements in eastern Bohemia. In the 13th century Chrudim was established and fortified as a town by the king Přemysl Otakar II.