The area was included in the emerging Polish state around 990 by its first historic ruler Mieszko I of the Piast dynasty and after the 12th-century fragmentation of the realm it was part of the Polish duchies of Silesia and Brzeg. The settlement of "villa Grodcobichi" in the Duchy of Silesia was first mentioned in a 1210 deed. Its name is of Polish origin and comes from the word "gród", which means "stronghold" in Polish. The neighbouring settlement of Nowy Grodków ("Neu Grottkau") was laid out by German settlers in the course of the "Ostsiedlung", it was granted town rights modeled on Środa Śląska in 1268 by the Silesian duke Henryk IV Probus. Defensive walls were built in 1296. Also in the 13th century the Gothic St. Michael's Church, one of the most distinctive and valuable historic landmarks of Grodków, was built. The medieval city plan was characterized by a rectangular marketplace and four streets leading to the towers of the city gates and the nearby towns of Nysa, Ziębice, Wrocław and Lewin. In 1308 it was granted staple right. Upon the 1311 partition of the Silesian duchy, Grodków fell to the Duchy of Brzeg ruled by Duke Bolesław III the Generous, who became a Bohemian vassal in 1327. In 1344 he sold the town to Bishop Przecław of Wrocław, who attached it to his Silesian Duchy of Nysa. Later their suzerain, the Bohemian king Wenceslaus, granted the Wrocław bishops the title of a "Duke of Grodków", which they retained until the secularisation of the bishopric in 1810.