Rawa has a long and rich history. First mentioned in 1288, it received city rights in 1321. It used to be one of the most important cities of both the Kingdom of Poland and Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, a Polish royal city and a capital of Rawa Voivodeship, a unit of administrative division which existed from 1462 until 1793 within the larger Greater Poland Province of the Polish Crown. The starosta of Rawa was among most important personalities of early Poland, as he controlled the so-called “Rawa Treasury” - a large sum of tax money, kept at Rawa Castle for financing regular army units.