sentences:  A locality was first mentioned in a 1564 deed, it received the name Biała in 1584, and belonged at that time to Kraków Voivodeship.Its population increased during the Counter-Reformation in the Habsburg lands, when many Protestant artisans from Bielsko (which did not belong to Poland) moved across the river.Though already named a town in the 17th century, Biała officially was granted city rights by the Polish king Augustus II the Strong in 1723.