In Poland, the oldest depiction of bagpipes can be seen on a 14th-century Romanesque-Gothic polychrome from the Church of St. James in Mieronice near Jędzejów (Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship). The presence of bagpipes in Poland in the late Middle Ages is also confirmed by other iconographic sources from that time, as well as written accounts. In the Middle Ages and in modern times, as in other European countries, the instrument was known in various social circles: folk, church, military and royal court, both in rural and urban areas.
Throughout history, bagpipes were known in all the major regions of Poland: Greater Poland, Lesser Poland, Silesia, Mazovia and Pomerania. Tax censuses covering musicians, conducted in Poland since the last quarter of the 16th century, showed by far the most numerous bagpipe practitioners. Regionally, they were then predominant in Lesser Poland, and it is only contemporarily that the primacy in this respect falls to Greater Poland. In the second half of the 17th century, the practice of bagpiping in Poland began to be severely restricted. The disasters of the time (Cossack uprisings, the plague in 1652-1653, the Swedish invasion) contributed to this. This is because they caused a significant reduction in the population and its impoverishment, even the economic ruin of the cities. The bagpipers, faced with a drastic decline in earning capacity, emigrated to Western European countries, mainly German-speaking ones, where they found employment at manors and in cities. Meanwhile, in Poland, in the unwritten stream of musical tradition, the place of the bagpipes was taken by the violin, which has since been present in all regions of Poland.
Bagpipes have survived to the present day only in Greater Poland, the Beskid regions and Podhale. Nevertheless, there are 15 types and varieties of these instruments, which include traditional instruments, and a small number modified in modern times. These include one-voiced, two-voiced and four-voiced bagpipes, all with single reeds in both pipes. Three-voiced bagpipes, visible on historical iconographic representations, used at royal courts, in the military and in cities, have not survived to our time. Over time, regional types of these instruments, their construction and musical characteristics (tuning, scale) have stabilized.