Anthropogenic climate change is intensifying the hydrological cycle and increasing extreme precipitation across much of Europe, yet understanding of pre-instrumental precipitation extremes in Central Europe remains limited by short instrumental records. This study presents the first comprehensive, documentary-evidence-based database of heavy and extreme precipitation events in Poland for the 12th–18th centuries. An assessment of a documentary-based database of heavy precipitation identified 477 such events. The extreme precipitation events were identified and classified into three types (long-lasting, heavy, or violent), based on reported impacts, duration, and affected regions. Results showed that the number of documented events increased over time, from a single event in the 12th century to 242 in the 18th century, with a peak of 182 events in the 1701–1750 sub-period. Silesia (37 %) and the Baltic Coast and Pomerania (28 %) were the most frequently affected regions, and summer accounted for the majority of all events. The duration of 273 events could be established, of which just over half lasted a single day. Notably, 316 impact assignments described damage never framed as a flood. These findings confirm that documentary sources capture fine-grained detail on the timing, duration, and consequences of past extreme-precipitation episodes, offering a valuable counterpart to multi-proxy reconstructions of longer-term hydroclimatic variability in Poland and Central Europe. This dataset offers a long-term baseline for evaluating present-day and projected changes in Central European precipitation extremes.