The area once belonged to the Lordship of Zawidów (Seidenberg) in Upper Lusatia, held by the Bishops of Meissen. The town was first mentioned in 1278, when the Bieberstein noble family was enfeoffed with Friedland-Seidenberg by King Ottokar II of Bohemia and took their residence at Frýdlant Castle. Upon the extinction of the line in 1551, the lordship fell to the House of Redern.
Meanwhile the Kingdom of Bohemia had become a part of the Habsburg Monarchy. Christoph von Redern opposed Emperor Ferdinand II during the Counter-Reformation and after the Defenestration of Prague was among the uprising Bohemian Protestant estates, who were defeated at the 1620 Battle of White Mountain. Redern saved his life, but his lands were seized by the Emperor and given in reward to his General Albrecht von Wallenstein, who titled himself "Duke of Friedland" and took his residence at Jičín. The nominal sovereignty of Friedland-Seidenberg was also revoked at this time.
In 1875, a railway line Liberec - Frýdlant - Zawidów was put into operation. Lines to Mirsk (Friedberg) and the Frýdlant–Heřmanice Railway to Zittau followed soon. The new town hall was erected in 1893 according to plans by the Viennese architect Franz Neumann
