Christoph Wenzel von Nostitz-Rokitnitz

Christoph Wenzel von Nostitz-Rokitnitz (also Christoph Wenzel von Nostitz ; Czech Kryštof Václav z Nostic ; born September 14, 1648 in Rokitnitz , Königgrätzer Kreis ; † January 2, 1712 at Lobris Castle , hereditary principality Schweidnitz-Jauer ) was governor of the Silesian principalities of Wohlau , Glogau and Schweidnitz-Jauer as well as imperial privy councilor . As a bibliophile and art collector, he left a rich library and a valuable picture gallery at his Castle Lobris .

Life

Christoph Wenzel came from the noble family Nostitz . His parents were Otto von Nostitz-Rokitnitz (1608–1664) and Barbara Katharina Elisabeth von Wachtel and Panthenau. At the age of ten, his parents gave him to the Prague Clementinum for training. From 1660 he studied at the Charles University in Prague , where he took the disputation in 1665 . Then he went on a two-year cavalier tour . 1672/1673 Emperor named him Leopold I to the treasurer , and in 1675 he awarded him the Bohemian count title . In the same year he sent him as ambassador to the Polish Diet in Grodno . After the death of his uncle Johann Hartwig von Nostitz-Rieneck in 1683 , the emperor awarded him the county of Rieneck . In 1692 he was raised to the rank of imperial count . With his appointment as the imperial privy councilor , he was promoted to the Vienna imperial court.

Family and possessions

Christoph Wenzel married the Baroness Maria Juliane von Mettich in 1670, who died in 1706. In 1708 he married Maria Elisabeth von Schönau. Several offspring came from the first marriage. The second marriage was childless.

Christoph Wenzel inherited the town of Rokitnitz in the Eagle Mountains with some surrounding villages from his father . He also owned Lobris , Profen , Herzogswaldau , Poischwitz and Seckerwitz in the hereditary principality of Schweidnitz-Jauer, southeast of Jauer .

Christoph Wenzel's son Johann Karl von Nostitz-Rokitnitz (1673–1740), treasurer of Emperor Joseph I.

Art collector, patron and bibliophile

For the Lobris Castle , which was acquired by his father Otto von Nostitz (1608–1664) in 1654, Christoph Wenzel expanded the inherited book inventory into a rich library. Likewise the paintings, graphics and the collection of scientific objects. In 1682 he commissioned Michael Willmann, the then leading painter in Silesia, to create a cycle of paintings and the painting Liberation of Andromedas for the palace chapel .

There was also an extensive library with bibliophile treasures in Rokitnitz Castle , which came to the Plan Castle Library in 1823 . There are u. a. some books with personal notes by Christoph Wenzel. In addition, nine with copper engraved heraldic bookplate with the initials "CWGVN" ( C hristophorus W enceslaus G raf v on N ostitz-Rieneck).

In Schweidnitz , the state capital of the hereditary principality Schweidnitz-Jauer, Christoph Wenzel founded a Capuchin monastery in 1676 on the site of the former ducal castle . He was buried in the local crypt in 1712.

literature

• Dehio-Handbuch der Kunstdenkmäler in Polen, Silesia , Munich · Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-422-03109-X , p. 580 f.
• Nikolaus von Lutterotti : Michael Willmann's painting in the castle chapel in Lobris, Jauer district . In: Silesian history sheets. Announcements of the Association for the History of Silesia, born in 1930, No. 2, pp. 25–30

Web links

• Constantin von Wurzbach : Nostitz-Rokitnitz, Christoph Wenzel von . In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 20th part. Kaiserlich-Königliche Hof- und Staatsdruckerei, Vienna 1869, p. 394 ( digitized version ).
• Emperors and courts. Personal database of courtiers of the Austrian Habsburgs
• Robert Luft: Nostitz, from in: Neue Deutsche Biographie 19 (1999), pp. 350–354

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Digitized: Handbook of the historical book inventory in Germany.
2. ↑ City and literature in the German-speaking area of ​​the early modern period, p. 941