Friedrich IV. (Liegnitz)

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Friedrich IV of Liegnitz. Engraving by Bartholomäus Strachowsky, 1733

Frederick IV of Liegnitz ( Fridrich IV Lehnický in Czech , Fryderyk IV legnicki in Polish ; * April 20, 1552 - March 27, 1596 ) was Duke of Liegnitz from 1571 until his death . In the period from 1571 to 1576 and from 1580 to 1581 he ruled together with his older brother Heinrich XI.

Origin and family

Friedrich IV. Was the third son of the Liegnitz Duke Friedrich III. and his wife Katharina, a daughter of Duke Heinrich V of Mecklenburg-Schwerin . It was named after his brother Friedrich, who died in infancy in 1551.

On January 20, 1587, Friedrich IV married Maria Sidonia (* May 10, 1572 - October 3, 1587), a daughter of Duke Wenceslaus III. Adam of Teschen . They had the daughter Maria Katharina, who was born on September 17, 1587 and died three days later.

After Maria Sidonia's death in 1587, Friedrich IV married Dorothea (born October 16, 1569 in Kolding; † July 5, 1593 in Liegnitz), a daughter of Duke Johanns von Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg, on November 23, 1589 . They had two sons who both died on the day they were born (May 25, 1592).

On October 24, 1594, Friedrich IV married Anna von Württemberg (1561-1616) , a daughter of Duke Christoph von Württemberg and widow of Duke Johann Georg . The marriage remained childless.

Life

After the death of the father in 1570 it came between Friedrich IV. And his older brother Heinrich XI. to a protracted dispute over the inherited possessions. In 1571 they reached a settlement according to which their countries should remain undivided and be governed jointly by the brothers. Because of the costly court holding of his brother and the associated debt, Friedrich was forced to ask the Bohemian Chancellor Vratislav von Pernstein for help in February 1576 . Thereupon Maximilien II installed a royal commission, which Heinrich XI. should withdraw the principality and transfer it to his brother Friedrich IV. With a decree of March 13, 1576, they determined Frederick IV to be the sole ruler of Liegnitz, and on April 17 th. J. he entered the government. At the same time he had to undertake to look after his brother Heinrich, who was assigned to Haynau as his residence . Maximilian II's successor Rudolf II , in his capacity as King of Bohemia, had the Liegnitz fratricidal dispute renegotiated and on October 5, 1580, revoked the decree of April 17, 1576. Frederick IV and his brother Heinrich XI. again common rulers of the Duchy of Liegnitz. Since the older Heinrich XI. Chosen his official seat in Liegnitz, Friedrich IV was forced to withdraw to Haynau .

Just a year later the situation changed when Heinrich XI. because of refusal to pay homage was taken prisoner in Prague and his duchy was withdrawn from him. Friedrich IV. Was now again the sole ruler of Liegnitz, but had to support Heinrich XI. Family who was imprisoned in Wroclaw . Since Calvinism was still widespread in his duchy, Friedrich IV turned to his uncle Georg II von Brieg for advice in 1583 on how he could secure the legal basis of the religious peace in Augsburg in religious disputes .

Friedrich's brother Heinrich XI., Who fled the Breslau prison to Krakow in 1585 , died there in 1588, but left no male descendants. Since Friedrich IV also died without heirs, the Duchy of Liegnitz inherited the Duchy of Liegnitz in 1596 by the Brieger Duke Joachim Friedrich , under whom the two duchies were reunited.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Joachim Bahlcke : Regionalism and State Integration in Controversy . ISBN 3-486-56046-8 , pp. 174f.
personal data
SURNAME Friedrich IV.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Fridrich IV. Lehnický (Czech); Fryderyk IV legnicki (Polish)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Duke of Liegnitz, at times also Duke of Haynau
DATE OF BIRTH April 20, 1552
DATE OF DEATH March 27, 1596