Duchy of Glogau

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Coat of arms of Glogau

The Duchy of Glogau was established in 1251 when the Duchy of Silesia was divided among the Silesian Piasts . In 1331 it was appropriated by the Bohemian King John of Luxembourg , making it the first of the Silesian principalities to be directly subordinate to Bohemia until 1344. From 1344 it was divided into a “ducal” and a “royal” half. The ducal half was owned by the Glogau branch of the Silesian Piasts until 1476, while the royal half belonged to the Teschen dukes from 1384 to 1480 . After the death of the Bohemian King Matthias Corvinus , Glogau fell to the Crown of Bohemia as a settled fiefdom . This gave it the status of an hereditary principality. The place of residence was Glogau and for a time Freystadt for the ducal half .

history

When, after the death of Duke Heinrich II. In 1241, his territories were divided among his four sons, the Glogau region initially belonged to the Duchy of Liegnitz , which was established for Heinrich II's eldest son Boleslaw . At the same time, however, he had to undertake to let his younger brother Konrad II co-rule. However, this soon demanded the allocation of a separate sub-area, which was rejected by Boleslaw II. Therefore it came to armed conflicts, which led to Konrad II. In 1249/1251 conquering the areas of Glogau and Beuthen an der Oder , Sandewalde (today Sadowel), Steinau , Sagan and Crossen , which were merged to form the Duchy of Glogau.

After Konrad II's death in 1273/74, his property was divided among his three sons. The second-born Konrad "Köberlein" received Sagan and the third-born Primislaus I († 1289) Sprottau . The so reduced Duchy of Glogau received the oldest of the brothers, Heinrich III. († 1309), to whom Sprottau passed after Primislaus I's death in 1289 and also Sagan in 1304, which he acquired after the death of his brother Conrad III. "Köberlein" inherited. In 1306 Heinrich III. also to Poznan and parts of Greater Poland .

After Henry III. Death in 1309, his five sons initially administered the inherited property together, but divided the area into two parts in 1312:

With the feudal deeds issued on April 29, 1329 and May 9, 1329 in Breslau, Heinrich IV. "The Loyalty" of Sagan and his brothers Johann von Steinau and Konrad I. von Oels voluntarily entered into a feudal relationship with the Crown of Bohemia , with them special inheritance privileges were granted. Only her youngest brother Primislaus II ( Primko / Przemko ) refused to become a Bohemian vassal , but died on January 11, 1331 from a poison attack by his subjects. The legal heirs of Primislaus II were his brothers Heinrich IV von Sagan and Johann von Steinau, whereby Primislaus II widow Konstanze was entitled to the city of Glogau as a personal property. However, Johann von Steinau had sold his right to his share in Glogau to the Bohemian King John of Luxembourg before Primislaus' death . He therefore appeared in Silesia in September 1331 to take over the inheritance that had been bought from Johann von Steinau. At the same time he defied Henry IV's claim to inheritance and Constance's right to the treasure and forcibly withdrew the entire Duchy of Glogau as a settled fiefdom. In order to create a fait accompli, he released the citizens from the oaths they had given to the dukes and confirmed their previous privileges. He appointed a Bohemian governor to manage the duchy . This made Glogau the first Silesian principality directly subordinate to Bohemia (until 1344, after that only the royal half).

Glogau Castle

After the death of Henry IV “the Faithful” in 1342, his son of the same name, Heinrich V “the Iron”, tried to obtain the Primko inheritance, which consisted of half of Glogau, and which had not been handed over to his father . After lengthy battles, Henry V paid homage to King John in 1344 for the half Glogau he had demanded , who then transferred this half to him as a fief, which was subsequently referred to as the “ducal Glogau”. King Johann kept the “royal” half as sovereign himself. On January 10, 1360, King John's son and successor Charles IV transferred the royal half of Glogau and half of Steinau to Bolko II von Schweidnitz for his lifetime. With this, Charles IV wanted to redress the injustice committed by his father on Bolkos II's sister Konstanze. After Bolko II's death in 1369, the royal half of Glogau fell back to Charles IV in accordance with the contract. His son and successor, King Wenzel , inherited the royal half of Glogau with half of Steinau and part of Guhrau to his diplomatic advisor and court judge, Przemislaus von Teschen , on November 27, 1384 for his services. Although he lost half of Steinau in 1304, the royal half of Glogau remained in the possession of the Dukes of Teschen until 1480.

The ducal half of Glogau inherited after the death of Duke Heinrich V "the Iron" in 1369, his sons Heinrich VI. d. Ä. , Heinrich VII. "Rumpold" and Heinrich VIII. "The Sparrow" . When Henry VIII died in 1397 as the last of the three brothers in a horse show, the guardianship of his underage sons was exercised by their uncle Ruprecht I of Liegnitz until 1403 . After that, Henry VIII's sons ruled together until 1413. In that year the Duchy of Sagan was spun off for the oldest Johann I. Since Heinrich X. "Rumpold" († 1423) and Wenzel († 1430/31) left no descendants, the line of succession was replaced by their brother Heinrich IX. continued, who died in 1467. His son Heinrich XI. received in 1469 from the Bohemian rival king Matthias Corvinus , who had conquered Silesia and whose followers Heinrich XI. was, illegally, the royal half of Glogau, which still belonged to the dukes of Teschen under inheritance law and which had belonged to his widow Margareta von Cilli since the death of Duke Wladislaus († 1480).

Henry XI. had been married to Barbara von Brandenburg , who was only eight years old at the time, since 1472 . With his death only four years later, the direct line of the Glogau branch of the Silesian Piasts expired in 1476. Immediately afterwards, the Glogau succession dispute was sparked, in which, in addition to Barbara's father, the Brandenburg Elector Albrecht Achilles , the Sagan Duke Johann II , as well as the Bohemian sovereign King Vladislav II and the opposing king Matthias Corvinus ruling over Silesia were involved. The war of succession was only settled on September 20, 1482 with the Peace of Kamenz . It comprised the following regulations:

  • John II of Sagan received most of the Duchy of Glogau, but only for his lifetime. At the same time he had to promise to pay homage to Matthias Corvinus for these areas. After his death, his area was to pass to Corvin's son Johann Corvinus .
  • As a Wittum, Barbara von Brandenburg was given the Duchy of Crossen on a permanent basis , for which she had to pay homage to King Matthias Corvinus and which should fall to the Hohenzollern family after her death .

Although Johann II von Sagan confirmed its privileges to the city of Glogau on October 22, 1482, he did not want to be satisfied with the Peace of Kamenz and continued to fight Matthias Corvinus. That is why he was deposed by him in 1488 and the Duchy of Glogau was transferred to his illegitimate son Johann Corvinus . This was expropriated after the death of his father in 1490, whereby Glogau again fell as a settled fief to the Crown of Bohemia. In 1491, the Bohemian King Vladislav II transferred the Duchy of Glogau to his brother Johann I Albrecht as a reward for letting Vladislav II come first in the election as King of Hungary. In 1499 it was given as a fief by their youngest brother Sigismund I. After his coronation as King of Poland in 1506, Duke Casimir II of Teschen , who succeeded King Sigismund in the office of governor of Silesia , received the regrettable Duchy of Glogau for lifelong usufruct, but sold it to Friedrich II of Liegnitz . After the death of the Bohemian King Ludwig II in 1526 , Bohemia and with it all of Silesia came under the rule of the Habsburgs . Ferdinand II pledged the hereditary principality of Glogau to his general Albrecht von Waldstein from 1632 to 1634 . Along with almost all of Silesia it fell in 1742 after the First Silesian War on Prussia . In 1807 it was dissolved as part of the Prussian administrative reforms.

Dukes of Glogau

Dukes of the royal portion of Glogau

literature

Web links

Commons : Herzogtum Glogau  - Collection of images, videos and audio files