Nicholas I (Troppau)

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Nikolaus I. von Troppau - Czech: Mikuláš I. Opavský ; (* around 1255 ; † July 26, 1318 in Brno ) was a son of the Bohemian king Ottokar II. Přemysl and founder of the Duchy of Opava . He came from the Troppauer branch of the Bohemian Přemyslids . As a half-brother of the Bohemian King Wenceslaus II, he temporarily held the post of captain of Cracow and Sandomir . 1300–1303 he was its governor in Greater Poland .

Life

Nikolaus came from an extramarital relationship between his father Ottokar II and Anna von Kuenring . At Ottokar's request, Pope Urban IV legitimized Nicholas as Ottokar's son, but without the right to the Bohemian succession to the throne. Nikolaus grew up at the Prague royal court and supported the politics of his father, whom he accompanied on his trains. In November 1269 he was assigned the previously Moravian province of Opava , which meant that the diocese of Olomouc had to accept a significant loss of territory. In the following, Nikolaus I dubbed “Herr von Troppau”. In 1278 Nikolaus took part in the battle on the Marchfeld at the side of his father . In the battle in which the father was killed, Nicholas was captured by Hungary, from which he was only released in 1280. Although he was reinstated in his old rights to the Troppau area by the Roman-German King Rudolf I and he was able to consolidate his rule, there were armed struggles for power with his stepmother Kunigunde von Halitsch . She had a secret love affair with the mighty Witigonen Zawisch von Falkenstein and lived with him for a time at the Opava Ducal Castle of Grätz , where she soon married him. Since Zawisch presumed to be in charge of government affairs, he was opposed by Nikolaus and the Prague bishop Tobias von Bechin , among others . Although Kunigunde died in 1285, the power struggles continued until 1288 when King Wenceslaus II had Zawisch von Falkenstein captured.

In a conflict with the Wroclaw Bishop Thomas II , Nicholas devastated the Neiss diocese from Edelstein Castle in 1281 . The conflict was settled with a treaty that Henry IV of Breslau notarized. As compensation, the bishop received Zuckmantel and Edelstein Castle as a pledge .

At the beginning of 1285 a three-year peace treaty was concluded between Nicholas and the Bohemian barons, who led the government for the underage half-brother of Nicholas and the Bohemian heir to the throne Wenceslaus II . Then Nikolaus took over the office of court marshal. On January 10, 1289 he took part in Prague together with Henry IV of Breslau and Bolko I of Schweidnitz in the voluntary homage of Kasimir II († 1312) of Bytom , at which his sons and barons were also present. With the homage, Casimir transferred sovereignty over the Duchy of Bytom to Bohemia.

After Wenceslaus II had received the principality of Kraków from his childless deceased cousin Heinrich IV Probus through an inheritance contract in 1290 , Nikolaus von Troppau was one of the witnesses who certified on October 13, 1292 in Sieradz that Duke Władysław I. Ellenlang was the Bohemian liege lord Wenceslaus II. The bishops of Gniezno, Prague and Olomouc as well as the dukes Boleslaus of Mazovia , Casimir II of Bytom and Bolko I of Opole were among the co-signatories of the document . At the beginning of 1295 Nikolaus von Troppau was appointed captain of Cracow and Sandomir by King Wenceslaus II . In 1297 he succeeded in rejecting Duke Władysław's claims again. With a document that was signed on November 18, 1297 in Sieradz, Władysław confirmed that Wenceslas claims to both duchies were justified. After Wenceslaus was crowned King of Poland in 1300, he appointed Nikolaus von Troppau as governor ("capitanus regni Poloniae") for Greater Poland. Nikolaus played a key role in the coin reform initiated by Wenzel. However, due to persistent complaints, he lost the office of governor in 1303.

After the murder of the last Premyslid king Wenceslaus III. In 1306 Nikolaus continued to own his Troppau area. In 1308, however, it was passed on by the Bohemian King Heinrich of Carinthia to his step-brother-in-law Boleslaw III. pledged by Liegnitz . Boleslaw was married to Margaret, a daughter of King Wenceslas II, from whom he had not received the promised dowry. That is why he was compensated in this way. In 1311 Heinrich's successor Johann von Luxemburg recognized the pledge, but after payment of the pledge demanded it be returned to Bohemia. Therefore, in 1313 Opava fell as a completed fief to the crown of Bohemia home . Shortly before Nicholas I's death in 1318, King John enfeoffed his son of the same name, Nicholas II, with the Troppau area, which he also elevated to a duchy.

Nicholas I founded the Dominican monastery in Opava as early as 1291. He died in Brno in 1318, where he was buried in St. Jacob's Church.

family

Nikolaus married Adelheid von Habsburg , a niece of King Rudolf I, in Eger in January 1285. Their sons were from the marriage:

  • Nicholas II (1288-1365)
  • Wenceslas († 1367), canon in Prague and Olomouc since 1324
  • Johann († 1325)

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Nicholas I.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Nikolaus von Troppau; Mikuláš I. Opavský (Czech)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Duke of Troppau, captain of Cracow and Sandomir, governor of Greater Poland
DATE OF BIRTH around 1255
DATE OF DEATH July 26, 1318
Place of death Brno