Wenceslas I (Liegnitz)

Wenzel I. von Liegnitz and Anna von Teschen. Engraving, 1733

Wenzel I of Liegnitz (* between 1310 and 1318; † June 6, 1364 ) was 1342–1345 together with his brother Ludwig I and 1346–1364 sole Duke of Liegnitz . He came from the Silesian Piast family .

Origin and family

Wenceslas parents were Duke Boleslaw III. of Breslau , Liegnitz and Brieg and Margarethe / Markéta, daughter of the Bohemian King Wenceslaus II.

Between 1338 and 1341, Wenceslaus married Anna († 1367), a daughter of Casimir, Duke of Teschen . Children came from marriage

• Ruprecht I († 1409), ⚭ 1372 Hedwig († 1390), daughter of Duke Heinrich V of Sagan
• Wenceslas II († 1419), bishop of Lebus and Breslau
• Boleslaw IV. († 1394), had an accident at a horse show
• Hedwig († 1409), ⚭ 1372 Heinrich VI. d. Ä. from Sagan as well
• Henry VII († 1398), Bishop of Kujawia

Life

During his lifetime, Duke Boleslaw III. In 1342 the indebted Duchy of Liegnitz passed on to his two sons Wenzel and Ludwig, while he himself continued to own Brieg. Both duchies were already in 1329 by Duke Boleslaw III. handed over as a fiefdom to the Bohemian King John of Luxembourg . The dukes Wenceslaus I and Ludwig I, who initially ruled the Duchy of Liegnitz together, also paid homage to him in 1342. In 1344 they founded a mint in Liegnitz and a short time later they granted Nikolstadt city ​​rights and mountain freedom based on the model of Goldberg . In 1345 they divided the Duchy of Liegnitz, Ludwig got the smaller, eastern part and Wenzel got the remaining part with Haynau , Goldberg and Lüben . However, Wenzel managed to get Ludwig's share in the same year, while he granted Lüben and an annual cash payment. In 1348 Wenzel donated a collegiate monastery to the Liegnitz Church of the Holy Grave and furnished it with surrounding land.

According to Boleslaws III. Death in 1352 the Duchy of Brieg was ruled by his widow Katharina Šubić . In 1356 she came to an agreement with her step-sons Wenzel and Ludwig in such a way that, as Wittum , they left the cities of Ohlau and Namslau to her for her lifetime , which after her death two years later fell to Wenzel. From his inherited property, Wenzel now sold half Ohlau and half Brieg to the Schweidnitzer Duke Bolko II. With the stipulation that both should revert to the Dukes of Liegnitz-Brieg if Bolko died without heirs.

After another division in 1359, Wenzel kept Liegnitz with Goldberg, while Ludwig continued to own Lüben and also received Haynau and half of Ohlau and Brieg.

After Wenceslas death in 1364, his brother Ludwig took over the guardianship of his sons Ruprecht I , Wenceslaus II , Boleslaw IV and Heinrich VII . He managed to redeem part of the pledged parts of the country. The guardianship ended in 1368 when Ludwig's nephew Ruprecht came of age and in turn took over the guardianship of his younger brothers.

Wenceslas I were buried in a sarcophagus in St. Peter's Church in Liegnitz. His wife found her final resting place there three years later.

literature

• Historical Commission for Silesia (Ed.): History of Silesia. Volume 1: Ludwig Petry , Josef Joachim Menzel, Winfried Irgang (eds.): From primeval times to the year 1526. 5th, revised edition. Thorbecke, Sigmaringen 1988, ISBN 3-7995-6341-5 , pp. 158, 167, 171 and 176.
• Hugo Weczerka (Hrsg.): Handbook of the historical places . Volume: Silesia (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 316). Kröner, Stuttgart 1977, ISBN 3-520-31601-3 , pp. 286, 305 and 360 and family tree on pp. 590–591.
• Rudolf Žáček: Dějiny Slezska v datech. Nakladatelství Libri, Praha 2004, ISBN 80-7277-172-8 , pp. 79, 412, 426, 428 and 430.

Web links

• Genealogy Liegnitz