Wenceslaus III (Teschen)

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Portrait of Wenceslaus III Adam

Wenceslaus III Adam (Czech Václav III. Adam , Polish Wacław III Adam ; * December 1524 - † November 4, 1579 ) was officially Duke of Teschen from 1528, independent from 1545 to 1579.

Origin and family

Wenceslaus III Adam came from the Teschen branch of the Silesian Piasts . His parents were Duke Wenzel II and Anna from the line of the Franconian Hohenzollern of the Principality of Ansbach .

As a sixteen year old Wenceslas III. Adam married Maria von Pernstein († 1566) on February 10, 1540. She was the daughter of the Moravian governor Johann von Pernstein , who exercised guardianship over Heinrich until 1545. The children came from marriage:

  • Sophie (1540–1541)
  • Friedrich Kasimir (1541 / 42-1571); married to Katharina (1540–1569) daughter of Duke Friedrich III of Liegnitz .
  • Anna (1543–1564)

After the death of his wife Maria in 1566, Wenceslaus III married. Adam 1567 Sidonie Katharina, daughter of Franz I, Duke of Saxony-Lauenburg . The children came from this marriage

  • Christian August (1570–1571)
  • Maria Sidonia (* May 10, 1572 - October 3, 1587) was married to Duke Friedrich IV of Liegnitz .
  • Anna Sibylla (* 1573, † after 1601)
  • Adam Wenzel (1574–1617), married to Elisabeth († 1601), daughter of the Courland Duke Gotthard Kettler . After the death of his father, Sidonie Katharina took over the guardianship of her younger son Adam Wenzel until he came of age.
  • Johann / Hanuš Albrecht (1578– ~ 1579)

Life

Title page of the Landesordnung von Wenzel Adam

In 1528, Duke Casimir II of Teschen , who had survived his two sons, died. That is why he was succeeded as the ruling duke by his four-year-old grandson Wenceslaus III. Adam after. Wenceslaus III Adam spent his childhood in Vienna, where he received a comprehensive education and was also given basic medical knowledge. Until he came of age in 1545 he was under the guardianship of his mother and his future father-in-law, the Moravian governor Johann von Pernstein . After 1545 the monasteries of the Franciscans (OFM) as well as the Dominicans in Teschen and the Benedictines in Orlau were dissolved, but the denomination of the same duke was controversial until the 1560s. Around then the population and the ducal family accepted the evangelical creed.

To protect against Turkish invasions , massive fortifications were built on the Jablunka Pass in 1541 . 1560 awarded Wenceslaus III. Adam Jablunkau the town charter . In the same year he transferred the Duchy of Bielitz , to which he incorporated both Free City and Frydek , to his son Friedrich Kasimir. After his death in 1571 this had to be with the consent of Wenceslaus III. Adams were sold to Karl von Promnitz on Pless because of excessive indebtedness .

After the death of the Polish King Sigismund II in August 1573, Wenceslaus III applied. Adam, as well as the Liegnitz Duke Heinrich XI. to the Polish crown. Since they were both Protestant and also did not speak the Polish language, they had no prospect of success. In 1572 Wenceslaus III issued Adam a state order, 1578 a church order. After his death in 1579, his son Adam Wenzel, who was not yet of legal age, succeeded him as Duke of Teschen.

literature

  • Rudolf Žáček: Dějiny Slezska v datech. Nakladatelství Libri, Praha 2004, ISBN 80-7277-172-8 , pp. 133, 139 f., 145, 410, 450 f.
  • Idzi Panic: Poczet Piastów i Piastówien cieszyńskich. Biuro Promocji i Informacji, Cieszyn 2002, ISBN 83-917095-4-X .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Idzi Panic: Śląsk Cieszyński w początkach czasów nowożytnych (1528-1653) [History of the Duchy of Teschen at the beginning of modern times (1528-1653)] . Starostwo Powiatowe w Cieszynie, Cieszyn 2011, ISBN 978-83-926929-1-1 , p. 59 (Polish).
predecessor Office successor
Casimir II Duke of Teschen
1528–1579 		Adam Wenzel
personal data
SURNAME Wenceslaus III
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Wenceslaus III Adam
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Duke of Teschen (1528–1579)
DATE OF BIRTH December 1524
DATE OF DEATH November 4, 1579