Wilhelm II of Pernstein

Wilhelm II of Pernstein (also Wilhelm II of Bernstein ; Czech Vilém II. Z Pernštejna and Vilém z Pernštejna a na Helfštejně ; * 1438 ; † April 8, 1521 in Pardubitz ) was a Moravian-Bohemian nobleman. 1474–1487 he held the office of Oberstlandkämmerer of Moravia , 1483–1490 of the Oberstlandmarschall and then until 1514 of the Obersthofmeister of Bohemia .

Origin and advancement under the kings Georg von Podiebrad and Matthias Corvinus

Wilhelm was one of the most important members of the Moravian-Bohemian noble family Pernstein and resided on Helfenstein and Prerau, among others. He was one of the richest men at the time, who owned over 30 manors , on which he operated mining, fishing and brewing and established a regular patrimonial administration with land records and register of documents. His parents were Johann von Pernstein and his second wife Bohunka von Lomnitz and Meseritz ( Bohunka z Lomnice ). Before 1475 he married Johanna von Liblitz ( Johanka z Liblic ; † 1515), daughter of Johann Ritter von Liblitz and Katharina Kdulinecz von Ostromicz (Wostromierz).

Wilhelm von Pernstein spent his youth at the Viennese court of the two years younger Habsburg Ladislaus Postumus , to whose entourage he belonged. Together with Ladislaus and his guardian Friedrich, as well as other Bohemian and Moravian nobles, he traveled to Italy in 1451. In 1452 he attended the wedding and imperial coronation of Frederick III in Rome . von Habsburg with Eleonore Helena of Portugal .

Like his father and older brother Sigmund von Pernstein , Wilhelm supported the Bohemian King Georg von Podebrady . After his death in 1471 they were politically on the side of the newly elected King Vladislav II. In 1472 they vouched for Georg von Podiebrad's son Viktorin von Münsterberg , who was to be released from the captivity of the Hungarian King Matthias Corvinus for 100,000 ducats . In the same year they received from King Vladislav II further rights over the monasteries Oslavany and Porta Coeli . As a result, they did not succeed in freeing their son or brother Sigmund, who had also been held captive by Matthias Corvinus since 1470. For Sigmund's release, Corvin did not ask Wilhelm to pay a ransom, but to transfer him to his side and support his military projects. The corresponding agreement, which was linked to the release of Sigmund and in which Corvin's advisor, the later Olomouc bishop Johann Filipec , was involved, Wilhelm signed on November 14, 1472 in Ödenburg . It is noteworthy that Wilhelm, who leaned towards the Utraquists , was not obliged to declare himself of Catholicism when he entered Corvin's service; he only converted in 1490 . At the turn of the year 1472/73, Wilhelm's mercenaries occupied the cities of Kolín and Nymburk . In the summer he fought for Corvinus in Austria and Poland, where he was taken prisoner.

Wilhelm von Pernstein, who resided in Meseritsch until 1473 and was dubbed Vilém z Pernštejna a na Meziříčí , acquired the castle and lordship of Helfenstein in 1474 . After that he used the title “von Pernstein and Helfenstein” ( z Pernštejna a na Helfštejně ) until the end of his life . In the same year, after the armistice in Wroclaw, Matthias Corvinus appointed him Oberstlandkämmerer of Moravia.

After the death of his father in 1475, his possessions fell to Wilhelm and his brothers Johann / Jan († 1478/80), Vratislav († 1496) and Emmeram / Jimram († 1481/82). Since his brothers were minors, Wilhelm took over the guardianship of them as well as the overall administration of the property. The widow of the eldest brother Sigmund, Elisabeth von Boskowitz and her daughters, were compensated with money. By marrying Johanna von Liblitz, whom Wilhelm had married shortly before 1475, he acquired extensive land in Bohemia, which he sold soon after the wedding. After the two younger brothers Johann and Vratislav reached the age of majority around 1478, the paternal inheritance was divided. Johann and Vratislav received together the Pernstein Castle and part of the surrounding villages. Wilhelm kept the other villages with the Zubstein Castle to himself and the youngest brother Emmeram / Jimram, who continued to be under Wilhelm's tutelage. All three brothers had to share in the debts left by their father, whose creditor was Wilhelm. He had acquired or paid for the Meseritsch rule for his father from his father-in-law Johann von Lomnitz. When Johann / Jan died 1478/80, his share went to Vratislav, while the share of the youngest brother Emmeram / Jimram, who died in 1481/82, went to Wilhelm.

After the pacification of the Bohemian-Hungarian war with the Peace of Olomouc in 1479, Wilhelm campaigned in 1480 to ensure that entries in the Moravian country table were no longer made in Latin, but in the national language. A significant change occurred for Wilhelm in 1482, when his confidante Bertold von Leipa ( Pertold z Lipé ) died, who had appointed Wilhelm as guardian of his two children in his will. In this capacity Wilhelm also took over the reign of extensive reigns of the deceased with the center in Mährisch Kromau . Therefore he moved his residence from Helfenstein to Kromau, which was also closer to the Hungarian royal court in Buda .

When Wilhelm was married for several years, his children Bohunka (1485–1549) were married to the Oberstlandmarschall in Bohemia Heinrich von Lipa; Anna, married to Wilhelm Freiherr von Sternberg, on Nepomuk and Johann, called the Rich, Freiherr von Bernstein (1487–1548), married I. to Anna Freiin von Postupitz, II. To Hedwig Freiin von Schellenberg and Kost and III. 1548 born with Magdalena Zeklowna z Ormuzdu.

Wilhelm von Pernstein soon arranged the wedding of his ward. According to an agreement from 1484, Barbara von Leipa was to marry Wolfgang, a son of Christoph von Liechtenstein . Wilhelm's daughter Bohunka, who was not born until 1485, grew up as the bride of Heinrich / Jindřich von Leipa, who was also under Wilhelm's tutelage. The widowed mother of his ward, Elisabeth / Alžběta von Krawarn , had married Peter IV von Rosenberg as early as 1483 through Wilhelm's mediation .

With the assumption of guardianship, Wilhelm also fell to Bertold's office as Oberstlandmarschall of the Kingdom of Bohemia, which the Lords of Leipa inherited. This brought him back into contact with the Prague royal court, with which he had no official contacts since 1472. The office of chief land treasurer of Moravia, which he held since 1474, he transferred in 1487 with the consent of both kings to his younger brother Wratislav.

Ascent at the Prague royal court under King Vladislav II.

After Matthias Corvin's death in 1490, Vladislav II appointed Wilhelm von Pernstein his chief steward. In the same year he pledged the monastery property of Trebitsch as well as the castle and manor Frauenberg and in 1491 the castle Kunietitzer Berg in East Bohemia and the surrounding villages from the possession of the Opatovice monastery, which was lost in the Hussite Wars . Although he had this castle extended generously, he did not reside there.

Presumably to round off his East Bohemian possessions, he acquired the Pardubitz rule in 1491 . There he rebuilt the castle on which he resided into a palace in the late Gothic style. During his reign, Pardubice experienced an economic boom by promoting crafts, trade, agriculture and mining. In 1516 he acquired the East Bohemian rule Neubydžow , which he enlarged with the purchase of further villages. In the villages of his East Bohemian domain he created more than 200 ponds where fish farming was carried out. It became one of the most productive fish farming areas in Bohemia. Since he was now mainly in Prague, Vienna and Pardubice, the family residence at Pernstein Castle lost its importance. In 1491 he acquired the Bohdaneč estate and in 1495 Neustadtl in Moravia . In 1496 he gave his now of age ward Heinrich / Jindřich von Leipa his possessions. In the same year Wilhelms Vratislav died without descendants. As a result, Wilhelm inherited his share of Pernstein and Proßnitz and Schloss und Herrschaft Blumenau , which Vratislav had received from his mother-in-law Johanna von Krawarn after the death of his wife Ludmilla von Kunstadt in 1493. Possibly because of this, Wilhelm was able to significantly increase his East Bohemian property. Around this time he acquired Reichenau and from Duke Heinrich d. Ä. from Münsterberg Častolovice as well as the rule Pottenstein with Litice , Adlerkosteletz and other settlements. In Moravia he acquired Mährisch Weißkirchen in 1499 , Tobitschau and Kralitz in 1503 , Seelowitz in 1508 and Kunstadt in 1520 . Through the marriage of his sons Johann and Adalbert / Vojtěch with two daughters from the Kostka von Postupitz family , he came to the lands of Landskron and Landsberg, which were also from East Bohemia .

Wilhelm von Pernstein also made investments and improvements on the estates inherited from his father. In Leipník he laid out suburbs and expanded the city fortifications. He also had a water pipe laid there, which still works today. In Prerau he built the upper town on an elliptical ground plan around the castle, which he merged with the lower town in 1498.

In 1515 Wilhelm von Pernstein donated a baptismal font to the St. Bartholomew Church in Pardubitz. He died on April 8, 1521, and his body was buried in the Church of the Holy Cross in Doubravník , which was rebuilt by his son John and destroyed during the Hussite Wars . He bequeathed his Bohemian possessions to the older son Johann, while the younger son Vojtěch / Adalbert received the Moravian possessions. However, due to their lavish lifestyle, they were repeatedly forced to sell parts of the inherited lands.

family

Wilhelm II von Pernstein married Johanna von Liblitz ( Johanka z Liblice ) before 1475 . Children came from marriage

• Bohunka (1485–1549) ⚭ 1. around 1500 Heinrich von Leipa ( Jindřich z Lipé ; † 1515); ⚭ 2. Dobeš von Boskowitz († 1540)
• Johann von Pernstein (1487–1548) ⚭ 1. 1507 Anna von Postupitz; ⚭ 2. Hedwig von Schellenberg ( Hedvika z Šelmberka , † 1535); ⚭ 3. Magdalena von Ormosd ( z Ormosdu ; † 1556), widow of the Hungarian magnate Alexius Thurzo von Bethlenfalva
• Vojtěch von Pernstein (1490–1534) ⚭ 1. 1507 Margarete / Markéta von Postupitz († 1515); ⚭ 2. 1516 Johanna von Wartenberg ( Johanka z Vartmberka , † 1536)

literature

• Petr Vorel: Páni z Pernštejna. Vzestup a pád rodu zubří hlavy v dějinách Čech a Moravy . Rybka, Prague 1999, ISBN 80-86182-24-X .
• Joachim Bahlcke , Winfried Eberhard, Miloslav Polívka (eds.): Handbook of historical places . Volume: Bohemia and Moravia (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 329). Kröner, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-520-32901-8 , pp. 92, 145, 305, 323, 363, 395, 436, 441, 468, 492 and 621.

Web links

• genealogy

Individual evidence

1. ↑ novel by Procházka : Genealogical Handbook extinct Bohemian Herrenatndsfamilien . Supplementary volume, edited by the board of the Collegium Carolinum (Institute) . R. Oldenbourg Verlag, Munich 1990, Pernstein stem sequence (from Bärenstein, z Pernsteyna - in Moravia), pages 106 and 107, ISBN 3-486-54051-3 .
2. ^ Supporter Matthias Corvin
3. ↑ Petr Maťa: Pre- denominational , interdenominational, transdenominational Christianity. Prolegomena to an investigation into the denomination of the Bohemian and Moravian nobility between Hussitism and forced Catholicization . In: Joachim Bahlcke , Karen Lambrecht, Hans-Christian Maner (eds.): Confessional plurality as a challenge. Coexistence and Conflict in the Late Middle Ages and Early Modern Times . Leipziger Universitätsverlag, Leipzig 2006, ISBN 3-86583-081-1 , pp. 307–331, here p. 309.
4. ↑ Klostergut Trebitsch  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
5. ↑ Taufstein Foundation