Bohemian aristocrat (1476?1536)
Charles I, Duke of Munsterberg-Oels
(also:
Charles I of Podebrady
,
Czech
:
Karel z Minstrberka
,
German
:
Karl I. von Munsterberg
; 2 or 4 May 1476, in
Kladsko
? 31 May 1536, in
Frankenstein
) was a member of the
House of Pod?brady
. He was
Duke
of
Munsterberg
and Duke of
Oels
as well as
Count of Kladsko
. From 1519 to 1523 he held the office of the
bailiff
of
Upper Lusatia
, in 1523 he was made
Obersthauptmann
of
Bohemia
and in 1524
Landeshauptmann
of
Silesia
.
Life
[
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]
Charles was a grandson of King
George
of Bohemia. His parents were
Henry the Elder of Munsterberg
and
Ursula of Brandenburg
, daughter of Margrave
Albrecht III Achilles of Brandenburg
. In 1488 his father made him marry
Anna of Sagan
(1480/83?1541), a daughter of Duke
Jan II the Mad
. Charles's elder brothers
Albert I
and
George
were also married to daughters of John II.
After their father's death in 1498, the three brothers Albert, George and Charles ruled jointly at first, but each lived on his own court: Albert in
Kłodzko
, George in
Ole?nica
, and Charles in
Munsterberg
. Charles moved his residence in 1530 in the newly built castle of
Frankenstein
.
Since Charles intended to transfer his residence to Frankenstein, he promoted the development of the city. In order to favour people settling in the city, he built new stone houses, and there were
freihauses
for the landed gentry. The city wall was rebuilt and strengthened and in 1511 a stone
parsonage
was built. Around the same time Charles began construction of a large palace to replace the ruins of the medieval castle of Frankenstein. His successors continued to work on the castle, but it was never finished. By the middle of the 16th Century, the Duchy was so heavily indebted that it had to be pledged at times; the high cost of the palace probably contributed to this problem.
His brothers George and Albert died in 1502 and 1511. So Charles inherited the country and ruled alone as Duke of Munsterberg and Oels. Although Charles and his brothers had sold the county of Kladsko in 1501 to their future brother in law
Ulrich of Hardegg
, they and their descendants continue to use the title of Counts of Kladsko, until the House of Munsterberg died out in the male line 1647.
Charles served the Bohemian kings
Vladislaus II
,
Louis
and
Ferdinand I
in various high offices. In 1519 King Louis appointed him
bailiff
of
Upper Lusatia
. He held this position until the death of the king in 1526. In 1523 he was promoted to chief captain of the Kingdom of Bohemia and was one of the high nobles who administered the country when the king was absent (which he was quite often, as he spent most of his time in Hungary, where he was also King). Furthermore, Charles was made
Landeshauptmann
of Lower Silesia in 1524.
After the death of King Louis, Charles was a leading figure in organizing the election of the next king. He supported the candidacy of Ferdinand of Habsburg early, and Ferdinand reward him after the coronation in 1527 with the confirmation of his captaincy in Bohemia and awarding him the post of
Oberlandeshauptmann
in Silesia. The exercise of these offices was incurred a significant financial burden for Charles, so he was forced to sell parts of his territories.
Although Charles read Martin Luther's writings with a benevolent interest, he maintained his Catholic faith during the
Reformation
.
He died in 1536 and was buried in the St. Anne's Church in Frankenstein, where his sons built a
tombstone
for him and his wife (she died in 1541).
Offspring
[
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]
- Henry (1497?1497)
- Anna (1499?1504)
- Catherine (1500?1507)
- Margareta (
Czech
:
Marketa
) (1501?1551), married to Jan Zajic of Hasenburg
- Joachim
(1503?1562), Bishop of Brandenburg
- Kunigunde (
Czech
:
Kunhuta
) (1504?1532), married to Christopher ?ernohorsky of Boskovice
- Ursula (
Czech
:
Vor?ila
) (1505?1539), married to Jerome of Bieberstein
- Henry II
(
Czech
:
Jind?ich
) (1507?1548), Duke of Munsterberg-Oels
- Hedwig
(1508?1531), married in 1525
George of Brandenburg-Ansbach
- John
(
Czech
:
Jan
) (1509?1565), Duke of Munsterberg-Oels
- Barbara (1511?1539), Abbess in Strehlen (
Strzelin
) near Oels
- George II
(
Czech
:
Ji?i
) (1512?1553), married to Elizabeth Kostka of Postupice
References
[
edit
]
- Arno Herzig and Małgorzata Ruchniewicz:
Geschichte des Glatzer Landes
. Hamburg-Wrocław: DOBU-Verl. et al., 2006,
ISBN
3-934632-12-2
, pp. 54?59
- Josef Frais:
Ji?i z Pod?brad
. T?ebi? 2006,
ISBN
80-7268-382-9
, pp. 138?144
- Adolf Schimmelpfennig
(1882), "
Karl I., Herzog von Munsterberg-Oels
",
Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie
(in German), vol. 15, Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot, pp. 358?360
External links
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