Czech Branch of the House of Thurn und Taxis
Encyclopedia
The Czech branch of the Princely House of Thurn and Taxis
is a dynastic branch of a German
family that was a key player in the postal services
in Europe
in the 16th century and is well known as owners of breweries and builders of countless castles.
(1704 – 1773), a founder of a dynastic order of knighthood and a house order of chivalry in the Princely House of Thurn and Taxis, The Order of Parfaite Amitié
, and his third wife Princess Maria Henriette von Fürstenberg
(1732 – 1772). In 1791, Maximilian married Princess Eleonore von Lobkowicz
(Prague, 22 April 1770 – Lautschin, 9 November 1834), who belonged to a mediatised Czech noble family whose origin can be traced back to Mares Martin z Ujezda (1376–90). In 1808, he inherited Lautschin (Loučeň in Czech) and Dobrovice castles from his cousin Princess Maria Josefa von Fürstenberg, and in 1820 permanently settled in Bohemia
. Besides Lautschin and other rural estates, the family also owned real estate in Prague
that included two palaces: one in the city's uptown (V jámě 635–636, no longer exists) and one in the old town (Vrtbovský Palace in Malá Strana, purchased in 1814). Maximilian and Eleonore had six sons: the firstborn was Karl Anselm von Thurn und Taxis (not to be confused with his uncle Karl Anselm, 4th Prince of Thurn and Taxis
of Regensburg, heir to the House of Thurn und Taxis wealth).
In 1815 Prince Karl Anselm von Thurn und Taxis (Prague, 18 June 1792 – Teplitz, 25 August 1844) married Countess Marie Isabelle von und zu Eltz Faust von Stromberg (Dresden, 10 February 1795 – Prague, 12 March 1859). They had six children: Marie Sophie (Countess von Montfort), Hugo (heir to the family estate), Eleonore, Emerich, Marie Theresa (Countess von Belcredi), and Rudolf, who became Baron von Troskow.
in 1857 Jenny Ständler (Prague, 9 April 1830 – Graz, 28 September 1914). Rudolf was an intellectual who loved Czech music and literature and was an avid patron of the arts. He studied law and in 1861 founded "Právník," the first Czech language law journal. Aided by Karel Jaromír Erben
, he also contributed vocabulary to Czech legal terminology.
He was sincerely devoted to the Czech national cause and was one of its important players: he was the publisher of "Boleslavan," a Czech language weekly dedicated to the cause, and became the first chairman of the famous Czech choir Hlahol. He was also a member of the Committee for the Establishment of the Czech National Theatre (1861) and one of the founders of Czech arts society Umělecká beseda in Prague (1863). He supported Czech writers Božena Němcová
, Vítězslav Hálek, and Karolina Světlá
, and promoted Czech composers Antonín Dvořák
and Bedřich Smetana
. The latter composed the opera Braniboři v Čechách at Rudolf's estate in Niměřice. In 1894, Rudolf gave up his princely title and family name, receiving at his request the title of Freiherr
von Troskow from the Emperor Franz Joseph
. Ten years later he died while visiting his daughter Hedvika in Velehrad. In 1930, his and his wife's remains were exhumed and reinterred in the family grave in Stará Boleslav.
(Venice, 28 December 1855 – Lautschin, 16 February 1934). They inherited Lautschin in 1889. Both Alexander and Marie were avid patrons of the arts (Alexander himself played violin and Marie was an amateur painter), and although they were not wealthy compared to their Regensburg relatives, they were generous and never hesitated to support a good cause.
Marie's protégé Rainer Maria Rilke
used to visit the family at their castles Lautschin and Duino. He dedicated his Duino Elegies to the princess, who in turn wrote about him in her published memoirs. Besides Rilke, regular guests at the castle in Lautschin included Karel Sladkovský and Bedřich Smetana
who in 1880 dedicated his composition Z domoviny for violin and piano to Alexander. After Smetana's death, Alexander designated the house in nearby Jabkenice, where Smetana lived his last years, as Smetana's museum and donated land for his memorial. Other artists known to visit the castle included F. X. Salda, Eliška Krásnohorská
, Karel Bendl
, members of the Czech Quartet (who included composer Josef Suk
), and Mark Twain
(who visited the castle during his European travels in 1899). Alexander also loved to travel and he was a passionate hunter who made several hunting trips to Africa, occasionally accompanied by Czech traveller Bedřich Machulka; he later donated his animal trophies to the National Museum in Prague. He belonged to the Knights of Malta and financially assisted a number of charitable causes. Together with his father Prince Hugo he was also instrumental in building the first railway in the region. The railway was built on land that he donated for the project.
When his son Prince Erich, who studied in Cambridge
, brought to Lautschin a new game, he helped him establish the first football team in Bohemia (1889). The team made history when it played in the first official football match historically recorded in Bohemia (1893). The Lautschin team competed against Regatta, the best team in the Austrian-Hungarian Empire. The match took place at the famous Císařská louka in Prague on 18 April 1893 and ended with the Thurn Taxis team losing 0:5. This was still considered a great success for the Lautschin players and the Vienna newspapers Wiener Sportzeitung did not hesitate to conclude that the team from Lautschin was the second best team after Regatta in the Empire.
The family's burial place is in Syčín (Seitzin) near Dobrovice.
Prince Alexander had three legitimate children: Erich (Mzells, 11 January 1876 – Kremsegg, 20 October 1952), Eugen (Prague, 27 March 1878 – Prague, 4 March 1903), and Alexander
(Mzells, 8 July 1881 – Duino, 11 March 1937). Erich married Countess Gabrielle Kinsky (eldest daughter of Rudolf, 9th Prince Kinsky of Wchinitz and Tettau
) in 1903 and in 1925 moved to Austria where he died in 1952. He had nine children, and his son Alexander Ferdinand (1906–1992) held the Lautschin Castle until the end of the war in 1945 when it was confiscated by the Czechoslovak state (his cousin, Ludwig (Luigi) held Mzells Castle until 1948).
Erich's brother Alexander moved to Italy in 1923, having divorced his first wife, Princess Marie de Ligne
in 1919, and leaving the dynastic House of Thurn und Taxis to become the first Duca di Castel Duino
by grant of Victor Emmanuel III of Italy
. His sons joined their father and were recognized in Italy as Princes della Torre e Tasso, although Alexander's daughter Princess Margarita remained a member of the Thurn und Taxis family until her marriage in 1931 to Prince Gaetano of Bourbon-Parma. After Alexander's death, the castle in Duino was inherited by his son Raimundo, 2nd Duke of Castel Duino (1907–1986), and has remained a part of the Torre e Tasso family estate. Descendants of the House of Thurn und Taxis in Bohemia, a family that played an important part in Czech national culture and local history for 140 years, are today dispersed around the world.
Thurn und Taxis
The Princely House of Thurn and Taxis is a German family that was a key player in the postal services in Europe in the 16th century and is well known as owners of breweries and builders of many castles.- History :...
is a dynastic branch of a German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
family that was a key player in the postal services
Mail
Mail, or post, is a system for transporting letters and other tangible objects: written documents, typically enclosed in envelopes, and also small packages are delivered to destinations around the world. Anything sent through the postal system is called mail or post.In principle, a postal service...
in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
in the 16th century and is well known as owners of breweries and builders of countless castles.
History
The Czech branch of the House of Thurn und Taxis was founded in 1808 by Prince Maximilian Joseph von Thurn und Taxis (Regensburg, 29 May 1769 – Prague, 15 May 1831). He was the youngest child of Alexander Ferdinand, 3rd Prince of Thurn and TaxisAlexander Ferdinand, 3rd Prince of Thurn and Taxis
-Titles and styles:*21 March 1704 – 8 November 1739: His Serene Highness The Hereditary Prince of Thurn and Taxis*8 November 1739 – 17 March 1773: His Serene Highness The Prince of Thurn and Taxis-Honours:...
(1704 – 1773), a founder of a dynastic order of knighthood and a house order of chivalry in the Princely House of Thurn and Taxis, The Order of Parfaite Amitié
Order of Parfaite Amitié
The Order of Parfaite Amitié is a dynastic order of knighthood and a house order of chivalry in the Princely House of Thurn and Taxis.-History:...
, and his third wife Princess Maria Henriette von Fürstenberg
Fürstenberg
Fürstenberg and can refer to the following.- Historical states :* Fürstenberg , county * Fürstenberg-Baar, county * Fürstenberg-Blumberg, county...
(1732 – 1772). In 1791, Maximilian married Princess Eleonore von Lobkowicz
Lobkowicz
The Lobkowicz family is one of the oldest still existing Bohemian noble families dating back to the 14th century...
(Prague, 22 April 1770 – Lautschin, 9 November 1834), who belonged to a mediatised Czech noble family whose origin can be traced back to Mares Martin z Ujezda (1376–90). In 1808, he inherited Lautschin (Loučeň in Czech) and Dobrovice castles from his cousin Princess Maria Josefa von Fürstenberg, and in 1820 permanently settled in Bohemia
Bohemia
Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...
. Besides Lautschin and other rural estates, the family also owned real estate in Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
that included two palaces: one in the city's uptown (V jámě 635–636, no longer exists) and one in the old town (Vrtbovský Palace in Malá Strana, purchased in 1814). Maximilian and Eleonore had six sons: the firstborn was Karl Anselm von Thurn und Taxis (not to be confused with his uncle Karl Anselm, 4th Prince of Thurn and Taxis
Karl Anselm, 4th Prince of Thurn and Taxis
-Titles and styles:*2 June 1733 – 8 November 1739: His Serene Highness Prince Karl Anselm of Thurn and Taxis*8 November 1739 – 17 March 1773: His Serene Highness The Hereditary Prince of Thurn and Taxis...
of Regensburg, heir to the House of Thurn und Taxis wealth).
In 1815 Prince Karl Anselm von Thurn und Taxis (Prague, 18 June 1792 – Teplitz, 25 August 1844) married Countess Marie Isabelle von und zu Eltz Faust von Stromberg (Dresden, 10 February 1795 – Prague, 12 March 1859). They had six children: Marie Sophie (Countess von Montfort), Hugo (heir to the family estate), Eleonore, Emerich, Marie Theresa (Countess von Belcredi), and Rudolf, who became Baron von Troskow.
Rudolf von Troskow
Rudolf, Baron von Troskow (Prague, 25 November 1833 – Velehrad, 4 July 1904) married morganaticallyMorganatic marriage
In the context of European royalty, a morganatic marriage is a marriage between people of unequal social rank, which prevents the passage of the husband's titles and privileges to the wife and any children born of the marriage...
in 1857 Jenny Ständler (Prague, 9 April 1830 – Graz, 28 September 1914). Rudolf was an intellectual who loved Czech music and literature and was an avid patron of the arts. He studied law and in 1861 founded "Právník," the first Czech language law journal. Aided by Karel Jaromír Erben
Karel Jaromír Erben
Karel Jaromír Erben was a Czech historian, poet and writer of the mid-19th century, best known for his collection Kytice , which contains poems based on traditional and folkloric themes....
, he also contributed vocabulary to Czech legal terminology.
He was sincerely devoted to the Czech national cause and was one of its important players: he was the publisher of "Boleslavan," a Czech language weekly dedicated to the cause, and became the first chairman of the famous Czech choir Hlahol. He was also a member of the Committee for the Establishment of the Czech National Theatre (1861) and one of the founders of Czech arts society Umělecká beseda in Prague (1863). He supported Czech writers Božena Němcová
Božena Nemcová
Božena Němcová was a Czech writer of the final phase of the Czech National Revival movement.-Biography:...
, Vítězslav Hálek, and Karolina Světlá
Karolína Svetlá
Karolina Světlá was a Czech female author of the 19th century. She was a representative to the literary May School. She married Professor Petr Mužák in 1852, who had taught her music. She also had an affair with Jan Neruda. She introduced Eliška Krásnohorská to literature and feminism...
, and promoted Czech composers Antonín Dvořák
Antonín Dvorák
Antonín Leopold Dvořák was a Czech composer of late Romantic music, who employed the idioms of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia. Dvořák’s own style is sometimes called "romantic-classicist synthesis". His works include symphonic, choral and chamber music, concerti, operas and many...
and Bedřich Smetana
Bedrich Smetana
Bedřich Smetana was a Czech composer who pioneered the development of a musical style which became closely identified with his country's aspirations to independent statehood. He is thus widely regarded in his homeland as the father of Czech music...
. The latter composed the opera Braniboři v Čechách at Rudolf's estate in Niměřice. In 1894, Rudolf gave up his princely title and family name, receiving at his request the title of Freiherr
Freiherr
The German titles Freiherr and Freifrau and Freiin are titles of nobility, used preceding a person's given name or, after 1919, before the surname...
von Troskow from the Emperor Franz Joseph
Franz Joseph I of Austria
Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I was Emperor of Austria, King of Bohemia, King of Croatia, Apostolic King of Hungary, King of Galicia and Lodomeria and Grand Duke of Cracow from 1848 until his death in 1916.In the December of 1848, Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria abdicated the throne as part of...
. Ten years later he died while visiting his daughter Hedvika in Velehrad. In 1930, his and his wife's remains were exhumed and reinterred in the family grave in Stará Boleslav.
Hugo Maximilian von Thurn und Taxis
Prince Hugo Maximilian von Thurn und Taxis (Prague, 3 July 1817 – Lautschin, 28 November 1889) married Countess Almeria von Belcredi (Ingrowitz, 8 October 1819 – Lautschin, 25 September 1914). Hugo's estate included castles in Dobrovice, Lautschin (Loucen in Czech) and Mzells (Mcely), and estates in Vlkava, Niměřice and Ceteň. Hugo had four legitimate children: Karoline, Egmont (who died young), Alexander (his heir), and Maria Theresia.Alexander and Marie von Thurn und Taxis
Prince Alexander Johann Vincenz Rudolf Hugo Karl Lamoral Eligius von Thurn und Taxis (Lautschin, 1 December 1851 – Lautschin, 21 July 1939) married in 1875 Princess Marie zu Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-SchillingsfürstHohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst
Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst was a County in northeastern Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst was a partition of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst, and was mediatised to Württemberg in 1806....
(Venice, 28 December 1855 – Lautschin, 16 February 1934). They inherited Lautschin in 1889. Both Alexander and Marie were avid patrons of the arts (Alexander himself played violin and Marie was an amateur painter), and although they were not wealthy compared to their Regensburg relatives, they were generous and never hesitated to support a good cause.
Marie's protégé Rainer Maria Rilke
Rainer Maria Rilke
René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke , better known as Rainer Maria Rilke, was a Bohemian–Austrian poet. He is considered one of the most significant poets in the German language...
used to visit the family at their castles Lautschin and Duino. He dedicated his Duino Elegies to the princess, who in turn wrote about him in her published memoirs. Besides Rilke, regular guests at the castle in Lautschin included Karel Sladkovský and Bedřich Smetana
Bedrich Smetana
Bedřich Smetana was a Czech composer who pioneered the development of a musical style which became closely identified with his country's aspirations to independent statehood. He is thus widely regarded in his homeland as the father of Czech music...
who in 1880 dedicated his composition Z domoviny for violin and piano to Alexander. After Smetana's death, Alexander designated the house in nearby Jabkenice, where Smetana lived his last years, as Smetana's museum and donated land for his memorial. Other artists known to visit the castle included F. X. Salda, Eliška Krásnohorská
Eliška Krásnohorská
Eliška Krásnohorská was a Czech feminist author. She was introduced to literature and feminism by Karolína Světlá...
, Karel Bendl
Karel Bendl
Karel or Karl Bendl was a Czech composer.He studied at the organ school, where he met and befriended Antonín Dvořák one year before graduating with honors in 1858. By then he had already composed a number of small choral works...
, members of the Czech Quartet (who included composer Josef Suk
Josef Suk
Josef Suk may refer to:*Josef Suk *Josef Suk , the elder composer's grandson...
), and Mark Twain
Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist...
(who visited the castle during his European travels in 1899). Alexander also loved to travel and he was a passionate hunter who made several hunting trips to Africa, occasionally accompanied by Czech traveller Bedřich Machulka; he later donated his animal trophies to the National Museum in Prague. He belonged to the Knights of Malta and financially assisted a number of charitable causes. Together with his father Prince Hugo he was also instrumental in building the first railway in the region. The railway was built on land that he donated for the project.
When his son Prince Erich, who studied in Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
, brought to Lautschin a new game, he helped him establish the first football team in Bohemia (1889). The team made history when it played in the first official football match historically recorded in Bohemia (1893). The Lautschin team competed against Regatta, the best team in the Austrian-Hungarian Empire. The match took place at the famous Císařská louka in Prague on 18 April 1893 and ended with the Thurn Taxis team losing 0:5. This was still considered a great success for the Lautschin players and the Vienna newspapers Wiener Sportzeitung did not hesitate to conclude that the team from Lautschin was the second best team after Regatta in the Empire.
The family's burial place is in Syčín (Seitzin) near Dobrovice.
Prince Alexander had three legitimate children: Erich (Mzells, 11 January 1876 – Kremsegg, 20 October 1952), Eugen (Prague, 27 March 1878 – Prague, 4 March 1903), and Alexander
Alessandro, 1st Duke of Castel Duino
Prince Alessandro della Torre e Tasso, 1st Duke of Castel Duino, full German name: Alexander Karl Egon Theobald Lamoral Johann Baptist Maria, Prinz von Thurn und Taxis was a Prince of Thurn of Taxis and a member of the Bohemian line of the Princely...
(Mzells, 8 July 1881 – Duino, 11 March 1937). Erich married Countess Gabrielle Kinsky (eldest daughter of Rudolf, 9th Prince Kinsky of Wchinitz and Tettau
Rudolf, 9th Prince Kinsky of Wchinitz and Tettau
Rudolf, 9th Prince Kinsky of Wchinitz and Tettau was the titular pretender Prince Kinsky of Wchinitz and Tettau.-Early life:Rudolf was born at Hermanmiestetz, Kingdom of Bohemia the third child and second son of Ferdinand Bonaventura, 7th Prince Kinsky of Wchinitz and Tettau and Princess Maria of...
) in 1903 and in 1925 moved to Austria where he died in 1952. He had nine children, and his son Alexander Ferdinand (1906–1992) held the Lautschin Castle until the end of the war in 1945 when it was confiscated by the Czechoslovak state (his cousin, Ludwig (Luigi) held Mzells Castle until 1948).
Erich's brother Alexander moved to Italy in 1923, having divorced his first wife, Princess Marie de Ligne
Prince of Ligne
Prince of Ligne is one of the most prestigious Belgian noble titles. It goes back to the eleventh century and owes its name at the village in which it originated, between Ath and Tournai. The lords of Ligne belong to the entourage of the Count of Hainaut at the time of the crusades...
in 1919, and leaving the dynastic House of Thurn und Taxis to become the first Duca di Castel Duino
Duke of Castel Duino
The Dukes of Castel Duino are a noble family in Italy descending from the Bohemian line of the Princely House of Thurn and Taxis. The title was created along with the additional title of Prince della Torre e Tasso in 1923 for Prince Alexander of Thurn and Taxis following his naturalisation in...
by grant of Victor Emmanuel III of Italy
Victor Emmanuel III of Italy
Victor Emmanuel III was a member of the House of Savoy and King of Italy . In addition, he claimed the crowns of Ethiopia and Albania and claimed the titles Emperor of Ethiopia and King of Albania , which were unrecognised by the Great Powers...
. His sons joined their father and were recognized in Italy as Princes della Torre e Tasso, although Alexander's daughter Princess Margarita remained a member of the Thurn und Taxis family until her marriage in 1931 to Prince Gaetano of Bourbon-Parma. After Alexander's death, the castle in Duino was inherited by his son Raimundo, 2nd Duke of Castel Duino (1907–1986), and has remained a part of the Torre e Tasso family estate. Descendants of the House of Thurn und Taxis in Bohemia, a family that played an important part in Czech national culture and local history for 140 years, are today dispersed around the world.
External links
- http://genealogy.euweb.cz/thurn/thurn1.html
- http://genealogy.euweb.cz/thurn/thurn3.html
- http://genealogy.euweb.cz/thurn/thurn4.html
- http://genealogy.euweb.cz/thurn/thurn9.html
- http://www.pozitivni-noviny.cz/cz/clanek-2007060059
- http://www.pozitivni-noviny.cz/cz/clanek-2007060063
- http://genealogy.euweb.cz/lobkow/lobkow1.html
- http://genealogy.euweb.cz/lobkow/lobkow2.html
- http://genealogy.euweb.cz/lobkow/lobkow10.html
- http://www.zamekloucen.cz/
- http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/t/twain/mark/paine/chapter206.html
- http://www.hlahol.cz/english/history.html