John III of Pernstein
Encyclopedia
John of Pernstein was High Treasurer of Moravia
from 1506 and 1516 and Landeshauptmann
of Moravia from 1515 to 1519 and from 1526 to 1528 and Governor
of Moravia from 1530 to 1532. From 1537 to 1548, he was Count of Glatz and pledge lord of the County of Glatz.
and Johanna of Liblitz . Little is known about John's childhood. He probably spent most of it at the family castle at Pardubice
; he also stayed some time in Breslau. In 1497, John and his younger brother Vojtěch I of Pernstein were knighted at Pardubice Castle by King Vladislav II of Hungary, who was travelling from Prague
to Hungary
. In 1506, John was appointed High Treasurer of Moravia. After 1515, he was Landeshauptmann
of Moravia several times. Before 1521, he called himself John of Tobitschau (Jan z Tovačova), after the castle where he and his family lived.
When his father died in 1521, Vojtěch I inherited his father's Bohemian possessions, and John inherited the Moravian possessions. From 1521 until his death, he called himself John of Helfenstein, after his Moravian castle, even though he spent much of his time at a castle he had built in Prostějov
. Shortly after their father's death, both brothers converted to the Utraquist faith.
John fought in the Ottoman wars and participated in 1526 with Moravian troops on the Battle of Mohács
, where King Louis II of Hungary was killed. When his brother Vojtěch I died in 1534, John inherited his extensive Bohemian estates and became one of the richest land owners in Bohemia, leading to his nickname John the Rich.
John had a strong sense of art and in 1516 he founded the first literary circle in Moravia, in Třebíč
. On his estates, he promoted Renaissance
architecture. Between 1522 and 1530, he had a castle built in Prostějov, where he lived with his family. Between 1536 and 1543 he built the St. Ursula Church in Chlumec nad Cidlinou
. In 1538, he started the construnction of a castle in Valašské Meziříčí
as well as the reconstruction of the Pardubice castle in Renaissance style. Pernštejn Castle
, which his fathter had neglected, was rebuilt and expanded during John's reign and remodelted as a representative palace. From 1540 to 1546, he minted coins in Kłodzko in a Renaissance style. The obverse shows a picture of a bust of John, to emphasize the territorial sovereignty of the County of Glatz.
His views on religion and Bohemain state policy were opposed to those of King Ferdinand I
. Where John represented the interests of the Estates
, Ferdinand tried to limit their power.
Towards the end of his lifetime, John the Rich found himself in financial difficulties. In 1543, he had to sell of the Lordship of Riesenburg and a year later, he had to sell the Lordships of Náchod
and Lanšperk, as well as parts of the dominion of Potštejn
with Litice Castle
and Brandys nad Orlici
.
John died on 8 September 1548 at his castle in Židlochovice
in southern Moravia. He was buried in the Holy Cross Church in Doubravník
. This church had been destroyed during the Hussite Wars
and John had rebuilt it. His territories were divided among his sons. His third wife Magdalena of Ormosd survived him by eight years. The disintegration of his fortune continued after his death, when his son Jaroslav had to sell off the Moravian estates.
, whose father, Wenceslaus II
had died in 1524, before Wenceslaus III Adam was born. A treaty to that effect had been concluded before Casimir II's death and they had also decided that John's daughter Marie would later marry Wenceslaus III Adam, which she did in 1540. In a secret addendum to this treaty, they had arranged that if ever Casimir's family would die out in the male line, then the Duchy of Cieszyn would fall to John or his descendants.
, the spread of Lutheranism
and Baptism
in Glatz.
John settled severtal disputes between the estates and regulated brewing rights. Although he supported the 1547 Bohemian uprising, the Estates of Glatz did not participate in the rebellion and consequently, his county was spared whenthe King punished the rebellious areas.
As early as 1546, two years before John's death, his sons were started negotiations with Ernest of Bavaria
, the administrator of Salzburg, about the possibility of selling the County of Glatz to him. After the Estates of Bohemia accepted Ernest as a landed subject, the County of Glatz was transferred to him on 14 November 1549. A dispute arose when John's son Vratislav refused to sell him the Lordship of Hummel
. This Lordship had been administratively part of Glatz since 1477, but Vratislav argued it was still a separate Lordship and had been acquired separately by John in 1541. When Ernest threatened to call off the whole transaction, Vratislav gave in and handed him Hummel, including the towns of Duszniki Zdrój and Lewin Kłodzki.
In 1507 he married Anne of Postupitz , who died in 1526. They had the following children:
His second wife was in 1528 Hedwig of Schellenberg (Hedvika z Šelmberka), who died in 1535.
They had the following children:
John married in 1544 with Magdalena of Ormozd (Magdaléna z Ormosdu; d. 1556), a widow of the Hungarian magnate Alexei Thurzo
of Bethlenfalva. This marriage remained childless.
Moravia
Moravia is a historical region in Central Europe in the east of the Czech Republic, and one of the former Czech lands, together with Bohemia and Silesia. It takes its name from the Morava River which rises in the northwest of the region...
from 1506 and 1516 and Landeshauptmann
Landeshauptmann
Landeshauptmann is a former German gubernatorial title equivalent to that of a governor of a province or a state....
of Moravia from 1515 to 1519 and from 1526 to 1528 and Governor
Governor
A governor is a governing official, usually the executive of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state...
of Moravia from 1530 to 1532. From 1537 to 1548, he was Count of Glatz and pledge lord of the County of Glatz.
Life
John of Pernstein was a member of the Moravian noble Pernstein family. His parents were William II of PernsteinWilliam II of Pernstein
William II of Pernstein was a Moravian-Bohemian nobleman. He held the office of High Treasurer of Moravia from 1474 to 1487. He was High Marshall of Bohemia from 1483 to 1490 and Lord Chamberlain of Bohemia from 1490 to 1514.- Youth :...
and Johanna of Liblitz . Little is known about John's childhood. He probably spent most of it at the family castle at Pardubice
Pardubice
Pardubice is the capital city of the Pardubice Region and lies on the river Elbe, 65 miles east of Prague. Pardubice has an antique centre square and old town, with many restaurants that stay open until late in the evening. There is an old Tower and a recently renovated Castle...
; he also stayed some time in Breslau. In 1497, John and his younger brother Vojtěch I of Pernstein were knighted at Pardubice Castle by King Vladislav II of Hungary, who was travelling from 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...
to Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
. In 1506, John was appointed High Treasurer of Moravia. After 1515, he was Landeshauptmann
Landeshauptmann
Landeshauptmann is a former German gubernatorial title equivalent to that of a governor of a province or a state....
of Moravia several times. Before 1521, he called himself John of Tobitschau (Jan z Tovačova), after the castle where he and his family lived.
When his father died in 1521, Vojtěch I inherited his father's Bohemian possessions, and John inherited the Moravian possessions. From 1521 until his death, he called himself John of Helfenstein, after his Moravian castle, even though he spent much of his time at a castle he had built in Prostějov
Prostejov
Prostějov is a city in the Olomouc Region of the Czech Republic. Today the city is known for its fashion industry and special military forces based there....
. Shortly after their father's death, both brothers converted to the Utraquist faith.
John fought in the Ottoman wars and participated in 1526 with Moravian troops on the Battle of Mohács
Battle of Mohács
The Battle of Mohács was fought on August 29, 1526 near Mohács, Hungary. In the battle, forces of the Kingdom of Hungary led by King Louis II of Hungary and Bohemia were defeated by forces of the Ottoman Empire led by Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent....
, where King Louis II of Hungary was killed. When his brother Vojtěch I died in 1534, John inherited his extensive Bohemian estates and became one of the richest land owners in Bohemia, leading to his nickname John the Rich.
John had a strong sense of art and in 1516 he founded the first literary circle in Moravia, in Třebíč
Trebíc
Třebíč is a city in the Moravian part of the Vysočina Region of the Czech Republic.Třebíč is situated 35 km southeast of Jihlava and 65 km west of Brno on the Jihlava River. Třebíč is from 392 to 503 metres above sea-level....
. On his estates, he promoted Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
architecture. Between 1522 and 1530, he had a castle built in Prostějov, where he lived with his family. Between 1536 and 1543 he built the St. Ursula Church in Chlumec nad Cidlinou
Chlumec nad Cidlinou
Chlumec nad Cidlinou is a city of the Czech Republic in Bohemia, Hradec Králové Region.It is situated near Hradec Králové at the confluence of the rivers Cidlina and Bystřice. The town lies at an average height of 206 metres above sea level...
. In 1538, he started the construnction of a castle in Valašské Meziříčí
Valašské Mezirící
Valašské Meziříčí is a town in the Zlín Region, the Czech Republic. The town has 27,960 inhabitants.Vsetínská Bečva and Rožnovská Bečva rivers join in the town to form the Bečva River.-Main sights:* The Kinský Chateau...
as well as the reconstruction of the Pardubice castle in Renaissance style. Pernštejn Castle
Pernštejn Castle
Pernštejn Castle is a castle located on a rock above the village of Nedvědice and the rivers Svratka and Nedvědička, some 40 km northwest of Brno, in the South Moravian Region, Czech Republic. Pernštejn came to be known as the marble castle because of the marble-like stone used to frame the...
, which his fathter had neglected, was rebuilt and expanded during John's reign and remodelted as a representative palace. From 1540 to 1546, he minted coins in Kłodzko in a Renaissance style. The obverse shows a picture of a bust of John, to emphasize the territorial sovereignty of the County of Glatz.
His views on religion and Bohemain state policy were opposed to those of King Ferdinand I
Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor
Ferdinand I was Holy Roman Emperor from 1558 and king of Bohemia and Hungary from 1526 until his death. Before his accession, he ruled the Austrian hereditary lands of the Habsburgs in the name of his elder brother, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor.The key events during his reign were the contest...
. Where John represented the interests of the Estates
Estates of the realm
The Estates of the realm were the broad social orders of the hierarchically conceived society, recognized in the Middle Ages and Early Modern period in Christian Europe; they are sometimes distinguished as the three estates: the clergy, the nobility, and commoners, and are often referred to by...
, Ferdinand tried to limit their power.
Towards the end of his lifetime, John the Rich found himself in financial difficulties. In 1543, he had to sell of the Lordship of Riesenburg and a year later, he had to sell the Lordships of Náchod
Náchod
Náchod -History:Náchod was founded in 14th century by knight Hron of Načeradice, who founded a castle on a strategical place, where local trade road reaches the defile called Branka. The first written note dates back to 1254.-Castle:...
and Lanšperk, as well as parts of the dominion of Potštejn
Potštejn
Potštejn is municipality, Hradec Králové Region in Rychnov nad Kněžnou District. From the end of the 19th century till 1924 the name Potštýn nad Orlicí was used....
with Litice Castle
Litice Castle
Litice Castle is a castle 7 km west of Žamberk in the Ústí nad Orlicí District, in the Pardubice Region of the Czech Republic.-History:The steep slopes of the foothills of the Orlické hory gave the advantage of a strategic position to the gothic castles being founded there at the close of the...
and Brandys nad Orlici
Brandýs nad Orlicí
Brandýs nad Orlicí is a small town in the Pardubice Region of the Czech Republic. It has around 1,400 inhabitants.-External links:*...
.
John died on 8 September 1548 at his castle in Židlochovice
Židlochovice
Židlochovice is a town in Brno-Country District in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic.The town covers an area of , and has a population of 3,075.Židlochovice lies approximately south of Brno and south-east of Prague.- References :*...
in southern Moravia. He was buried in the Holy Cross Church in Doubravník
Doubravník
Doubravník is a small town in Brno-Country District in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic.The town covers an area of , and has a population of 791 ....
. This church had been destroyed during the Hussite Wars
Hussite Wars
The Hussite Wars, also called the Bohemian Wars involved the military actions against and amongst the followers of Jan Hus in Bohemia in the period 1419 to circa 1434. The Hussite Wars were notable for the extensive use of early hand-held gunpowder weapons such as hand cannons...
and John had rebuilt it. His territories were divided among his sons. His third wife Magdalena of Ormosd survived him by eight years. The disintegration of his fortune continued after his death, when his son Jaroslav had to sell off the Moravian estates.
John's influence in Silesia
After the death of Duke Casimir II of Cieszyn in 1528, John took up the guardianship of Casimir's grandson Wenceslaus III AdamWenceslaus III Adam, Duke of Cieszyn
Wenceslaus III Adam of Cieszyn was a Duke of Cieszyn since 1528 until his death.He was the second but only surviving son of Wenceslaus II, co-Duke of Cieszyn, by his wife Anna, daughter of Frederick I, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach...
, whose father, Wenceslaus II
Wenceslaus II, Duke of Cieszyn
Wenceslaus II of Cieszyn , was a Duke of Cieszyn since 1518 until his death .He was the second son of Casimir II, Duke of Cieszyn, by his wife Johanna, daughter of Wiktoryn of Poděbrady, Duke of Opawa.-Life:...
had died in 1524, before Wenceslaus III Adam was born. A treaty to that effect had been concluded before Casimir II's death and they had also decided that John's daughter Marie would later marry Wenceslaus III Adam, which she did in 1540. In a secret addendum to this treaty, they had arranged that if ever Casimir's family would die out in the male line, then the Duchy of Cieszyn would fall to John or his descendants.
John as a Count of Glatz
In 1537, King Ferdinand I of Bohemia mortgaged the County of Glatz, which belonged immediately to Bohemia, to John of Pernstein for . John also received the title of Count of Glatz and the right to mint coins in Glatz. Since John, unlike Ferdinand, sympathized with the ReformationReformation
- Movements :* Protestant Reformation, an attempt by Martin Luther to reform the Roman Catholic Church that resulted in a schism, and grew into a wider movement...
, the spread of Lutheranism
Lutheranism
Lutheranism is a major branch of Western Christianity that identifies with the theology of Martin Luther, a German reformer. Luther's efforts to reform the theology and practice of the church launched the Protestant Reformation...
and Baptism
Baptism
In Christianity, baptism is for the majority the rite of admission , almost invariably with the use of water, into the Christian Church generally and also membership of a particular church tradition...
in Glatz.
John settled severtal disputes between the estates and regulated brewing rights. Although he supported the 1547 Bohemian uprising, the Estates of Glatz did not participate in the rebellion and consequently, his county was spared whenthe King punished the rebellious areas.
As early as 1546, two years before John's death, his sons were started negotiations with Ernest of Bavaria
Ernest of Bavaria (1500–1560)
Duke Ernest of Bavaria was Administrator of the dioceses of Passau and Salzburg and pledge Lord of Glatz.- Background and education :Ernest was a member of the Bavarian noble Wittelsbach family...
, the administrator of Salzburg, about the possibility of selling the County of Glatz to him. After the Estates of Bohemia accepted Ernest as a landed subject, the County of Glatz was transferred to him on 14 November 1549. A dispute arose when John's son Vratislav refused to sell him the Lordship of Hummel
Lordship of Hummel
The Lordship of Hummel is a historic landscape in the western part of the former County of Glatz in Silesia.- The Hummel Castle :The focus of the Lordship of Hummel was Hummel Castle, located on a mountain above the valley of the Bystrzyca Dusznicka river, approximately 3 km west of Duszniki Zdrój...
. This Lordship had been administratively part of Glatz since 1477, but Vratislav argued it was still a separate Lordship and had been acquired separately by John in 1541. When Ernest threatened to call off the whole transaction, Vratislav gave in and handed him Hummel, including the towns of Duszniki Zdrój and Lewin Kłodzki.
Marriage and issue
John of Pernstein was married three times.In 1507 he married Anne of Postupitz , who died in 1526. They had the following children:
- Margaret (Markéta) (1514–1529), married in 1529 Henry II of MünsterbergHenry II, Duke of Münsterberg-OelsHenry II of Münsterberg-Oels was from 1536 to 1542 Duke of Münsterberg and of Oels and from 1542 to 1548 Duke of Bernstadt...
- Joan (born: 1516), married John the Younger of Žerotín
- Catherine (Kateřina) (1518-1552?), married in 1533 Henry of Švamberk (Jindřich ze Švamberka)
- Marie (1524–1566), married in 1540 Wenceslaus III Adam of CieszynWenceslaus III Adam, Duke of CieszynWenceslaus III Adam of Cieszyn was a Duke of Cieszyn since 1528 until his death.He was the second but only surviving son of Wenceslaus II, co-Duke of Cieszyn, by his wife Anna, daughter of Frederick I, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach...
His second wife was in 1528 Hedwig of Schellenberg (Hedvika z Šelmberka), who died in 1535.
They had the following children:
- Jaroslav (1528–1560), married in 1552 Elizabeth Thurzo of BethlenfalvyThurzoThurzo or Turzo was a Hungarian noble family from the 15th century to the first half of the 17th century.The ancestors of the Thurzo family came to the Kingdom of Hungary from Lower Austria....
(d. 1573) - Vratislav II (1530–1582), married in 1555 Maria Manrique de Lara (d. 1608)
- Vojtěch II of Pernstein (1532–1561) , married in 1556 Catherine of Postupitz (Kateřina z Postupice, d. 1564)
- Catherine (Kateřina) (1534–1571), married in 1550 Eck of Salm
John married in 1544 with Magdalena of Ormozd (Magdaléna z Ormosdu; d. 1556), a widow of the Hungarian magnate Alexei Thurzo
Thurzo
Thurzo or Turzo was a Hungarian noble family from the 15th century to the first half of the 17th century.The ancestors of the Thurzo family came to the Kingdom of Hungary from Lower Austria....
of Bethlenfalva. This marriage remained childless.