The princesses of Legnica and thier dispute over Touzim manor (contribution to the history of piast dynasty)

Marek Stary
The princesses of Legnica and thier dispute over Touzim manor (contribution to the history of piast dynasty)
[Lehnicke knezny a jejich spor o panstvi Touzim (prispevek k dejinam piastovske dynastie]
s. 169-177; pp. 169-177
Abstract

In the year 1604, Princesses Catherine Sophia, Anna Mary and Emilia, daughters of the defunct Duke Henry XI of Legnica, they put their seal upon the declaration of their accession to the Bohemian Kingdom. They realized the verbal admission at the same time and acquired Bohemian citizenship in this way. It represents a unique event in early modern Czech period history. This article tries to make the circumstances of this case clear in detail. The activities of the Princesses of Legnica were evidently motivated by the effort to claim the inheritance of the Princess Dorothea Catherine. This lady, who possessed the Toužim Manor in west Bohemia, was their aunt. She was born Markgravine of Brandenburg and would later marry Henry, Prince of Plauen. She died in the beginning of the year 1604 and her nieces decided to claim their right to her estate as the next of kin. The above mentioned legal acts represented a prerequisite to this claim. Besides the Princesses of Legnica, Czech nobleman Christopher Hasištejnský of Lobkovic raised a claim upon Toužim Manor. He argued that Henry of Plauen owed him a lot of money. The Land Courts of the Bohemian Kingdom had to decide whether the manor, which had legal status of Dorothea Catherine’s jointure, should fall to her heirs or to the creditor of her defunct husband. After three years, the decision was given, which in fact meant a success for the Princesses. The Toužim Manor became the property of Christopher Hasištejnský, but he had to pay the Princesses the sum of 24.175 Rhenish Goldgulden and 40 Kreutzers as the compensation of their valid claims. It should be mentioned, that the Princesses of Legnica attained Bohemian citizenship, but they never lived in Bohemia. Thus, the Princesses are linked to Czech history.

 

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