Duchy of Bernstadt

The Duchy of Bernstadt ( Czech Bernštatské knížectví ) was created as a spin- out of the Duchy of oil. It was first ruled by the Silesian Piast dynasty. After the extinction of that family branch in 1492 it passed in 1495, together with the Duchy Oels to the Dukes of Münsterberg, who came from the noble family Podiebrad. Through marriage it fell in 1647 to the dukes of Württemberg. Residenzort was the city of the same name Bernstadt ( today Bierutów in the Province of Lower Silesia in Poland).

History

The territory of the Duchy of Bernstadt first belonged to the Duchy of oil, which was a fief of the Crown of Bohemia since 1329. In 1412 it was for Duke Conrad IV, who later became bishop of Breslau, outsourced. After the extinction of the Oelser branch of the Silesian Piast family in 1492 it fell as a completed fief to the crown of Bohemia. 1495 awarded the Czech king Vladislav II together with Oels to Henry the Elder. Münsterberg, a son of the Bohemian King George of Podiebrad. Due to lack of funds leased his sons Bernstadt 1511 to four years the Council of the city of Wroclaw, then they raised it to the residence. From 1542 resided in Bernstadt Duke Henry II, he was a supporter of the Reformation, which he introduced in Bernstadt. The Bern townspeople castle was rebuilt during his reign and added to the south wing. His son of the same Henry III. sold Bernstadt, together with the castle and some villages in 1574 the family of shingle. From her acquired it in 1604 Henry III. Brother, the Silesian Governor Charles II returned. When Duke of Bernstadt was succeeded in 1617 by his son Henry Wenzel, who was succeeded in 1639 by his brother Karl Friedrich. With him the Oelser Podiebrad branch died out in 1647. Since his only daughter Elizabeth was married to Maria Silvius Nimrod, Bern city came together with Oels to the House of Württemberg. Among his sons, the area was in 1673 divided into three parts. The branch Bern city fell to Duke Christian Ulrich I, which prompted the reconstruction of the city after a fire in 1659 and the castle rose by a third floor. In 1697 he also took over the subarea oil. His son Karl Julius Castle, died childless in 1745, was the last Duke of Bernstadt.

Already in 1742, the area was, as most of Silesia, fallen after the First Silesian War to Prussia.