Johann Weikhard of Auersperg

Johann Weikhard Prince of Auersperg (also Vajkard of Auersperg; * March 11, 1615 at Castle Seisenberg, † November 11, 1677 in Ljubljana ) was an Austrian minister, the first prince of Auersperg, Imperial Prince of Tengen and Duke of Münsterberg.

Life

He came from the elder branch of the family of the resident in Carniola Auersperg. His parents were Theodore ( Dietrich ) and Sidonia von Auersperg Gall of gallstone.

Johann Weikhard held from 1640 several places in the government and was Lord High Steward and educators of the Roman- German king Ferdinand IV. 1653 he was appointed by Emperor Ferdinand III. raised to the imperial princes, who enfeoffed him in 1654 in his capacity as King of Bohemia with the Silesian Duchy of Münsterberg and the City of Frankenstein. He then dubbed as Duke of Münsterberg. He exercised great political influence in the first decade of the reign of Emperor Leopold I in 1653. As prime minister he closed on 19 January 1668 secret agreement with France on a division of the Spanish monarchy and worked at a Catholic Triple Alliance between Austria, France and Spain. Since he was suspected to have conducted secret negotiations with the French king Louis XIV, who is said to have promised him in return the cardinal, he was released unexpectedly on December 10, 1669 and exiled from court. The death sentence imposed on him was not enforced. He then lived on his Krainer goods, where he by his brother Wolf Engelbrecht Count Auersperg the reigns Gottschee and Seisenberg inherited in 1673.

Johann Weikhard was married to Mary Catherine (1635-1691) of loose stone. The couple had three sons and five daughters. The older sons Johann Ferdinand von Auersperg and Franz Karl von Auersperg followed him as Dukes of Münsterberg.