Peter von Biron
Peter von Biron (* February 15, 1724 in Jelgava, † January 13, 1800 in Gellenau, County of Glatz ) was Reichsgraf and from November 24, 1769 Duke of Courland and Semgallen and from April 6, 1786, Duke of Sagan.
Life
His parents were Duke Ernst Johann von Biron Biron of Courland from the house and Benigna, née von Trotta Gen. Treyden. At the age of 16 he had with his parents and his younger brother Charles into exile to Siberia and - at the behest of Empress Elizabeth I - a year later to Yaroslavl in the Russian Far East. 1762 lifted Tsar Peter III. exile, and Catherine sat 1763 Peter's father Ernst Johann back to the Duke of Courland one. After his abdication in 1769 Peter became his successor.
Peter von Biron term of 1769-1795 was marked by the dissatisfaction of Courland estates. Therefore, he began to orient themselves to Prussia and Bohemia. At the inherited from his father outdoor caste domination Wartenberg in Silesia, he bought
By the third partition of Poland in 1795 the suzerainty of the Polish King August Poniatowski and Kurland accounted Russia was incorporated. Peter von Biron was forced to abdicate by Empress Catherine, with him an annual pension of 25,000 ducats and a jointure was awarded for his wife. For his possessions in Courland he received two million rubles. He then went with his family on his duchy Sagan. In the same year he sold the castle and bought Friedrichsfelde
He became a member of the Bohemian Landtafel Through his estates in Bohemia.
Peter von Biron married after two childless marriages in 1779 Anna Charlotte Dorothea, née Countess von Medem from old Courland nobility. From this marriage four daughters who survived infancy:
- Katharina Friederike Wilhelmine Benigna (1781-1839), inherited after Peter's death the duchy of Sagan in Silesia and the rule Nachod in Bohemia.
- Maria Luise Pauline (1782-1845); ∞ Friedrich Hermann Otto von Hohenzollern - Hechingen; inherited after Peter's death, the Prague Palace and the dominions hollow stone and Nettkow, by Wilhelmine's death heir to the Duchy of Sagan and the rule Nachod.
- Johanna Katharina (* June 24, 1783 in Würzau, † April 11, 1876 Löbichau ); ∞ Francis Pignatelli de Belmondi, Duke of Acerenza. Inherited in 1806, the Prague Kurland Palais and after her mother's death the rule in the Old Löbichau TPF.
- Dorothea (1793-1862); ∞ Count Edmond de Talleyrand -Périgord. She inherited after Peter's death, the Berlin Kurland Palais and the rule of German Wartenberg and acquired in 1842 by her sister Pauline, the Duchy of Sagan.
Peter von Biron was music and art -loving. In its castles he owned extensive collection of paintings and engraving collections. At the Royal Porcelain Manufactory Berlin he gave the service Kurland in order, that is still produced today. In relation to his subjects, he was progressive; in Jelgava, he built a high school, in his reign Nachod he supported the establishment of village schools and made concessions in forced labor.
On October 26, 1785 was awarded the Black Eagle Peter von Biron by the Prussian King Friedrich II.
When he fell ill in December 1799, he went from Nachod from the nearby Gellenau at Kudowa to have to deal with by the doctor of Mutius, whose family owned the castle in Gellenau. There the Duchess Dorothea visited him with four daughters. On January 6, 1800, he declared his will and died on January 13 in 1800. His body was transferred to Sagan.
The Czech writer Alois Jirásek has with his novel from 1877, " Na dvoře vévodském " (the ducal court ) Peter von Biron a literary monument. In it, the Duke is represented as a kind and concerned about his subjects. At the same time life on the Náchod castle during the summer 1799 period is described accordingly. Since Jirasek has been largely digested the stories and memories of his older relatives and other residents from the Náchod area, the subscribed Duke picture you can certainly believe.