Duchy of Troppau

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Ducatus Oppaviensis (la) Opavské vévodství (cs) Herzogtum Troppau (de) Księstwo Opawskie (pl) Duchy of Troppau Fiefdom of the Bohemian Crown ← 1269–1918 → Coat of arms Capital Opava (Troppau) Government Principality Historical era Middle Ages  - Established 1269  - Partitioned into three 1366  - Further partitions 1424, 1433 and 1452  - Annexed by Bohemia 1462–1506  - Further partition 1742  - abolished 1918

The Principality or Duchy of Troppau (German: Herzogtum Troppau, Czech: Opavské vévodství) was based for centuries in the city of Opava (Troppau) in Silesia.

The duchy was created on lands split off from the March of Moravia before 1269^[1] by King Ottokar II of Bohemia, to provide for his natural son, Nicholas I, Duke of Troppau, as he was known henceforth. Troppau's princely dynasty was thus first ruled by an illegitimate offshoot of the House of Premysl, and not by the Silesian Piasts, like many of the neighbouring Duchies of Silesia.

Troppau in 1900

In 1318, for Nicholas II, the Duchy was confirmed as fief by King John I of Bohemia^[2], who soon had to fend off the Hungarian troops of Casimir III of Poland.^[3] In 1336 Duke Nicholas II also inherited the Duchy of Ratibor, which he ruled in personal union until his death in 1365, when his eldest son Jan I succeeded him.

In 1377, Duke Jan I of Ratibor split the Duchy of Krnov off Troppau and granted the latter to his younger brothers Nicholas III (†1394), Wenceslaus I (†1381) and Przemko (†1433). From Przemko's sons the duchy entered into possession of the Bohemian king George of Poděbrady in 1465. Hereinafter ownership changed several times, mainly by purchase and partitions. In 1521, with the death of Duke Valentin of Ratibor, this line of the Premysls ended and Troppau fell back to the Bohemian Crown, which in 1526 became a possession of the House of Habsburg. Prince Karl I of Liechtenstein^[4] was in 1614 invested with the Duchy of Troppau. Ever since, the heads of the Princely Family of Liechtenstein bear the title Duke of Troppau, resp. since 1621 Duke of Troppau and Jägerndorf.

In 1742, in the course of the War of the Austrian Succession, the Duchy was divided once more, with the part north of Opava River including Głubczyce (Leobschütz) and Prudnik (Neustadt) becoming part of Prussian Province of Silesia, the southern part with Krnov, Bruntál (Freudenthal), Fulnek and Opava itself remaining in Austrian Silesia.

The Duchy of Opava ceased to exist when the Austro-Hungarian Empire was dissolved in 1918 and the area (Troppauer Land) including the city of Opava became part of Czechoslovakia. The Prussian share remained a part of the Silesian province until 1945, when it fell to Poland.

Hans-Adam II, Prince of Liechtenstein, currently uses the title of Duke of Troppau and Jägerndorf.

Literature

• Seidl, Elmar: Das Troppauer Land zwischen den fünf Südgrenzen Schlesiens - Grundzüge der politischen und territorialen Geschichte bis zur Mitte des 19. Jahrhunderts. Berlin: Gebr. Mann. ISBN 3-7861-1626-1 [3]

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Troppau

• Dynasty of Dukes of Troppau and Ratibor

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