Duchy of Teschen | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1290–1918 | |||||||||||
 Silesia duchies in 1290–91: Teschen underMieszko I in yellow | |||||||||||
| Status | Silesian duchy Fiefdom ofBohemia(from 1327) Part of theBohemian Crown(from 1348) | ||||||||||
| Capital | Cieszyn | ||||||||||
| Common languages | Latin (officially) Czech andGerman (later) Polish (popularly) | ||||||||||
| Religion | Lutheranism Roman Catholicism | ||||||||||
| Dukes | |||||||||||
• 1290–1315 | Mieszko I (first duke) | ||||||||||
• 1625–1653 | Elizabeth Lucretia (last Piast ruler) | ||||||||||
• 1895–1918 | Archduke Frederick Habsburg (last duke) | ||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||
• Partitioned fromOpole-Racibórz | 1281 | ||||||||||
• Split offOświęcim | 1315 | ||||||||||
• Vassalized byBohemia | 1327 | ||||||||||
• Split offBielsko | 1572 | ||||||||||
• Habsburg rule | 1653 | ||||||||||
• Part ofAustrian Silesia | 1742/45 | ||||||||||
• Disestablished | 1918 | ||||||||||
| 28 July 1920 | |||||||||||
| Population | |||||||||||
• 1910 | 350,000 | ||||||||||
| |||||||||||
1 Coat of arms of the Duchy of Teschen and the regional branch of thePiast dynasty | |||||||||||
TheDuchy of Teschen (German:Herzogtum Teschen), alsoDuchy of Cieszyn (Polish:Księstwo Cieszyńskie) orDuchy of Těšín (Czech:Těšínské knížectví), was one of theDuchies of Silesia centered onCieszyn (Teschen) inUpper Silesia. It was split off the SilesianDuchy of Opole and Racibórz in 1281 during thefeudal division of Poland and was ruled bySilesian dukes of thePiast dynasty from 1290 until the line became extinct with the death of DuchessElizabeth Lucretia in 1653.[1]
The ducal lands initially comprised formerLesser Polish territories east of theBiała River, which in about 1315 again split off as the PolishDuchy of Oświęcim, while the remaining duchy became a fiefdom of theBohemian kings in 1327 and was incorporated into theLands of the Bohemian Crown in 1348. While the bulk ofSilesia was conquered by thePrussian kingFrederick the Great in theSilesian Wars of 1740–1763, Teschen together with the duchies ofTroppau (Opava),Krnov andNysa remained with theHabsburg monarchy and merged into theAustrian Silesia crown land in 1849. The so-called "commander line" of theHabsburg-Lorraine dynasty, a cadet branch descending fromArchduke Charles, Duke of Teschen, held the title "Duke of Teschen" until 1918.
The duchy shared the history of theCieszyn Silesia region, and also in part that of Silesia in general: the Teschen area was the south-easternmost part of the medievalDuchy of Silesia, a Polish province established upon the death of DukeBolesław III Wrymouth in 1138.[2] According to histestament, the Silesian lands were to be ruled by his eldest sonWładysław II, who became the progenitor of theSilesian Piasts. Though he was exiled by his younger half-brothers after he had tried to gain control over Poland as a whole, his sons, backed by EmperorFrederick Barbarossa, were able to return and to secure their Silesian inheritance. In 1172 they divided the heritage: the Upper Silesian lands with the Cieszyn area stretching up to theBeskid Mountains fell to the second sonMieszko I Tanglefoot, who ruled asDuke of Racibórz.
Defying the Polishagnatic seniority principle, Mieszko Tanglefoot in 1202 occupied the neighbouringDuchy of Opole from his nephewHenry the Bearded, forming the united Upper SilesianDuchy of Opole and Racibórz. His descendants ruled Upper Silesia until the death of Mieszko's grandson DukeWładysław Opolski in 1281, whereafter Opole-Racibórz was again divided among his four sons. The eldest,Mieszko, initially ruled the Duchy of Racibórz with Cieszyn and Oświęcim, jointly with his minor brotherPrzemysław. After another partition in 1290, Mieszko took his residence in Cieszyn and became the first Duke of Teschen.
Like most of his Silesian Piast relatives, Mieszko approached thekings of Bohemia;[clarification needed] during the Polish internal struggles after the death of High DukeLeszek II, in 1291, he and his younger brother DukeBolko I of Opole signed a support agreement with KingWenceslaus II. Mieszko also had the Teschen lands on theVistula andBiała rivers and theBeskid foothills settled byGerman immigrants. He colonised the remote parts of his duchy and vested Cieszyn,Oświęcim,Zator,Skoczów andKarviná withtown privileges. His adhered to the alliance with Bohemia even after in 1310 theHouse of Luxembourg assumed the throne inPrague.
After Mieszko's death in 1315, his sonWładysław took the lands east of the Biała river where he established the separateDuchy of Oświęcim, which eventually became a fief of thePolish Crown. His brotherCasimir I retained the western part and in 1327 sworehomage to KingJohn of Bohemia. After that Teschen became an autonomousfiefdom of the Bohemian kings and part of theCrown of Bohemia.[3] Local Piast rulers often possessed other lands outside the duchy itself, as theDuchy of Siewierz, half ofGłogów and some parts ofBytom.
After the death of DukeBolesław I in 1431, the rule over the duchy was shared by his wifeEuphemia and their four sons.[4] In 1442 the duchy was divided between the brothers who all bore the ducal title; nevertheless, the real control over the duchy passed toBoleslaus II andPrzemyslaus II, who after the death of Boleslaus II in 1452 ruled alone. From the late 15th century onwards, the Beskid valleys in the south were settled byVlach peasants from neighbouringMoravian Wallachia.
While the Lands of the Bohemian Crown passed to theHabsburg dynasty in 1526, the Duchy of Teschen during the reign of DukeWenceslaus III Adam, from 1528 onwards, shifted toProtestantism. Influenced by theMoravian governorJohn of Pernstein, his tutor and father-in-law, he turned to theLutheran faith in 1540 and his subjects had to follow according to thecuius regio, eius religio rule. In 1560, still during his lifetime, he ceded theDuchy of Bielsko with Karviná andFrýdek to his son and heirFrederick Casimir. Nevertheless, Frederick died already in 1571 and his father, struggling with financial problems, had to sell Bielsko as astate country to thePrinces of Pless. The remaining duchy passed to the only surviving sonAdam Wenceslaus, who in 1610 shifted back toRoman Catholicism for the sake of political advantage and enacted severalCounter-Reformation measures. Indeed, EmperorMatthias appointed him Silesian governor in 1617, however, he died a few months later.
The Cieszyn Piast rule continued until 1653, when the male line became extinct with the death of Adam Wenceslaus' sonFrederick William amidst theThirty Years' War in 1625. The intentions of the Habsburg rulers to seize the duchy as a reverted fief were initially thwarted by his surviving sister, DuchessElizabeth Lucretia, who began a lengthy lawsuit on her heritage. Nevertheless, when she died in 1653, the duchy passed directly to the Bohemian monarchs,[5] at that time the Habsburg emperorFerdinand III and his son KingFerdinand IV.
Ferdinand IV ruled Teschen until his death in 1654, whereafter the duchy fell back to Emperor Ferdinand III. His Habsburg successors continued the re-Catholicization policies. In 1722 EmperorCharles VI separated Teschen from the Bohemian Crown and granted the duchy to DukeLeopold of Lorraine, whose sonFrancis I was to marry Charles's daughterMaria Theresa. Leopold had unsuccessfully claimed his maternal grandmother's rights to the north ItalianDuchy of Montferrat, which Charles had taken and given to theDukes of Savoy in 1708 as part of their alliance pact. OnceHoly Roman Emperor, Francis had to face the attack by thePrussian kingFrederick the Great, who after the 1742Peace of Breslau took the bulk of Silesia, while Teschen remained with the Habsburg Monarchy. In 1766 Teschen passed to Francis' eldest surviving daughter, ArchduchessMaria Christina and her husbandPrince Albert of Saxony, who thus became known colloquially as the Duke of Saxe-Teschen.
Although most of Silesia had passed to Prussia, Teschen with Bielsko and the duchies ofKrnov (Jägerndorf),Opava (Troppau) and southern part of episcopalNysa (Neisse) remained under Habsburg control and passed to the newly establishedAustrian Empire in 1804. Archduchess Maria Christina had died in 1798 and as her marriage remained childless, upon the death of the widowed Albert in 1822 the duchy passed to their adopted son,Archduke Charles of Austria, who assumed the title ofHerzog von Teschen and became progenitor of the Teschen cadet branch of theHabsburg-Lorraine dynasty. While the Duchy of Teschen finally merged into thecrown land ofAustrian Silesia after theRevolutions of 1848, the ducal title passed down Charles' line, first to his eldest son,Archduke Albert, and then in 1895 to Albert Frederick's nephew,Archduke Frederick.
With Austrian Silesia, the territory of Teschen became part of theCisleithanian half of theAustro-Hungarian dual monarchy upon theCompromise of 1867. At the end ofWorld War I both the crown land and the ducal title were disestablished with the dissolution of Austria-Hungary. Archduke Frederick, appointed Austrian field marshal in 1914 but soon neutralized by Chief-of-StaffFranz Conrad von Hötzendorf, found his vast possessions expropriated and retired toMagyaróvár in Hungary.
At the end of the war, localPolish andCzechoslovak self-governments were established in the territory of Cieszyn, which on 5 November 1918 signed an interim agreement under which the territory – including the town of Cieszyn itself – was divided along theOlza (Olše, Olsa) River. However, the preliminary convention failed to settle the border conflict between the newly established state of Czechoslovakia and the Second Polish Republic, which claimed further areas of the former Cieszyn duchy with a predominantlyPolish-speaking population. The ongoing conflict escalated when Czechoslovak troops crossed the Olza on 23 January 1919, starting thePolish–Czechoslovak War.
Clashes of arms continued until 31 January, but neither of the belligerents benefited: at the 1920Spa Conference the division of the former duchy along the Olza was confirmed. The eastern part of Cieszyn Silesia was incorporated into the PolishAutonomous Silesian Voivodeship, while the western part (including theTrans-Olza region) became part ofCzechoslovakia. This was confirmed on 5 August 1920 by theConference of Ambassadors.[6] AfterWorld War II the remaining German population wasexpelled.
According to theAustrian census taken in 1910, the duchy had about 350,000 inhabitants: 54.8% Polish-speaking, 27.1% Czech-speaking and 18.1% German-speaking.[7] While the Czech population mainly settled in the western areas aroundFrýdek, the German population was clustered aroundBielsko (German:Bielitz).
Following the death ofElizabeth Lucretia, Teschen reverted to the royal domain of Bohemia. In 1722,Emperor Charles VI, as King of Bohemia, vested his cousinLeopold of Lorraine with the ducal title.
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49°44′59″N18°37′46″E / 49.749767°N 18.629392°E /49.749767; 18.629392
