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Revision as of 05:24, 15 January 2008 by Pmanderson (talk | contribs) (restore blanking; lean over backward on "Duchy of Pszczyna")(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)The Duchy of Pless (Duchy of PszczynaTemplate:Lang-de, Template:Lang-pl) was a duchy of Silesia, with its capital at Pless (Pszczyna, Poland).
At first the lands of Pszczyna were treated as a part of Little Poland (Template:Lang-pl) but in 1178 King of Poland Casimir II the Just gave them to one of the Dukes of Silesia, Mieszko I Tanglefoot, who attached it to his lands, the duchies of Opole and of Racibórz. Leszek Pszczyński was forced to accept vassalization by John I of Bohemia in 1327 putting the Duchy in the Bohemian sphere of influence up until his death in 1336. For a time, the Duchy was ruled by the Přemyslid dynasty. From 1412 until 1452 Helena, sister of Jogaila, ruled the Duchy. After her stepdaughter governed from 1452 until 1462 the House of Podebrady took over, and it was part of the Lands of the Bohemian Crown. The Thurzó family acquired the Duchy and sold it in 1548 to the Promnitz family, who ruled the Duchy with the approval of Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor until 1765.
In the War of the Austrian Succession most of Silesia was conquered by Prussia; but the Dukes, and later Princes, of Pless would remain owners of its soil, and lords of its inhabitants. The Dukes of Anhalt-Cöthen-Pless inherited in 1765, being descended from the earlier dukes in the female line; the last of them died in 1847, and was succeeded by Count Hans Heinrich X of Hochberg, his son-in-law. The Hochbergs were among the wealthiest families of Germany, and lived in great state; they maintained a herd of wisent, given to them by Alexander II of Russia in 1864, but it was reduced to three survivors during the First World War.
The control of the Princes of Pless was not absolute; the Duke of Ratibor, who had represented the district of Pless-Rybnik in the parliament of the North German Confederation, was defeated in the first election to the Imperial German Reichstag, in 1871 by Eduard Müller, one of the founders of the Centre Party, although Hans Heinrich XI von Hochberg not only endorsed him, but had so much control over the local government that he used the constables as election workers, parading the streets with drums to get out the vote; he also threatened, for example, to end wood-gathering rights for those who displeased him. In 1903, the Centre Party's delegation from Silesia was largely replaced, although by very thin majorities, by the Polish National Democrats.
Hans Heinrich XIV succeeded in 1907; he had married Daisy, Princess of Pless, the diarist, whose memoirs are cited by Barbara Tuchman and other social historians. The lands retained a large Polish-speaking majority (86% in the Prussian Census of 1867) and were reattached to Poland in 1922, as part of the settlement after the Silesian Uprisings.
References
- This literal translation of the Polish is used by four sources printed in Poland: Julian Janczak, Zarys dziejów kartografii śląskiej do końca XVIII wieku (An outline for the History of Cartography till the End of the 18th century), Opole: 1976; Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw: Institute of History of Science, Education and Technology, 1993, ISBN 83-86062-00-2. Accessed 2008-13-01. Tadeusz Walichnowski, Territorial Provenance of Archival Documents in International Relations (Przynaleznosc terytorialna archiwaliow Panstwa Polskiego w stosunkach miedzynarodowych), Polish Scientific Publishers, Warsaw, 1977. Polish State Archives. Nagel's Encyclopedia Guide, Poland by Nagel Publishers, 1989, 399 pages, ISBN 2826308181. Accessed 2008-13-01.
- Hans Heinrich X, XI, and XIV; the dynastic numbering was, like other princely families, given to all males of the House
- Victor Moritz Karl, prince of Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst, also Prince of Corvey; younger brother of Chlodwig zu Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst, later Chancellor, who had given up the family estates. Half of the district belonged to the Prince of Pless; the Hohenlohes owned much of the rest.
- Anderson, p.1464-68.
- Margaret Lavinia Anderson, "Voter, Junker, Landrat, Priest: The Old Authorities and the New Franchise in Imperial Germany" The American Historical Review, Vol. 98, No. 5. (Dec., 1993), pp. 1448-1474. JSTOR link.
- Theodor G. Ahrens, "The Present Status of the European Bison or Wisent" Journal of Mammalogy, Vol. 2, No. 2. (May, 1921), pp. 58-62.JSTOR link.
- Daisy, Princess of Pless, by Herself. New York (1929) Ed. and Introd. by Maj. Desmond Chapman-Huston.