Karl II, Duke of Münsterberg Oels

Life

Charles II was a member of the Münsterberg branch of the House of Poděbrady. His parents were Henry II of Münsterberg and Oels (1507–1548) and Margaret (1515–1559), daughter of Duke Henry V of Mecklenburg-Schwerin.

In 1561, Charles II went to Vienna with his tutor to study. In Vienna, he lived at the court of Emperor Ferdinand I. After Ferdinand's death in 1565, he stayed for another six years at the court of Emperor Maximilian II, whom he accompanied at all diets as well as on journeys to Hungary and further.

After the death of his uncle John of Poděbrady in 1565 Charles inherited the Duchy of Oels. On 17 September 1570 he married Catherine Berka of Duba (1553–1583) at Moravská Třebová. Through this marriage he acquired to Lordship of Šternberk in North Moravia, which remained in his family until 1647. After Catherine's death in 1583, Charles married Elisabeth Magdalena (1562–1630), daughter of the Duke George II of Brzeg, on 30 September 1585.

After the death of Lord Jiřík Zajímač of Kunštát in 1587, his sister Catherine, who was married to Hynek Brtnice of Waldstein Czech: Hynek Brtnický z Valdštejna, transferred the Lordship of Jevišovice in South Moravia to Charles II, because the Münsterberg line was the only surviving branch of the Kunštát family. In 1588 Charles swapped with Bishop Stanislaus Pavlovský of Pavlovitz of Olomouc, the Lordship of Zdar nad Sazavou in Moravia for some smaller estates in the vicinity of Šternberk.

Charles was a follower of the evangelical teaching which he promoted in his Moravian lordships. In Trzebnica he was able to establish the evangelical church, even though the abbess of the Sanctuary of St. Jadwiga in Trzebnica fought fiercely against it and was supported by the bishop in Wroclaw as well as by the Emperor. In 1602, he assumed the guardianship of his nephews John Christian of Brieg and George Rudolf of Liegnitz, who were raised at his court in Oels. In 1604 he bought back the Duchy of Bernstadt, which his brother Henry III had sold in 1574.

After the death of Bishop John VI of Sitsch of Breslau in 1608, he was appointed governor of Silesia by Emperor Rudolf II.

Legacy

In his residence of Oels, Charles completed the palace that his uncle John had started. In 1594, he founded the "illustrious high school" as well as a library that served the faculty and students, but was also available to the citizens of Oels. It was housed in a room of the Castle Church and, after the church collapsed in 1905 a new wing attached to the front hall. After the Second World War and the associated transition to Poland, this room was not accessible and the library was initially listed as missing. In 1997, the files could by indexed by the Commission for Personal Libraries of the Academy of Sciences and Literature in Mainz. The damaged book collection was restored with the financial support of the German Federal Ministry of the Interior.

Issue

Charles's first marriage to Catherine produced two children:

1. Henry Wenceslaus the Elder (1575–1591) and
2. Margareta Magdalene (born 13 May 1578, died 14 May 1578)

His second marriage to Elizabeth Magdalene produced:

1. George (born August 31, 1587; † November 14, 1587)
2. Charles (born January 8, 1590 † May 20, 1590)
3. Henry Wenceslaus the Younger (1592–1639). Issue: Anna Elisabeth (1637–1642)
4. Charles Frederick I (1593–1647), the last person in the male line of the House of Poděbrady
5. Barbara Margaret (1595–1652)
6. George Joachim (1597–1598)
7. Elisabeth Magdalena (1599–1631) married to Georg Rudolf of Legnica
8. Sophie Catherine (1601–1659), married to George III of Brieg (d. 1664)