George William, Duke of Liegnitz

George William (German: Georg Wilhelm), also known as George IV William (Polish: Jerzy IV Wilhelm; 29 September 1660 – 21 November 1675) was the last Silesian duke of Legnica (Liegnitz) and Brzeg (Brieg) from 1672 until his death. He was the last male member of the Silesian Piast dynasty descending from Władysław II the Exile (1105–1159), as well as the last legitimate male member of the entire House of Piast.

George IV William
Duke of Legnica, Brzeg
Georgius Wilhelmus D.G. Dux Silesiae, engraving by Jan Tscherning (1650–53)
Born	(1660-09-26)26 September 1660 Oława, Duchy of Legnica, Crown of Bohemia (now in Poland)
Died	21 November 1675(1675-11-21) (aged 15) Brzeg, Duchy of Brzeg, Crown of Bohemia (now in Poland)
Buried	Church of St. John in Legnica
Noble family	Silesian Piasts
Father	Christian, Duke of Brieg
Mother	Louise of Anhalt-Dessau

Family

George William was the eldest but only surviving son of Duke Christian of Legnica-Brzeg (1618–1672) by his wife Louise (1631–1680), a daughter of the Ascanian prince John Casimir of Anhalt-Dessau. He had three siblings:

• Karolina of Legnica-Brieg (1652–1707), last Silesian Piast duchess, married to Frederick, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Wiesenburg (1651–1724) in 1672;
• Louise (1657–1660);
• Christian Louis (1664).

As the only surviving son, George William was the sole heir to his father's possessions. Duke Christian of Legnica-Brzeg had spent many years in exile in Poland and in the Duchy of Prussia during the Thirty Years' War, after George William's grandfather Duke John Christian of Brieg had fallen out of favour with the Habsburg emperor Ferdinand II.

Duke Christian became sole ruler over the Silesian duchies of Legnica and Brzeg in 1664. After the abdication of King John II Casimir Vasa of Poland in 1668, he even put forward his candidacy for the Polish throne; to win the affection and support of the old nobility, he initially wanted to give his newborn son an old Piast name (like Mieszko or Bolesław); however, the Calvinist clergy of his duchy opposed this, maintaining that the idea could bring the return to paganism over Poland. The duke, however, saw to it that his son spoke Polish and wore Polish clothes.

Life

The deaths in 1663 and 1664 of his paternal uncles Duke George III of Brzeg and Duke Louis IV of Legnica without surviving issue left him as the only heir of his father in the still vast Duchy of Legnica-Brzeg. As a result, since his early years, George William received a careful education. During his upbringing, he was put in the hands of the Anhalt-Bernburg count-marshal August Friedrich Bohne, and the personal doctor Henry Martini. During this first period of his education, he acquired an excellent knowledge of German, French and Latin, also understood Italian, Spanish and Polish; he was also educated in theology, philosophy, and rhetoric.

After his father's death in 1672, the then twelve-year-old George William succeeded him as Duke of Legnica and Brzeg; during his minority, the regency was exercised by his mother, Dowager Duchess Louise who held the towns of Wołów and Oława as her dower (wittum). Fearing claims raised by the Habsburg Emperor Leopold I in his capacity as ruler over the Crown of Bohemia, Duke Christian had devised by will that his son was formally under the tutelage of his maternal uncle Prince John George II of Anhalt-Dessau and the mighty Hohenzollern elector Frederick William of Brandenburg. The day before his father's death, Louise sent her son to study at the Viadrina University in Brandenburgian Frankfurt/Oder, considered as an act of mistrust by the Imperial court. On the other hand, the regency of the dowager duchess faced the opposition of the Protestant estates of Legnica-Brzeg, thanks to her increasingly open support for the Catholic faith; a major scandal occurred when the young duke's sister Karolina secretly married Frederick, a member of the aristocrat Catholic family of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Wiesenburg.

The Brandenburg elector reached an understanding with the Habsburg emperor, and in 1673 George William returned to Brzeg, where he received the homage by the estates. On 14 March 1675, the young duke could take formal possession of the government of his lands after he went to the Imperial court in Vienna, making his solemn homage to Emperor Leopold I, who confirmed his coming of age and the succession to his father's lands. Immediately after the beginning of George William's rule, Duchess Louise was forced to give up her area of Wołów.

The announcements of the start of a good and prosperous government by George William were stopped with the sudden death of the duke on 21 November 1675. The cause of his death was an intense fever, developed shortly after his return from a hunt, the first sign of smallpox. The duke was buried in the church of St. John in Legnica, alongside his father, where his grieved mother had a mausoleum built.

Legacy

Funerary medal, 1675

Upon his death, the Duchy of Legnica-Brzeg reverted to Emperor Leopold as ruler over the Bohemian crown lands, which since 1526 were integral part of the Austrian Habsburg monarchy. Leopold took up the government by a Landeshauptmann deputy, despite the claims of George William's morganatic uncle Count August of Legnica, and had several Counter-Reformation measures implemented. Duchess Louise retained her lands of Oława until her death in 1680, when they were also incorporated into the Bohemian lands.

The independent Masovian Piasts had died out in 1526, while the Teschen (Cieszyn) line had become extinct in 1653. George William was therefore the last ruling member of all the Piast dynasty, which finally became extinct with the death of his only surviving sibling, Karolina, in 1707. The term "Piast dynasty" was first used by the Polish historian Adam Naruszewicz in his books History of Poland, which he started in 1779. On George William's burial crypt a text was carved referring to him as the last of the Piast dukes of Silesia, who are since the 17th century referred to as "Silesian Piasts".

Ancestry

Ancestors of George William, Duke of Liegnitz

16. George II, Duke of Brieg 8. Joachim Frederick, Duke of Brieg 17. Barbara of Brandenburg 4. John Christian, Duke of Brieg 18. Joachim Ernest, Prince of Anhalt (=22,24) 9. Anna Maria of Anhalt 19. Agnes of Barby-Mühlingen (=23,25) 2. Christian, Duke of Brieg 20. Joachim II Hector, Elector of Brandenburg 10. John George, Elector of Brandenburg 21. Magdalena of Saxony 5. Dorothea Sybille of Brandenburg 22. Joachim Ernest, Prince of Anhalt (=18,24) 11. Elisabeth of Anhalt-Zerbst 23. Agnes of Barby-Mühlingen (=19,25) 1. George William, Duke of Liegnitz 24. Joachim Ernest, Prince of Anhalt (=18,22) 12. John George I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau 25. Agnes of Barby-Mühlingen (=19,23) 6. John Casimir, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau 26. Johann Casimir of the Palatinate-Simmern 13. Countess Palatine Dorothea of Simmern 27. Elisabeth of Saxony 3. Louise of Anhalt-Dessau 28. William IV, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel 14. Maurice, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel 29. Sabine of Württemberg 7. Agnes of Hesse-Kassel 30. John VII, Count of Nassau-Siegen 15. Juliane of Nassau-Siegen 31. Magdalene of Waldeck-Wildungen

Patrilineal descent

Patrilineal descent, descent from father to son, is the principle behind membership in royal houses, as it can be traced back through the generations. George William, Duke of Liegnitz was the last legitimate male of the Piast dynasty. Descent before Mieszko I is partly fictional. This is the descent of the primary male heir. Chościsko Piast the Wheelwright Siemowit Lestko, b. 870–880 Siemomysł, d. 950–960 Mieszko I of Poland, 920/45-992 Bolesław I Chrobry, 967–1025 Mieszko II Lambert, 990–1034 Casimir I the Restorer, 1016–1058 Władysław I Herman, 1044–1102 Bolesław III Wrymouth, 1086–1138 Władysław II the Exile, 1105–1159 Bolesław I the Tall, 1127–1201 Henry I the Bearded, 1165/70–1238 Henry II the Pious, 1196–1241 Bolesław II the Bald, 1220/5-1278 Henry V the Fat, 1248–1296 Bolesław III the Generous, 1291–1352 Ludwik I the Fair, 1321–1398 Henry VII of Brzeg, 1343/45-1399 Henryk IX of Lubin, 1369–1420 Ludwik III of Oława, 1405–1441 John I of Lüben, 1425–1453 Frederick I of Legnica, 1446–1488 Frederick II of Legnica, 1480–1547 George II of Brieg, 1523–1586 Joachim Frederick of Brieg, 1550–1602 John Christian of Brieg, 1591–1639 Christian, Duke of Brieg, 1618–1672 George William, Duke of Liegnitz, 1660–1675

External links

• Genealogical database by Herbert Stoyan
• Marek, Miroslav. "Complete Genealogy of the House of Piast: Silesia". Genealogy.EU.