Duke of Teschen

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The title Duke of Teschen is a substantive princely title of ancient Silesia that has since 1822 belonged to a junior branch of the House of the Austrian monarch.

[edit] History

Teschen today lies divided between the Czech Republic and Poland, and is the German language name for Czech Český Těšín and Polish Cieszyn. In the 16th century the town became one of the most important centres of trade and commerce, with significant manufactories of arms and jewelry. It also became a centre of the Protestant reformation.

It became a direct apanage of the Bohemian crown in 1625 at the extinction of the male line of its dukes, falling under direct control of the Habsburg rulers, however the Piast's rules continued to 1653 to die with the last Piast descendant, Elisabeth Lucretia, duchess of Teschen (female princess of Duchy of Cieszyn: Elżbieta Lukrecja) . First official direct Habsburg controller of was the king Ferdinand IV of Hungary, heir-apparent of the then emperor, who ruled Duchy of Cieszyn from 1653 to 1654. In the early 18th century, it was given to Leopold, Duke of Lorraine, as compensation of his maternal grandmother's rights to the north-Italian Duchy of Montferrat which the emperor had taken and given to the Dukes of Savoy as part of their pacts of alliance. Duke Leopold's eldest surviving granddaughter, Archduchess Maria Christina, received it upon her marriage from her father, whereby it since 1766 bore the name of Saxe-Teschen (in German: Sachsen-Teschen), because of Prince Albert of Saxony, who married Maria Christina (a daughter of Francis of Lorraine and empress Maria Theresa of Austria). It as part of his wife's dowry. In 1822 upon the death of the widowed Albert, it was bestowed on the Archduke Charles of Austria, the victor of Aspern, the adopted son of Maria Christina and Albert. It passed down his line and was inherited by his eldest son. At his death in 1895, it passed into the hands of his nephew, the Archduke Friedrich, Duke of Teschen.