William II of Pernstein


William II of Pernstein was a Czech nobleman. He held the office of High Treasurer of Moravia from 1474 to 1487. He was High Marshall of Bohemia from 1483 to 1490 and Lord Chamberlain of Bohemia from 1490 to 1514.

Youth

William was one of the most important members of the Moravian and Bohemian noble family of Pernstein. His parents were John II of Pernstein and his second wife Bohunka of Lomnitz.
William spent his early years at the Viennese court of the two years younger Ladislaus Posthumus, a member of the Habsburg family, to whose entourage he belonged. Together with Ladislaus and his guardian Frederick III and other Bohemian and Moravian nobles, he traveled to Italy in 1451. In 1452 he was in Rome at the wedding of Frederick III with Eleanor of Portugal.

Rise under the kings George of Poděbrady and Matthias Corvinus

Like his father and his older brother Sigmund, William supported the Bohemian King George of Poděbrady. After George's death in 1471, they stood politically on the side of the newly elected king Vladislav II In 1472, they vouched for by George of Poděbrady's son Victor of Münsterberg-Oels, who was to be bought free from being held captive by the Hungarian king Matthias Corvinus for. That same year they received from King Vladislav II more rights over the convents in Oslavany and Tišnov. William and his father were, however, unable to buy the freedom of his brother Sigmund, who was also held captive by Matthias Corvinus since 1470. Matthias Corvinus did not ask a random for Sigmund's release; instead he asked William to defect to Matthias's side and support his military plans. William signed an agreement to this effect, in order to obtain the Sigmund's release, on 14 November 1472 in Sopron. The agreement had been drafted by John Filipec, who later became Bishop of Olomouc. He probably agreed to convert to Catholicism at the same timet. Around New Year 1473, William's army occupied the towns of Kolín and Nymburk. In the summer he fought for Corvinus in Austria and Poland, where he was taken prisoner.
William resided in Velké Meziříčí until 1473, and called himself Vilém z Pernštejna a na Meziříčí. In 1474 he acquired the Castle and Lordship of Helfštýn. From 1474 until his death, he called himself Vilém z Pernštejna a na Helfštejně. After the cease-fire of Breslau of 1474, Corvinus appointed William High Treasurer of Moravia.
William's father died in 1475. His possessions were inherited by William and his brothers John/Jan, Vratislav I and Emmeram / Jimram. As his brothers were still minors, William took up guardianship and overall management of the possessions. Elisabeth of Boskowitz, the widow of his elder brother Sigmund, and her daughters, only inherited money. William acquired extensive estates in Bohemia through his marriage with Johanna of Liblitz; he sold these shortly after the wedding. His father's inheritance was divided in 1478, when his brothers John and Vratislav came of age. John and Vratislav jointly received Pernstein Castle and some of the surrounding villages. William kept Zubstein Castle and the remaining villages in the Pernstein area for himself and his youngest brother Emmeran, who was still a minor. The elder brothers also inherited the debt their father had left behind, for which William had vouched. He had bought, and paid, on behalf of his father, the Lordship of Meseritsch from his father in law, John of Lomnitz. When John died in 1478, Vratislav inherited his share of the inheritance. The youngest brother, Emmeran, died in 1481 or 1482 and William inherited his share. The Bohemian-Hungarian war ended in 1479 with the Treaty of Olomouc. In 1480, William campaigned to have the entries in the Moravian Landtafel written in Czech rather than Latin.
In 1482, William's confidant Bertold of Leipa, who was also under William's guardianship. Already in 1483, William had arranged a marriage between Elisabeth of Krawarn, Leipa's widow, and Peter IV of Rosenberg. As part of the guardianship, William had become High Marshall of the Kingdom of Bohemia, an office held hereditarily by the Lords of Leipa. This brought him info contact with the royal court at Prague, with whom he had not had any contact since 1472.
In 1487, he transferred, with permission of both Kings involved, the office of High Treasurer of Moravia to his younger brother Vratislav.

Royal ascent at Prague under King Vladislav II

After the death of Matthias Corvinus in 1490, King Vladislav II appointed William of Pernstein to his Lord Chamberlain. In the same year,Vladilav pledged him the lands of the Monastery of Třebíč, the Castle and Lordship of Hluboká nad Vltavou and in 1491, Kunětice Mountain Castle in East Bohemia, and the surrounding villages, which had belonged to the Monastery at Opatovice, which had perished in the Hussite Wars. William expanded the castle generously, however, he nerver resided there.
Presumably in order to round his eastern Bohemian possessions he acquired the Lordship of Pardubice in 1491. He remodeld Pardubice Castle in the late Gothic style and moved in. During his reign, Pardubice experienced an economic boom, encouraged by trade, commerce, agriculture and mining. In 1516 he acquired the East Bohemian Lordship of Nový Bydžov, which he enlarged by the acquisition of other villages. In theEast Bohemian villages in his domain, he created more than 200 ponds, where fish farming was practiced. This changed the area into one of Bohemia's most productive farming areas. Since he now held office mainly in Prague, Vienna and Pardubice, his family headquarters at Pernštejn Castle lost its importance.
In 1491, he also acquired the Lordship of Bohdaneč and in 1495 Nové Město na Moravě. In 1496, he handed the Leipa family possessions to his ward Henry of Leipa, who had come of age. In the same year, his younger brother Vartislav died without heirs. William inherited Vartislav's share of Pernstein, but also Prostějov and castle and lordship of Plumlov, which Vartislav had received from his mother-in-law Johanna of Krawarn after his wife Ludmilla of Kunštát had died in 1493. This again increased William's East Bohemian possessions considerably. Around this time, he also acquired Rychnov nad Kněžnou and he purchased Častolovice and the lordship of Potštejn with Litice Castle and several villages from Duke Henry the Elder of Münsterberg. In Moravia, he acquired Hranice na Moravě in 1499, Tovačov and Kralice na Hané in 1503, Židlochovice in 1508 and Kunštát in 1520. He also acquired the East Bohemian dominions of Lanškroun and Lanšperk Castle by marrying his two sons John III and Vojtěch I to two daughters from the House of Kostka of Postupitz.
William also carried out investments and improvements on the estates he inherited from his father. In Lipník nad Bečvou, he laid out suburbs and expanded the city's fortifications. He also built a waterworks, which functions to this day. In Přerov, he built the upper town on an elliptical outline around the castle. In 1498, he combined the upper and lower town. In 1515, William donated a baptismal font to the Sy. Bartholomew Church in Pardubice.
William died on 8 April 1521 in Pardubice, and was buried in the Church of the Holy Cross in Doubravník. This church had been destroyed during the Hussite Wars, but had been rebuilt by William's son John III. His elder son John III inherited his Bohemian estates, while his younger son Vojtěch I received his Moravian possessions. However, their lavish life style forced them to sell parts of their inherited lands.

Marriage and issue

Wilhelm II of Pernstein married before 1475 with Johanna of Liblitz. They had three children:
  1. Bohunka, married
  2. # in 1500 Henry Leipa
  3. # Dobeš of Boskowitz
  4. John III of Pernstein , married
  5. # in 1507 Anna of Kostka of Postupic
  6. # Hedwig of Schellenberg
  7. # Magdalena of Ormosd, widow of the Hungarian magnate Alexei Thurzo of Bethlenfalva
  8. Vojtěch I of Pernstein , married
  9. # in 1507 Margaret Kostka of Postupic, the sister of John III's first wife
  10. # in 1516 Johanna of Wartenberg

    Footnotes