Duchy of Bernstadt

The Duchy of Bernstadt was a Silesian duchy centred on the city of Bernstadt (present-day Bierutów) in Lower Silesia (now in Poland) and formed by separation from the Duchy of Oels (Oleśnica). It was first ruled by the Silesian Piasts dynasty, until its extinction in 1492. In 1495 it and the Duchy of Oels passed to the Dukes of Münsterberg, who came from the House of Poděbrady. In 1647 the Duchy of Bernstadt passed by marriage to the Dukes of Württemberg. History That the Duchy of Bernstadt at first belonged to the Silesian Duchy of Oels which had since 1329 been a fief of the Bohemian Crown. Upon the death of Duke Konrad III the Old in 1412, it was split off for his first-born son Conrad IV the Elder, who at first also ruled over the other Oels territories as a regent for his minor brothers until they formally divided their heritage in 1416. The next year, Konrad IV succeeded Wenceslaus II of Liegnitz as Prince-Bishop of Breslau. When he died in 1447, Bernstadt fell back to his younger brother Duke Konrad VII the White of Oels. After the Oels branch of the Piast dynasty died out in 1492, the duchy was seized as a reverted fief by King Vladislaus II of Bohemia. In 1495, he gave the duchies of Bernstadt and Oels to Duke Henry the Elder of Münsterberg, a son of the late Bohemian king George of Poděbrady (d. 1471). Due to lack of money, his heir Duke Charles of Münsterberg and Oels leased Bernstadt in 1511 for four years to the City Council of Breslau (Wrocław), afterwards he chose it as his residence. After Charles' death in 1536, his sons at first ruled jointly until in 1542 they divided their heritage: Duke Henry II received the Duchy of Bernstadt, while his younger brother John ruled the Duchy of Oels. Henry II was a supporter of the Protestant Reformation, which he introduced in Bernstadt. He had Bernstadt Castle restored during his reign, and expanded the south wing. His son Henry III, Duke of Bernstadt from 1565 sold Bernstadt along with the castle and some villages in 1574 to the von Schindel family.