Catherine von Schindel, Duchess of Bernstadt

Catherine Elizabeth von Schindel zu Sasterhausen, Duchess of Bernstadt, known also by her later married names as Catherine von Dyhrn und Schönau and Catherine von Köckritz und Friedland (1559 - 16 May 1601) was a Silesian noblewoman, landowner and heiress.

After her father had bought the Duchy of Bernstadt from Henry III, Duke of Münsterberg-Oels in 1574 the von Schindel family gained a big influence in the Silesian aristocracy in the last decades of the 16th century and made a significant social rise. The von Schindels had the right to use the title of a Duke exclusively in connection with their property and as long as they were owners of the Duchy of Bernstadt, which covers the period of 30 years (1574-1604).

Her parents were Heinrich von Schindel zu Sasterhausen, since 1574 the Duke of Bernstadt, and his wife Elizabeth von Nimptsch. Catherine had one more sister named Barbara von Schindel zu Sasterhausen, who married into the von Kanitz and von Muhlheim families and died in 1622. Her ancestors were members of the families Zedlitz-Nimmersatt, Schweinichen, Nimptsch, and Stosch.

Her distant relative was Charlotte Helene von Schindel, the royal-mistress of the King Frederick IV of Denmark.

Catherine von Schindel was at her time considered to be a very wealthy heiress. As the oldest daughter of her parents she inherited the Duchy of Bernstadt, including the seat of the Duchy which was the Bernstadt Palace, where Catherine and her family resided since 1574 till 1604. Besides Bernstadt she owned the properties Sasterhausen and Steffansdorf. She was considered to be a good catch from early on and had therefore had many Silesian aristocrats courting her. She married three of them.

In 1575 she married for the 1st time, at the age of 16, Ernst von Gellhorn from the Peterswaldau estate, the son of George von Gellhorn and Catherine von Reichenbach. Catherine's grand nephew from this marriage was the Count Ernst von Gellhorn (1617-1679), who was known as the richest and very powerful man in Silesia at the time and who even succeeded to marry a Princess from the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg, a 1st cousin of Eleonora Princess of Liechtenstein (1655-1702). Catherine's husband died at an early age after one year of marriage in which no children were born.

...
Wikipedia