Silesian duchies
| Duchies of Silesia | ||||||||||||
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Slezská Knížectví (cs) Herzogtümer Schlesien (de) |
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| Crown land of the Bohemian Crown | ||||||||||||
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.svg) Duchies of Silesia within the Holy Roman Empire (1618)
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| Capital | Wrocław, Opole, Opava, various others | |||||||||||
| Languages | Czech, Polish, German | |||||||||||
| Religion |
Roman Catholic, Utraquist, Lutheran, Moravian Brethren |
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| Government | Monarchy | |||||||||||
| King | ||||||||||||
| • | 1335–1378 | Charles IV (first) | ||||||||||
| • | 1916–1918 | Charles III (last) | ||||||||||
| History | ||||||||||||
| • | Joined Kingdom of Bohemia | 1335 | ||||||||||
| • | Austrian Silesia formed | 1742 | ||||||||||
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| Today part of | ||||||||||||
The Duchies of Silesia were a crown land of the Bohemian Crown, that were formed when Duchy of Silesia joined the Kingdom of Bohemia in 1335 under the Treaty of Trentschin. The duchies were ruled by the Dukes of Silesia, consisted of the Duchy of Lower Silesia, the Duchy of Upper Silesia and numerous other duchies. Most of Silesia was annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia in 1742; and the Duchy of Teschen, Duchy of Troppau and Duchy of Nysa remained under the control of the Bohemian crown as Austrian Silesia until 1918.
In the (vain) hope to prevent an inheritance dispute, the Piast prince Bolesław III Wrymouth by his last will and testament had divided Poland into hereditary provinces distributed among his four sons: Masovia, Kujawy, Greater Poland and Silesia. Beside which, the Seniorate Province (Lesser Poland) with the residence of Kraków was reserved for the eldest, who according to the principle of agnatic seniority was to be High Duke of all Poland. This act inadvertently started the process known as Fragmentation of Poland.
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Wikipedia