Duchy of Teschen | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1290–1918 | |||||||||||
 Silesia duchies in 1290–91: Teschen under Mieszko I in yellow | |||||||||||
| Status | Silesian duchy Fiefdom of Bohemia (from 1327) Part of the Bohemian Crown (from 1348) | ||||||||||
| Capital | Cieszyn | ||||||||||
| Common languages | Latin (officially) Czech and German (later) Polish (popularly) | ||||||||||
| Religion | Lutheranism Roman Catholicism | ||||||||||
| Dukes | |||||||||||
• 1290–1315 | Mieszko I (first duke) | ||||||||||
• 1625–1653 | Elizabeth Lucretia (last Piast ruler) | ||||||||||
• 1895–1918 | Archduke Frederick Habsburg (last duke) | ||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||
• Partitioned from Opole-Racibórz | 1281 | ||||||||||
• Split off Oświęcim | 1315 | ||||||||||
• Vassalized by Bohemia | 1327 | ||||||||||
• Split off Bielsko | 1572 | ||||||||||
• Habsburg rule | 1653 | ||||||||||
• Part of Austrian Silesia | 1742/45 | ||||||||||
• Disestablished | 1918 | ||||||||||
| 28 July 1920 | |||||||||||
| Population | |||||||||||
• 1910 | 350,000 | ||||||||||
| |||||||||||
1 Coat of arms of the Duchy of Teschen and the regional branch of the Piast dynasty | |||||||||||
The Duchy of Teschen (German: Herzogtum Teschen), also Duchy of Cieszyn (Polish: Księstwo Cieszyńskie) or Duchy of Těšín (Czech: Těšínské knížectví), was one of the Duchies of Silesia centered on Cieszyn (Teschen) in Upper Silesia. It was split off the Silesian Duchy of Opole and Racibórz in 1281 during the feudal division of Poland and was ruled by Silesian dukes of the Piast dynasty from 1290 until the line became extinct with the death of Duchess Elizabeth Lucretia in 1653.[1]
The ducal lands initially comprised former Lesser Polish territories east of the Biała River, which in about 1315 again split off as the Polish Duchy of Oświęcim, while the remaining duchy became a fiefdom of the Bohemian kings in 1327 and was incorporated into the Lands of the Bohemian Crown in 1348. While the bulk of Silesia was conquered by the Prussian king Frederick the Great in the Silesian Wars of 1740–1763, Teschen together with the duchies of Troppau (Opava), Krnov and Nysa remained with the Habsburg monarchy and merged into the Austrian Silesia crown land in 1849. The so-called "commander line" of the Habsburg-Lorraine dynasty, a cadet branch descending from Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen, held the title "Duke of Teschen" until 1918.
- ^ Panic 2002, 6.