- Kasper Doenhoff
Kasper D(o)enhoff ( _de. Kaspar von Dönhoff, _pl. Kacper Denhoff, 1587 - 1645) was a
Baltic-German noble (Reichsfürst ) of theHoly Roman Empire and a noble (szlachcic ), aVoivode of theDorpat Voivodeship cite book |language=Polish |title=Herbarz polski Kaspra Niesieckiego |last=Niesiecki |first=Kasper |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=1846 |publisher=Waif |location=P.228 |isbn= |pages= |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=sGBJAAAAIAAJ&printsec ] ;courtier and adiplomat at the court of the kings of thePolish-Lithuanian Commonwealth .Titles
Polish noble (
szlachcic ) ofDenhoff Coat of Arms ,voivode of Dorpat (1627-1634), since 1633 Count of theHoly Roman Empire (with Ernst andGerhard Dönhoff ),voivode of Sieradz (1634-1645),court marshal of the Queen (from 1639),starost ofWieluń , "Lauenburg" (Lębork ),Radomsko , Bolesławiec,Sokal , Małoszyce, Sobowidze, Klonowo. InHoly Roman Empire , noble (Reichsfürst ),count (from 1635),prince (from 1637) and court marshal.Biography
The member of the
Westphalian ,Prussia n and Baltic-German Family von Dönhoff [http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C3%B6nhoff] (e.g.Marion Dönhoff ) Kasper became a military commander (rotmistrz ofreiter s), afavourite of kingSigismund III Vasa (after his conversion toCatholicism ) and one of the most prominent members of the so-called 'court faction', advocating the strengthening of the monarch's power.As a courier of the
House of Vasa kingWładysław IV Vasa he was sent with adiplomatic mission to request a marriage ofArchduchess Cecilia Renata of Austria , daughter ofFerdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor to Wladyslaw. The mission was successful and Kasper also received noble titles from the Holy Roman Emperor.Kaspar Dönhoff was a relative newcomer to the '
magnate ' ruling elite of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, but he laid the foundations of his family's fortune.Legacy as builder-owner
He was influential and wealthy, which enabled him to found several interesting construction projects, mostly in the
Sieradz voivodeship. His first undertaking of that sort was the transformation of amediaeval castle in Bolesławiec (of which he was the starost) on theProsna River into a comfortable residence surrounded with an 'Italian garden '. Later he sponsored the construction of a magnificentbaroque castle in Kruszyna around 1630. Kruszyna castle was the last residential complex erected in Poland that had been planned around a renaissance internal yard, but its grand front yard and garden marked a fully baroque layout. Kruszyna became Denhoff's main residence; but as it was located rather far from the capital ofWarsaw , in 1636 he bought an estate much closer to the capital, inUjazd , where he pulled down an old castle and built another palace, probably also surrounded with a garden. Towards the end of his life he founded a domed chapel as anecropolis for himself and his family in theJasna Góra sanctuary inCzęstochowa ; that undertaking was completed by his descendants. Despite being the owner of several castles, he lived most often in a wooden manor ("dworek szlachecki") near the King's residence in Warsaw. [http://cejsh.icm.edu.pl/cejsh/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?06PLAAAA00701760]Family
*Son of
Gerhard Dönhoff [http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerard_Denhoff_%28ojciec%29] (?-1598) and M. von Zweiffeln
*Brother ofErnst Magnus Dönhoff (voivode of Parnawa ),Hermann Dönhoff andGerhard Dönhoff [http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerard_Denhoff_%28syn%29] (1590-1648) (voivode of Pomorze )
*Married Anna Aleksandra Koniecpolska in 1620. They had four children: Aleksander Denhoff, Stanislaw Denhoff (?-1653), Zygmunt Denhoff, Anna Denhoffee also
*
Stanisław Ernest Denhoff (1673-1728)References
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