House of Kinsky

The Kinsky family (formerly Vchynští, sg. Vchynský in Czech; later (in modern Czech) Kinští, sg. Kinský; Kinsky in German) of the Counts and later Princes was one of the oldest and most illustrious families originating from Bohemia (now Czechia). The family is recorded in the Almanach de Gotha.

Rise of the family

According to romantic medieval legend, the Kinsky story began in Central Europe over 1000 years ago, when a beautiful King's daughter out hunting in the forest was attacked by a pack of wolves. Her attendants all fled the terrible scene except for one young man, who saved the princess by killing some wolves and driving the rest away. In gratitude, the girl's father ennobled the young man, granting him a coat of arms featuring three wolves' teeth as an emblem of his bravery.

The first factual mention of an ancestor of this clan dates to 1282 – during the reign of king Wenceslaus II of Bohemia. In the next three centuries they were only minor nobles with estates in northwest Bohemia, around village Vchynice (German: Wchinitz). As late as 1611 one of the family's members, Radslav Vchynský of Vchynice the Elder, was ennobled as lord (Czech: pán), becoming a member of the Diet of Bohemia. The rise of the family to prominence began in the turbulent era of religious conflicts between Catholics and Protestants which finally led to the cataclysm for Bohemia of the Thirty Years War.

The family were elevated to the rank of Count in 1628 – after the loss of Czech independence in 1620 when the majority of local Protestant aristocracy was banished and their possessions expropriated in favour of nobility faithful to the Catholic House of Habsburg. They were raised to the rank of Princes in 1747. Many members of the family served in high diplomatic or military positions in the Habsburg Monarchy and subsequently in the Austrian Empire.

Post-1945

In 1945, estates of the princely (Choceň) branch of the family were confiscated under the so-called Beneš decrees due to their declared German nationality and active collaboration with the Nazis. Estates of the other branches, Kostelec and Chlumec, had been confiscated by the Nazis during the occupation, were returned in 1945, and confiscated again, this time by the Communists in 1948. After the fall of Communism, these possessions – for example the Karlova Koruna Chateau – were restored.

In post-Communist Czechoslovakia, the senior member of the princely branch was Franz Ulrich, 11th Prince Kinsky of Wchinitz and Tettau.^[1] He sued the Czech Republic for return of the properties confiscated in 1945 under the Beneš decrees only because, he maintained, that the confiscation implicitly labeled his family as historical traitors against Czechoslovakia and as willful collaborators during the Nazi occupation. The Kinsky family has denied such charges, arguing that Prince Franz Ulrich was just two years old at the time of his father's death in Vienna (December 19, 1938) and that his mother, Princess Kinsky (née Baroness Mathilde von dem Bussche-Haddenhausen -- whose family reputedly plotted against Hitler) left the occupied country and went into exile in Argentina in December 1939.

The prince died in 2009 after a brief illness, being survived by his widow, née Countess Lena Hutten-Czapska. He left as heir to his title, properties and claims against the Czech state, his son Karl ("Charlie"), and three grandchildren.

Princely members of the family

• Stephan Wilhelm (1679–1749)
• Franz Joseph (1726–1752)
• Franz de Paula Ulrich (1726–1792)
• Joseph (1751–1798)
• Ferdinand (1781–1812)
• Rudolf (1802–1836)
• Ferdinand Bonaventura (1834–1873)
• Karl (1858–1919)
• Rudolf (1859–1930)
• Ulrich (1893–1938)
• Franz Ulrich (1936–2009)
• Karl (born 1967)

Residences

Like many of the aristocratic families of the Habsburg Monarchy, the Kinskys were great landowners, and patrons of the arts. They employed between 1713 and 1716 the celebrated architect Johann Lukas von Hildebrandt to build their residence the Palais Kinsky in Vienna, which remained in the family's ownership until 1987. In addition to this home, from 18th century the family also owned the vast baroque Kinsky Palace in Old Town Square, Prague. Another family home was Choceň Chateau, a medieval Bohemian fortress rebuilt in the neo-gothic style in the half of 19th century. All of these homes were filled with priceless treasures and artifacts. As a patron of the arts along with Archduke Rudolf and Prince Josef Lobkovic, Ferdinand Prince Kinsky of Wchinitz and Tettau contributed 1.800 fl. to a yearly salary of 4.000 fl. (abbr. for florin, gulden, Austrian - Hungarian gold coin from 1754 - 1892) for Ludwig van Beethoven. Ferdinand arranged his share to be paid on as a pension until Beethoven died in March 1827.

Stud farms

In 1723, the Emperor Charles VI ordered the Kinsky family to develop their stud farms, and breed horses of such quality as to provide superior mounts for the officers of the elite cavalry regiments of the empire. In 1776, the quality of the Kinsky horses was further improved by bloodstock from England.

In 1838, Count Oktavian Kinsky expanded still further the Kinsky studs, famous throughout Europe for their high equine quality, known as the Kinsky horse.

See also

• Bertha von Suttner
• Countess Franziska Kinsky of Wchinitz and Tettau
• Wilhelm Kinsky
• Marie, Princess of Liechtenstein

References

1. ^ Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels, Fürstliche Häuser XV, C.A. Starke Verlag, 1997, p.521. German.

• Richter, Karel (1995) (in Czech). Sága rodu Kinských (Saga of the Kinsky Family). Chlumec: [s.n.]. 
• Brož, Ivan (1997) (in Czech). Velké postavy rodu Kinských (Great Figures of the Kinsky Family). Praha: Petrklíč. ISBN 80-7229-052-5. 
• Valenta, Aleš (2004) (in Czech). Dějiny rodu Kinských (History of the Kinsky Family). Praha: Veduta. ISBN 80-86829-05-7. 

External links

• The Truth About Family Kinsky (Czech) (English) – dynastic history and proprietary quarrels with CR from the family point of view
• Kinsky Family tree – at Genealogy.euweb.cz pages