02 LVP HISTORY

This Lochner line is already somewhat known to Mr. Janz, being the Barons Lochner of Huettenbach’s first archivist in the 1960s – but only to a few people, because the documents in archives of the Protestant nobles in Habsburg’s Bohemia were largely destroyed. The fate that befalls this branch in the course of time has also been hidden in the darkness of history, and in particular the Czech name of their related family, the Ratiborsky of Sechzebus, has posed a mystery….

The Lochner of Palitz (a village in the urban district of Eger, Bohemia – today’s name is Cheb in Czech Republic) is clearly of the same origin as Lochner of Huettenbach, i.e. they descend from the Lochners who own property in the immediate vicinity of Loch, in the village of Drossenfeld near Kulmbach, which in turn belongs to the catchment area of the Plassenburg, the center of power of the House of Hohenzollern (origin of the Prussian Kings) in Northern Upper Franconia, the nucleus of the later Margravedom of Bayreuth. The medieval road to Eger goes through the center of Drossenfeld[1].

And this is exactly where the presumed ancestor of this line, Herman II Lochner, from the Lochner of Drossenfeld line (after 1500 = Lochner of Palitz), is castleman on the Plassenburg[2] in 1399.

His sons were probably Eberhard Lochner, who moves to Nuremberg around 1400 – the Lochner of Nuremberg[3] – and Albrecht Lochner. He prefers the manor in Drossenfeld, because both brothers start it selling by the piece from 1412 on[4].

They no longer see their future in their old homeland, because Nuremberg offers a variety of opportunities to earn a living, and Albrecht could have married Martha, the heir-daughter of a Modschiedler branch, and therefore decides to change residence to Weismain and Arnstein. There she certainly has brought fiefdom into the marriage. Both Albrecht and his son Herman III Lochner, also have benefited from a share of the Ebermannstadt Lochners’ inheritance from 1438, which sustainably documents the close relationship of the individual lines around this time. Perhaps this will influence Hermann III’s decision to remain settled in his old homeland again, because he lives in Weiher and Hollfeld in 1445, acquires property in Alladorf around 1450 and is enfeoffed with it by Margrave John of Brandenburg on the Plassenburg. A mortgage note can be found in the Eger City Archives, which indicates that he has connections to Eger as early as 1445[5].

In the next generation Conrad VI and George II Lochner living in Weiher near Hollfeld in 1472, a pair of brothers who have received Alladorf from the above mentioned feudal lord as early as 1467[6]. They must have been very young when their father, Herman III Lochner, dies because their grandfather Albrecht takes over the guardianship of his grandchildren in 1453[7]. The following information can already be found in the document when it has been enfeoffed “…Jorgen Lochner, his brother, who is not with the land, is to present (the fiefdom) in good faith and (…) so Jorg, his brother, is coming home, he himself should also receive this fief and do his fiefdom’s duty as is appropriate”.

Around 1477, George II Lochner of Drossenfeld makes the final decision to leave his Franconian homeland in order to build a new life for himself in Bohemia, as many aspiring lower nobility families from Franconia, Saxony, Vogtland and Austria do. At this point in time, the repurchase of the goods in Alladorf is also recorded (fief of the Margrave of Bayreuth – fief lapel from October 1st, 1477) by John of Koenigsfeld – guarantor and sealer for it: Henry V Lochner of Waischenfeld![8]

This is exactly what can be seen from the list of her ancestors in the funeral sermon[9] of his Lutheran great-great-granddaughter Elisabeth Lochner of Palitz (July 25, 1588 – March 19, 1658), which begins with her forefather named George Lochner, who has emigrated from Weiher near Hollfeld to Bohemia after 1475, where he is able to win a wife from the rich knightly family called “von der Planitz”, who own extensive estates in Vogtland.

The next generation includes his son Frederick II Lochner, who will still maintain relations with Franconia and acquires the Palitz manor near the Imperial City of Eger (Cheb) in 1498[10], as well as Schoenficht (Smrkovec)[11] in the so-called “Kaiserwald” (German: Emperor’s forest – CZ: Slavkovský les), not far away, in 1509. With his wife Margret he has two sons and a daughter. As already reported, there are a lot documents about him, for example in 1512 and 1513 he is Captain of the Waldsassen Monastery[12], where he expresses himself as “Lochner of Loch”, but then in 1514, as a medieval steward at Waldershof near Tirschenreuth in Upper Palatinate, he now appears in the documents as LOCHNER OF PALITZ[13] for the first time (there are numerous documents from his grandson Caspar Bernard in the Eger City Archives: he must have been a “real squabbler” par excellence and there are 23 fascicles about the Lochners[14]).

While the Lochner of Palitz will soon establish themselves in the Elbogen area upon River Elbe (Loket) in the district of Carlsbad (Karlovy Vary), where an imposing castle is crowning the city, and in 1615 they acquire the Incolat[15] as belonging to the Bohemian nobility. The Thirty Years‘ War brought terrible changes, because – like most of the Bohemian nobles – the Lochner of Palitz are Protestants and after the Battle of the White Mountain near Prague in 1620, from which the Catholic League and thus the Habsburgs have emerged victorious, the Palitz Lochners are confronted with the impertinent confiscation of their manors. The Habsburgs take revenge on their enemies, the rebellious Protestants, in an extraordinarily malicious medieval manner. The above-mentioned Elisabeth Lochner of Palitz emigrates with her husband Nikolaus Wolf Ratiborsky of Sechzebus, from an old Czech noble family – so-called “Vladyks” – and 11 small children to Unterkotzau near Hof in Upper Franconia around 1630, where her husband will soon be dead[16]. Other Czech noble families are recorded in her pedigree from 1588, such as the Sekerk of Sedcice or the Harant of Korschan. Her uncle, Jareslaw Hoffmann of Muenchhof, follows her example as a Protestant and buys the Konradsreuth manor near Hof (1638 – ~1646) in the Margraviate of Bayreuth – perhaps to support his niece after the death of her husband in the middle of the Thirty Years‘ War[17].

This happens after the Emperor’s re-catholicization patent of 1627, in which the Protestant Bohemian nobles are asked to either convert or emigrate. So, many of them will than leave the country for the Electorate of Saxony, whose sovereign John George I is a strictly Lutheran, and he is an organizer of planning towns for the Bohemian exiles: Johanngeorgenstadt (1654), Neusalza (1670) or Ernstthal (1680)[18].


In this first wave, Elisabeth’s brother, Wolf Christoph Lochner of Palitz, must also have turned his back on Bohemia between 1620 and 1628, because his manors in Muenchhof and Imligkau are confiscated. However, in 1631 there is a brief flare-up of hope for the Protestants: the Saxons have been allies of the Swedes since 1630, who, after defeating the Catholic imperial troops in the Battle of Breitenfeld, advance deeper into the Kingdom of Bohemia under their Commander John George of Arnim to find winter quarters. This sparked security in many Bohemian exiles that would soon turn out to be deceptive (return to their old belongings in Bohemia) – when Arnim reaches Northern Bohemia in November 1631, as to arrive in Prague on November 15th.

There Arnim, first of all, has the skeletal heads removed of the Protestant nobles (“the ringleaders” of the Emperor) who had been cruelly murdered after the Battle of the White Mountain in 1620, known as the “Prague Blood Court” of June 21, 1621 – especially Count Joachim of Schlick (whose mother is Margaret Lochner of Liebenfels granddaughter: Anna Maria Ungnad of Weissenwolff) or, as an example, someone like the over 80-year’s-old (!) Nobleman Kaspar Kaplirz ze Sulevic (see below – his descendants currently live near Rothenburg upon Tauber in Franconia)[19].

The Czechs still consider this “Prague Bloody Court” to be the most traumatic event in their history![20]

Wolf Christoph Lochner of Palitz then returns to his possessions in 1631, like his distant relative Sabina Lochner of Palitz, whose husband may have fallen in the Battle of the White Mountain. Both of them have certainly been in Saxony. But this Saxon invasion remains a short episode lasting a total of 166 days, so that the Catholic troops under Wallenstein urge the Saxons out of the country again. Now the Emperor finally goes down to business seriously and sentences the Bohemian nobles, who have once again taken their property – illegally in the Imperial eyes – to significant punishments.

Since Sabina Lochner of Palitz usurps her erstwhile property in Teschau (Těšov), she is sentenced to pay 300 fl. rh from the “Imperial Commission”. As a result, Sabina Lochner of Palitz, née Gfeller of Sachsengruen (Kfelir ze Zaksova), like most Protestant exiles, will than emigrate permanently to Saxony[21]. Before, she has sold her estates in Teschau (Těšov) and Schoenficht (Smrkovec) together with Wolf Christoph Lochner of Palitz, as guardian of her daughters, in 1625 for 10,000 fl. to John Reinhard of Metternich, a nephew of the Elector and Bishop of Trier[22].

Back to Saxony, she married again – her second husband is Wolf Henry Ritschl of Hartenbach senior, who formerly has lived in Katzengruen (Kaceřov – 11 km southwest of Falkenau/Sokolov), and whose family entirely flees to Thuringia because of their faith (branches of this family still exist today). Around 1651, however, she is widowed again and lives impoverished on the Ritschl of Hartenbach’s former Bohemian knight’s stately home Katzengruen with her children (it can be speculated that she still remains true to her Lutheran denomination). Meanwhile, the knight Wolf Caspar Pergler of Perglas (1622 – June 18, 1681) is the landlord of Katzengruen (his wife is called Walburga Eleonora of Trauttenberg, 1632 – ?) – the Perglers are also an old Saxon-Meissen and Bohemian, originally Protestant, family, which still “blooms” nowadays in Czech Republic and the U.S.A – coat of arms: see left), and he has provided her with a farm in the village of Katzengruen which is exempt from normal servile duties[23].

The rest of her family becomes Catholic and still lives in the country today as Czech citizens – Daniel Kfelir, in his early 20’s, is a budding opera singer there.

Wolf Christoph, formerly judge in the town of Elbogen upon Elbe river (CZ: Loket), like his father George Florian, has to face the confiscation of all his estates in Luck (Luka) and Little-Werscheditz (Verušičky) again, about 30 km away from Carlsbad (Karlovy Vary), and Muenchhof (Mirova) at Chodau (Chodov) in 1633 because he is proven to have supported the Saxons in 1631[24].

A Catholic favoritism, field marshal Alexander of Boren (Alexander Borri), is gifted with Lochner’s former residence Muenchhof. John Frederick II Lochner of Palitz at Dallwitz (district of Karlsbad/Karlovy Vary), who owns the village of Pauten (Poutnov) near Tepl Monastery (in the Southern district of Karlsbad/Karlovy Vary) around 1618, who, as a Lutheran has taken side for the “Winter King” Frederick V of Palatinate (House of Wittelsbach) “may” repurchase – after his re-catholization – 2/3 of Pauten for the completely excessive sum of 1700 kopecks![25] Now, from 1620 until his death in 1650, Wolf Christoph’s son, John Henry Lochner of Palitz, is officially the owner of the two estates Luck and Little-Werscheditz (which also includes the villages: Albeřice/Alberitz, Radošov/Röschwitz, Tis u Luk/Tiß and Hřivínov/Mokowitz), together with his wife Anna Barbara, widowed Proellhofer of Purkersdorf, née of Steinbach[26].

This is no coincidence, because in 1633 her brother, Jaroslaw Baron of Steinbach – certainly at his sister’s request – has bought these estates as quickly as possible from the confiscated assets of her father-in-law, the Lutheran Wolf Christoph Lochner of Palitz (who dies shortly afterwards in 1635). These estates have once been Steinbach family property, since the beginning of the 16th century, which have been sold to the Proellhofer’s around 1588.

Jaroslaw of Steinbach himself converts to Catholicism even in 1628 – he is the son of the former Protestant governor of the Saaz district (Žatec) around 1616, Wenzel of Steinbach. His huge property: the town and castle of Waltsch (Valeč), nine villages and three fortresses, Skytal, Girschen, Linz (= Mlýnce, today all parts of the town of Vroutek (Rudig) in the Laun/Louny district in Northern Bohemia) is completely confiscated in 1622 because of his participation in the “uprising of the Protestant Bohemian nobles” against the Habsburgs. Only thanks to the fact that his wife Barbara of Maleschitz, who has been a Catholic since her youth, and the intercession of a high-ranking Bohemian Catholic official, is she able to repurchase everything in 1623 and so resides on Waltsch. Wenzel of Steinbach barely saves his life and seeks refuge in the Electorate of Saxony. He is accompanied by his eldest son George and his daughter Rosina, who will support her father ending up his life in Annaberg(-Buchholz) in 1658 at the age of 90. George of Steinbach – like his brother Jaroslaw – takes step back first in 1638, when his mother passes away and the brothers divide the inheritance between them. While still in Saxony he probably has met the widowed Eva Lochner of Palitz from Strojetitz near Waltsch[27] around 1633, whom he takes as his wife in 1642 (his date of death is September 3, 1650). Describing herself as a “poor widow”, she writes a letter to the Emperor from exile in Dresden 1637 and implores him to support for herself and her four granddaughters. Perhaps this late “provider marriage” comes about because Eva Lochner of Palitz has once married an unknown brother of Wolf Christoph and Elisabeth Lochner of Palitz, because Strojetitz is yet not far from Waltsch, as well as from Luck and Little-Werscheditz.

Wolf Christoph’s wife, Anna Catherine Proellhofer of Purkersdorf, has brought these estates into her marriage in 1615. In 1622 Wolf Christoph has already sold the eponymous manor of his ancestors in Palitz[28]. After his son John Henry Lochner of Palitz, his granddaughter Anna Barbara marries into the Bohemian higher nobility of the Counts of Kolowrat-Liebsteinsky, so once the branch Lochner of Liebenfels in Carinthia may have paved the way. In 1652, her Catholic husband Wolfgang Count of Kolowrat-Liebsteinsky takes over the Lochner estates of Luck and Little-Werscheditz[29]. In the survey on the progress of re-catholization in the Kingdom of Bohemia around 1651 in all districts of the country, Anna Barbara’s mother names her biological daughter (!) regarding her estates Luck and Little-Werscheditz, an „orphan being the daughter of a certain Prillhoferin, called of Burckersdorff, 18 years old“ who is “tolerated” there, which even at this time still shows the fear that the name of grandfather, Wolf Christoph Lochner of Palitz, once strongly attached to the Lutheran case, could reveal what prompts this desperate “white lie” – she may have otherwise seen her daughter’s marriage at risk.

The last male descendant of his family, Adam Lochner of Palitz, probably the son of John Frederick II Lochner at Pauten – see above -who has married Maria Magdalena Lochner of Huettenbach at Winterstein in 1662, live at Pettendorf Castle (today part of the town of Neunburg vorm Wald in Upper Palatinate). After the final sale of Winterstein (in the Nuremberg region), his inheritance amounts to 9,367 fl. rh. He grandly invests in the purchase of several properties in Upper Palatinate but since this area belongs to Bavaria, all Protestants are forced to leave the country by 1662 as a result of the Counter-Reformation. In 1691, his five daughters declare that they are “unable to earn each other out” and ask the government of Upper Palatinate to be allowed to sell the “Demesne Thann near Hillstett” (Upper Palatinate) to Wilhelm Ludwig Rummel for 6,226 florins – so in 1692 it has been ratified.

Shortly after 1700 the Palitz’ branch finally dies out
(according to the Amberg State Archives in Upper Palatinate
– see: 03 LVH HISTORY)

Castle of Little-Werscheditz / Verusicky

photography with kind permission of Hartmut Wesser, Thuengersheim


Annotation:

In fact, Prof. Dr. Vaclav Buzek from the Czech University of Budweis states in his article “The Ungnads of Sonnegg – the Lutheran nobility in the Habsburg Monarchy around the middle of the 16th century” (published in “ROCNIK” – OPERA HISTORICA, Journal of Early Modern History, No. 18 from 2017):

Andrew I Ungnad of Weissenwolff, the brother of John III Ungnad (see also: 03 HISTORY Ungnad von Weissenwolff – in progress), is granted property in the Kingdom of Bohemia, and one of his daughters of an unknown name, is married to Count Jaroslav V of Kolowrat-Liebsteinsky (Jaroslav “the Elder”)* on May 25, 1555, who later on becomes governor of Lower Lusatia in 1570.
The mother of the two Ungnad brothers is Margret Lochner of Liebenfels.

Andrew’s daughter is otherwise not mentioned in literature, because Zikuna of Guttenstein is always considered his first wife. Ungnad’s daughter probably has died in childbirth when her first child is born. The brother of Count Jaroslav V of Kolowrat-Liebsteinsky – Albrecht VI – marries Benigna Regina Welser on October 23, 1549, whose sister Philippine Welser, is in relationship with the son of Emperor Ferdinand I and his wife Anna Jagiello, namely Ferdinand II (Sovereign of Tyrol and brother of Emperor Maximilian II – see below) wedding her secretly. This represents a scandal since this marriage is below his rank (see also: 03 LVW / LVL HISTORY). The Welser Patrician family from the Imperial City of Augsburg, acting alongside the Fuggers as financiers of the Habsburgs, have been raised to the Imperial nobility in 1532 and to the baron status in 1567…

Excerpt of the Pedigree of the Kolowrat Noble Family: http://w.genealogy.euweb.cz/kolowrat/kolowrat2.html –

  1. Martin Riedelbauch: „Castle and Manor of Drossenfeld“ (= today’s Neudrossenfeld, District of Kulmbach), Archives for History of Upper Franconia, vol. 53, Historical Association for Upper Franconia, Bayreuth, 1973, p. 6 ↑

  2. Castle of Plassenburg at Kulmbach – Burggravial fief’s book II, 48 ↑

  3. Name register for the citizens‘ books in the official and registry books of the City of Nuremberg no. 274 – 277 from 1335 – 1448, here: Eberhard Lochner 1409, registry number: 298 ↑

  4. Castle of Plassenburg at Kulmbach – Burggravial fief’s book II, 50, 64 ↑

  5. State Archives of the Imperial City of Eger (today’s Cheb in Czech Republic), document no. A3139 ↑

  6. State Archives of Bamberg (= StA BA) A175, Lade 682, no. 1891 – lapel of January 28, 1467 (StA BA MB BT fief’s court no. 10) ↑

  7. Maximilian Baron Lochner of Huettenbach – Branch Elten, inheritance, no documents proved ↑

  8. StA BA A175, Lade 645, no. 422 ↑

  9. Funeral sermon of Elisabeth Lochner of Palitz, married Ratiborsky of Sechzebus – according to a friendly note by Michael Haeckel (descandent of the Ratiborsky of Sechzebus) ↑

  10. State Archives of the Imperial City of Eger (today’s Cheb in Czech Republic), document no. 3140 ↑

  11. State Archives of the Imperial City of Eger (today’s Cheb in Czech Republic), document no. 3955 ↑

  12. State Archives of Amberg, Bavaria (= StA AM), Waldsassen Monastery, document no. 1049 of 26/1/1512 ↑

  13. StA AM, Waldsassen Monastery, document no 1076 of 23/ 2/1514 ↑

  14. State Archives of the Imperial City of Eger (today’s Cheb in Czech Republic), document nos. A3146 – A3169 from 1573 – 1628 and document nos. A3139 – A3144 from 1445 – 1590 ↑

  15. Incolat of 1615: Bohemian nobility in the Siebmacher’s heraldic books, panel 137, p. 287 ↑

  16. „Exulanti.genebaze.cz – Puvod ceskych exulanti = Origin of Czech emigrants“ ↑

  17. https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konradsreuth ↑

  18. Johann Ch. Engelschall: „Description of the exile and mountain town Johanngeorgenstadt“, 1723, p. 94 ↑

  19. see enclosure: literature of the noble family Kaplirz of Sulewicz ↑

  20. Dr. Oldrich Kortus: „The Saxons in Bohemia 1631 – 1632“, Prague, 2007 – in Czech language ↑

  21. Tomáš Václav Bílek: „Reformace katolická“ (in Czech languge – Re-Catholization of Bohemia after the battle of the White Mountain in 1620), Prague, 1892: 161. Sabina Lochner of Palitz sells her estate in Teschau, before she went to Saxonia in 1628 and 1631 she usurps it again, but only for short time: 1632 she left the country with the enemy (161. Sabina Lochnarova ze Palic prodala r. 1628. pred odchodem svym do Saska statek svuj Tesov, jehoz se pri vpadu saskem r. 1631. opet zmocnila, avsak jen na kratky cas: nebot r. 1632, opet ze zeme s nepritelem ujela). – Oldřich KORTUS: „Sasové v Čechách v letech 1631 a 1632“ (The Saxons in Bohemia 1631 – 1632), Prague, 2007: Sabina Lochnarova z Palic / Cheb, vratila se Sasy, ktere podporovala (She went back to Saxony, who she supported). – As a widow at Katzengruen after the year 1651 – https://www.nacr.cz = National Archives of the Czech Republic in Prague: “Loketsko — Soupis poddaných podle víry z roku 1651” ↑

  22. Heinrich Otokar Miltner / Josef Neumann (Association for Numismatics of Prague): “Description of the previously known Bohemian private coins and medals” – published by the Association’s Publishing House, 1852, p. 343 ↑

  23. According to https://www.nacr.cz = National Archives of Czech Republic in Prague: “Loketsko – Soupis poddaných podle víry z roku 1651” – her third daughter, Anna Barbara Sabina Ritschl of Hartenbach, 18 years old, marries under the “wrong” name LOCHNER OF PALITZ in 1653 in Saxony the knight Virgilius Muench of Muenchswarth, what her mother – as, a worried 70 years’ old mother, has certainly demanded of her relatives on deathbed (subject in document no. 98 in the Lochner-Archive at State Archives of Nuremberg, repertory 311). Her other twin-daughters called Lochner of Palitz, Helen and Helen Dorothey, both marry to the family Mulz of Waldau in Bohemia. ↑

  24. Noble residence Muenchhof (Mirova) near Chodau (Chodov): 1633 owned by Wolf Christof Lochner of Palitz (mother: Bridget Hoffmann of Muenchhof) – Muenchhof near Chodau belonged to the Hoffmann knightly family in the 15th – 16th centuries – the Muenchhof, which was owned by the Counts of Schlick namely Caspar Schlick in 1489, is located near Schlackenwerth (Ostrov nad Ohri) – Dr. Rudolf Schreiber: “The Elbogen Land Register of the Counts of Schlick from 1525”, Prague, 1934, pp. 22, 41, 55; and Dr. Rudolf Schreiber: “The Fief’s Book of the Elbogen Captain Albrecht of Globen” (UE 40, p. 5) ↑

  25. Anton Gnirs: „Topography of historical and art historical monuments in the Tepl and Mariánské Lázně districts“, Publishers Benno Filser, Augsburg, 1932, p. 213 ↑

  26. Jakub Mirka, State Archives of Plzen, Czech Republic – Master’s thesis 2016 in Czech language: “Velkostatek Luka – Verušičky – The manors of Luck and Little-Werscheditz (17th – 19th centuries)“ ↑

  27. Eva Lochner of Palitz: „Bergmann Collection“, Vol. 2, p. 494 at Saxon Main State Archives of Dresden: 10024 Geheimer Rat. 4. Book „Einnehmung derjenigen, so aus Böhmen und den anderen Orten weichen mußten“, 1634 – 1650, Loc. 10332/2, fol. 57, 86, 245 ↑

  28. State Archives of the Imperial City of Eger (today’s Cheb in Czech Republic), document nos. A3168 – after his uncle Caspar Bernhard Lochner of Palitz had already negotiated, he sold it to the knight Gerhard Schwoll of Falkenberg ↑

  29. about Castle Luck/Luka: www.pamatkyaprirodakarlovarska.cz/luka-zamek –

    about Castle Little-Werscheditz/Verusicky: www.pamatkyaprirodakarlovarska.cz/verusicky-zamek and www.hrady.cz/zamek-luka-verusicky ↑

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