Silvius I Nimrod, Duke of Württemberg-Oels

Silvius I Nimrod, Duke of Württemberg-Oels (2 May 1622, Weiltingen – 24 April 1664, Brzezinka in Silesia) was the first Oels-Württemberg.

Silvius I Nimrod, Duke of Württemberg-Oels
Silvius Nimrod, First Duke of Württemberg-Oels
Born(1622-05-02)2 May 1622
Weiltingen
Died24 April 1664(1664-04-24) (aged 41)
Brzezinka
Noble familyHouse of Württemberg
Spouse(s)Elisabeth Marie, Duchess of Oels
FatherJulius Frederick, Duke of Württemberg-Weiltingen
MotherAnna Sabina of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg

Life

Silvius was the son of Duke Julius Frederick of Württemberg-Weiltingen and Anna Sabina of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg.

In 1638, he participated in the army of Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar besieging Breisach.

On 1 May 1647, he married in Oels Elisabeth Marie, Duchess of Oels, whose father, Duke Charles Frederick I died a few weeks later. Since Charles Frederick was the last reigning Duke of Oels, the Duchy fell to the Crown of Bohemia as a vacant fief. Emperor Ferdinand III, in his capacity as King of Bohemia, inherited the Duchy. After lengthy negotiations, Silvius Nimrod was invested on 15 December 1648 in Vienna with the Duchy of Oels, in exchange for 20000guilders and the Moravian Lordship of Jevišovice. Silvius Nimrod then began rebuilding the Duchy, which had suffered during the Thirty Years' War. He focused on education and the Church. In 1652, he founded the Order of the Skull, which existed until the 19th century.

Angelus Silesius was his court physician from 1647 to 1652. Matthäus Apelt was until 1639 his ducal councillor and court music director.

Silvius Nimrod died of a stroke on 26 April 1664, during a visit to Brzezinka. In accordance with his last will and testament, Duke Christian of Liegnitz-Brieg took up the guardianship of Silvius Nimrod's underage children. To prevent an imperial guardianship, which would probably imply a Catholic education, Christian sent the young princes to Tübingen, where they studied at the Collegium illustre.[1]

Marriage and issue

Silvius married on 1 May 1647 in Oels Elisabeth Marie, Duchess of Oels (1625-1686). The couple had five sons and two daughters:[2]

Footnotes
  1. Norbert Conrads: Bildungswege zwischen Schlesien und Wien, in: Schlesien in der Frühmoderne: Zur politischen und geistigen Kultur eines habsburgischen Landes, in the series: Neue Forschungen zur schlesischen Geschichte, ed. by Joachim Bahlcke, Weimar, 2009, ISBN 3-412-20350-5, p. 186 ff
  2. Gerhard Raff: Hie gut Wirtemberg allewege II: Das Haus Württemberg von Herzog Friedrich I. bis Herzog Eberhard III. Mit den Linien Stuttgart, Mömpelgard, Weiltingen, Neuenbürg, Neuenstadt am Kocher und Oels in Schlesien, Degerloch, 1993, ISBN 3-89850-108-6, p 637

References
  • Harald Schukraft: 4.3.1 Silvius Nimrod, in: Sönke Lorenz, Dieter Mertens, Volker Press (eds.): Das Haus Württemberg. Ein biographisches Lexikon, Kohlhammer Verlag, Stuttgart, 1997, ISBN 3-17-013605-4, p. 205-206
  • Martin Feist: Sylvius Nimrod, Herzog von Oels, in: Zeitschrift für Geschichte und Altertum Schlesiens, issue 52, 1918, pp. 85–102

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