Prince Kasper Doenhoff (german: Kaspar von Dönhoff, pl, Kacper Denhoff, 1587–1645) was a

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

nobleman of

Baltic-German Baltic Germans (german: Deutsch-Balten or , later ) were Germans, ethnic German inhabitants of the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, in what today are Estonia and Latvia. Since their coerced resettlement in 1939, Baltic Germans have markedly ...

extraction, a

Reichsfürst Prince of the Holy Roman Empire ( la, princeps imperii, german: Reichsfürst, cf. ''Fürst'') was a title attributed to a hereditary ruler, nobleman or prelate recognised as such by the Holy Roman Emperor. Definition Originally, possessors o ...

of the Holy Roman Empire and Governor of Dorpat Province within the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Upon converting to Catholicism, he became a trusted courtier and advisor to

Sigismund III of Poland Sigismund III Vasa ( pl, Zygmunt III Waza, lt, Žygimantas Vaza; 20 June 1566 – 30 April 1632 N.S.) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1587 to 1632 and, as Sigismund, King of Sweden and Grand Duke of Finland from 1592 to ...

Titles

He became titular Governor of Dorpat (1627–34) (although already in 1625 the town had capitulated to Sweden and was never reobtained by the Poles); from 1633, Count of the Holy Roman Empire (along with Ernst and Gerhard Dönhoff); Governor of Sieradz (1634–45); Court Marshal of the Queen (from 1639); and ''

starosta The starosta or starost (Cyrillic: ''старост/а'', Latin: ''capitaneus'', german: link=no, Starost, Hauptmann) is a term of Slavic origin denoting a community elder whose role was to administer the assets of a clan or family estates. Th ...

'' of Wieluń, ''Lauenburg'' ( Lębork), Radomsko, Bolesławiec, Sokal, Małoszyce, Sobowidze and Klonowo. In the Holy Roman Empire, he was a noble (''

''); count (from 1635); prince (from 1637); and court marshal.

Life

A member of the Westphalian, Prussian and Baltic-German

von Dönhoff The term ''von'' () is used in German language surnames either as a nobiliary particle indicating a noble patrilineality, or as a simple Preposition and postposition, preposition used by commoners that means ''of'' or ''from''. Nobility directo ...

family that also included

Ernst Magnus Dönhoff Ernst Magnus Dönhoff ( pl, Ernest Magnus Denhoff; 1581–1642) was a Baltic German who served the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in Livonia and the Polish fief of Duchy of Prussia. He was born a member of the Dönhoff family, a noble famil ...

and

Marion Dönhoff Marion Hedda Ilse Gräfin von Dönhoff (2 December 1909 – 11 March 2002) was a German journalist and publisher who participated in the resistance against Nazism, along with Helmuth James Graf von Moltke, Peter Yorck von Wartenburg, and Claus S ...

, Kasper became a military commander ('' rotmistrz'' of '' reiter''s), a

favorite A favourite (British English) or favorite (American English) was the intimate companion of a ruler or other important person. In post-classical and early-modern Europe, among other times and places, the term was used of individuals delegated si ...

of King Sigismund III Vasa (after his conversion) and one of the most prominent members of the "court faction" that advocated strengthening the Polish monarch's power. As a courtier of King Władysław IV Vasa, Doenhoff was sent with a diplomatic mission to propose the marriage of Archduchess

Cecilia Renata of Austria Cecilia Renata of Austria (german: Cäcilia Renata, pl, Cecylia Renata; 16 July 1611 – 24 March 1644) was Queen of Poland as the wife of King Władysław IV Vasa. Selection and coronation Cecilia Renata was a daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Fe ...

, daughter of

Holy Roman Emperor The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans ( la, Imperator Romanorum, german: Kaiser der Römer) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period ( la, Imperat ...

Ferdinand II, to Władysław IV. The mission was successful, and Kasper also received noble titles from the Holy Roman Emperor.

In Poland

Kasper Doenhoff was the first member of his family to enter the

magnate The magnate term, from the late Latin ''magnas'', a great man, itself from Latin ''magnus'', "great", means a man from the higher nobility, a man who belongs to the high office-holders, or a man in a high social position, by birth, wealth or ot ...

ruling elite of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, thereby laying the foundations for his family's fortune. He was influential and wealthy, enabling him to fund several interesting construction projects, mostly in Sieradz Province. He ordered the rebuilding of a medieval

castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

at Bolesławiec (of which he was ''starosta''), on the Prosna River, into a new residence, complete with

Italian garden The Italian garden (or giardino all'italiana () is best known for a number of large Italian Renaissance gardens which have survived in something like their original form. In the history of gardening, during the Renaissance, Italy had the most ...

. Around 1630 he sponsored a Renaissance-

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

castle in Kruszyna — the last residential complex in Poland planned around a Renaissance-style internal yard, but already with a Baroque-style grand front yard and garden. Kruszyna was Doenhoff's main residence; but it was inconveniently located far from the new Commonwealth capital, Warsaw. Hence in 1636 Doenhoff bought and rebuilt another estate, in

Ujazd Ujazd (german: Ujest) is a town in Strzelce County in the Opole Voivodeship in southern Poland. Population 1,647. The town lies on bank of the river Kłodnica. Tourist attractions in the town include the Ujazd Castle (formerly used by bishops of ...

, where he replaced the old castle with a Baroque palace. Toward the end of his life, he ordered the construction of a family

necropolis A necropolis (plural necropolises, necropoles, necropoleis, necropoli) is a large, designed cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments. The name stems from the Ancient Greek ''nekropolis'', literally meaning "city of the dead". The term usually im ...

, centered around a domed chapel, in the

Jasna Góra Jasna may refer to: Places * Jasna, a village in Poland * Jasná, a village and ski resort in Slovakia Other uses * Jasna (given name), a Slavic female given name * JASNA, the Jane Austen Society of North America See also * Yasna Yasna (;

sanctuary at

Częstochowa Częstochowa ( , ; german: Tschenstochau, Czenstochau; la, Czanstochova) is a city in southern Poland on the Warta River with 214,342 inhabitants, making it the thirteenth-largest city in Poland. It is situated in the Silesian Voivodeship (admin ...

. It was completed by his descendants. Despite his ownership of several castles, Doenhoff often resided in a modest

manor Manor may refer to: Land ownership *Manorialism or "manor system", the method of land ownership (or "tenure") in parts of medieval Europe, notably England *Lord of the manor, the owner of an agreed area of land (or "manor") under manorialism *Man ...

('' dworek szlachecki'') near the royal residence at Warsaw.

Family

Doenhoff was the son of Gerhard Dönhoff (?-1598) and Margaretha von Zweiffeln. He was the brother of

( Governor of Parnawa),

Hermann Dönhoff Hermann or Herrmann may refer to: * Hermann (name), list of people with this name * Arminius, chieftain of the Germanic Cherusci tribe in the 1st century, known as Hermann in the German language * Éditions Hermann, French publisher * Hermann, Miss ...

and Gerhard Dönhoff :pl:Gerard Denhoff (syn) (1590-1648, Governor of Pomorze). In 1620 he married Anna Aleksandra Koniecpolska. They had four children: Aleksander Doenhoff, Stanislaw Doenhoff (?–1653), Zygmunt Doenhoff, and Anna Doenhoff (who married

Bogusław Leszczyński Bogusław Leszczyński, count of Leszno (1614–1659) from the Leszczyński Family of Holy Roman Empire counts, was a Polish noble (''szlachcic'') and politician from Wielkopolska region. Biography Traveled abroad from 1632-1636 with his tu ...

References

*Kajzer L.
"A Sieradz 'Palace Decade'? Kacper Denhoff'S Foundations in the First Half of the 17th Century,"
''Kwartalnik Historii Kultury Materialnej'' (Quarterly of the History of Material Culture), vol. 52, no. 4, 2004, pp. 403–18. *https://web.archive.org/web/20110725022228/http://genealog.home.pl/gd/szablony/osoba.php?lang=pl&id=016413 {{DEFAULTSORT:Doenhoff, Kasper 1587 births 1645 deaths Converts to Roman Catholicism from Calvinism Polish Roman Catholics Polish Princes of the Holy Roman Empire Polish Counts of the Holy Roman Empire 17th-century Polish nobility Baltic-German people