August Legnitsky

Representative of the Legnica line of the Silesian Piasts . The eldest son of Prince Johann Christian Brzhegsky (1591-1639) from his second marriage with Anna Jadwiga von Zittsch (1611-1639). Johann Christian's second marriage was recognized as morganatic (that is, the children from this marriage did not have the right to inherit their fatherly possessions). The status of Augustus mother changed on December 7, 1627 , when the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II of Habsburg granted her the title of Baroness. Soon, on February 18, 1628 , Augustus also received a baronial title ( German: Freiherr von Liegnitz ). The baronial title was assigned to all future children of Johann Christian and Anna Jadwiga. Of the six brothers and sisters of Augustus, only two survived: Baron Sigmund Legnitsky and Baroness Johannes Elizabeth Legnitskaya, after the husband of Baroness von Berka Dub und Liepa. Nobody left the posterity.

On January 2, 1664, Baron Augustus Legnitsky received the title of Count Legnitsky ( German Graf von Liegnitz ) from Emperor Leopold I in Regensburg .

In 1675, the childless prince Legnitsky and Brzeg George Georg Wilhelm (1660–1675), the last representative of the Silesian Piast dynasty and Augustus' nephew , died. After his death, Count Augustus Legnitsky declared his claims to the Legnitsa - Brzeg principality as the last male male to live in the family (his younger brother Sigmund died in 1664 ). The main evidence was to be the fact that the agreement of June 24, 1626, which deprived the offspring of Anna Jadwiga von Sittz’s inheritance, should have been valid only until the death of the descendants of Prince Johann Christian from his first marriage.

Ultimately, the claims of Augustus were rejected by the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I of Habsburg , who appointed the count a rather high annual pension.

From the legacy of the Legnica Piasts, Count Augustus owned only the estate of Przeworno and Kantorowice in the vicinity of Brzeg .

On May 14, 1679, Count August Legnitsky died in his castle in Semislavitsy. September 28, 1679 he was buried in the church of the Holy Trinity in Przeworn .

Count Augustus Legnitsky was twice married. On October 8, 1653, he married his first marriage to Baroness Elizabeth Ruppsky (d. April 25, 1660), the daughter of Baron Johann Adam Ruppsky and the widow of Baron Karl Deodat, Baron Zaradek. The couple had three children:

• Christian Augustus (April 30, 1655 - May 26, 1671)
• Anna Louise Elizabeth (January 18, 1658 - November 2, 1659)
• Johannes Elizabeth (born and d. April 5, 1660).

On August 2, 1665, August Legnitsky remarried to Princess Carolina of Nassau-Dillenburg (June 2, 1643, Dillenburg - March 2, 1686, Gyor ), the third daughter of Prince George Ludwig Nassau-Dillenburg (1618-1656) and Anna Augusta Braunschweig-Wolfenbutt 1673). The second marriage was childless.

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• Genealogy of the Princes of Brzeg and Legnica
• Genealogy of the rulers of Silesia