Franz Ferdinand von Gallas

https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franti%C5%A1ek_Ferdinand_Gallas

http://genealogics.org/getperson.php?personID=I00151937&tree=LEO

BIOGRAPHY Frantisek Ferdinand was born about 1635, the son of Graf Matthias von Gallas and Gräfin Dorothea Anna von Lodron. He was first married to Gräfin Katerina Barbora Borita z Martinic, daughter of Graf Maximilian Valentin Borita z Martinic and Anna Katharina Bukuowka von Bukuwky. By his second wife Gräfin Johanna Emmerentia Gaschin von Rosenberg, daughter of Graf Rudolph Gaschin von Rosenberg and Freiin Johanna von Zierotin, he had a daughter Johanna Beatrix who would have progeny, marrying Graf Karl Samuel Leonhard Colonna von Völs. Frantisek Ferdinand also had a son Johann Wenzel (Jan Václav) who would have progeny, and a daughter Kajetana Theresia, but their mother is not recorded.

From his father, a major figure of the Thirty Years War, Frantisek Ferdinand inherited the castle and estate of Frydlant that had formerly belonged to Albrecht von Wallenstein, murdered at the emperor's behest at Cheb (Eger) in 1634. With his second wife Emmerentia he undertook its restoration. A major fire in the 1670s had gutted the interiors and a peasant uprising on the estate in 1680 led by the blacksmith Ondrej (Andreas) Stelzig, had caused further devastation. Frantisek Ferdinand is described by one source as 'the cruellest in a long line of none too squeamish lords of the castle'. Stelzig, a relatively educated man who was able to read and write, sought to appeal to the emperor in Vienna to protest against the despotic aristocracy. However, he was arrested, tried at Frydlant's courtroom on 11 January 1686 and sentenced to hard labour at Raab Castle, where he died.

A completely different perspective on Frantisek Ferdinand is shown in relation to the cathedral church in the town of Hejnice, at a site which had attracted pilgrims as early as the 13th century, marking what was believed to have been an apparition of the Virgin Mary. Hejnice was another domain of Wallenstein given to Frantisek Ferdinand's father by Emperor Ferdinand II, together with the Wallenstein domain of Liberec. Frantisek Ferdinand and Emmerentia decided to roof the perimeter of what was then a small Gothic church with ambulatories in which pilgrims could find shelter and rest after their journeys. Thanks to this the number of pilgrims continued to grow, and Frantisek Ferdinand and Emmerentia next invited Franciscan monks to Hejnice so that they could serve the needs of the pilgrims.

Frantisek Ferdinand next committed to build a monastery and enlarge the church there, as recorded in a charter of the 20 February 1691. He also committed to cover the monks' costs and to provide them with food and wood for heating. In return, they were to celebrate a mass once week for the Gallas family. This contract was to apply to all future patrons and monastery administrators. The cornerstone of the monastery church was laid on 27 April 1692.

Frantisek Ferdinand died unexpectedly on 4 January 1697, but the building work continued. In 1698 a sepulchre was built under supervision of Frantisek Ferdinand's son Johann Wenzel. The first members of the Gallas family to be buried there were his father Frantisek Ferdinand and his brother Maximilian. In 1719 Johann Wenzel, the imperial ambassador to England, the Hague, the Papal Curia, and viceroy in Naples and Sicily, was murdered in Naples. In accordance with his wishes he was laid to rest next to his parents in the family sepulchre. The extended church, which could accommodate 1000 pilgrims, was consecrated on 1 July 1725. The Franciscan chronicle says that between 1699 and 1725 nearly 1.4 million pilgrims travelled to Hejnice to ask for the intercession of the Virgin Mary.