Diprand Freiherr von Reibnitz

Ref: http://fabpedigree.com/s058/f493677.htm born by 1418; died 1492 Wives/Partners: Barbara von SCHAFFGOTSCH 's children were: ;

Children:       Wiglas von REIBNITZ ;   Barbara von REIBNITZ   ;   Marie von REIBNITZ a.d.H. Girlachsdorf   ;   Ursula von REIBNITZ

Margaretha von LEST's children were Diprand von Reibnitz and Christine von Reibnitz

BIOGRAPHY Diprand von Rybnicz was the youngest son of Nicol von Rybnicz and his second wife Margarethe von Seidlitz. At the request of the Emperor Sigismund he entered the royal household at the end of 1418, and he remained many years in his service and that of his successor Friedrich III.

Before 1441 he married Barbara von Schaffgotsch and they had three daughters of whom Katharina would have progeny. In 1446 Diprand married Margaretha von Lest, his second wife, and they had six children of whom three sons (Wiglas, Diprand and Nicol) and two daughters (Christina and Anna) would have progeny.

In 1450 he was lieutenant governor of the dukedoms of Schweidnitz and Jauer. In this role he supported the alliance with the people of Breslau for the struggle against the Hussites.

On 2 March 1458 the Bohemians chose Georg Podiebrad as their king, but the Silesians opposed the choice, seeing Podiebrad as a heretic. However Diprand became a trusted ally of the king. He used all his influence so that Schweidnitz and Jauer would recognise Podiebrad, and he achieved this. Their assemblies were the first to pay homage to Podiebrad, on 1 September 1459.

At the court of Friedrich III in Vienna, where Diprand had remained for a lengthy period, he developed good relationships not only with Georg Podiebrad, but also with the Emperor Friedrich and King Wladislaw III Jagiello. It is remarkable enough that Friedrich and Wladislaw both honoured Diprand, despite the fact that he had become close to Podiebrad.

In 1460 Diprand was appointed to the governorship of Schweidnitz and Jauer, and carried through the measures that Georg Podiebrad had decreed for the suppression of the robber knights and establishment of the rule of law. He retired to his estate Girlachsdorf in 1468.

In the meantime Podiebrad found himself in severe difficulty. He had turned against Emperor Friedrich III, by whom he believed he had been betrayed. The emperor called for help from Matthias Hunyadi (known as Corvinus), Wladislaw III's successor as king of Hungary, who had conquered Moravia and had himself been chosen in Olmütz to be king of Bohemia. Podiebrad knew that he had secured the support of Poland against this move, and used it to force Matthias to negotiate for peace. Before these negotiations were completed, Georg Podiebrad died on 22 March 1471. In keeping with his wishes, Wladislaw Jagiello, son of Kazimierz IV Jagiello, king of Poland, was nominated as Georg Podiebrad's successor in Bohemia, and was crowned as king of Bohemia on 22 August 1471 (Wladislaw would later also be king of Hungary, succeeding Matthias in 1490). Matthias was not prepared to yield, and so once more a quarrel broke out between two kings, each of whom considered himself the equal of the other. Matthias forced Wladislaw, for the sake of peace, to cede Olmütz, Silesia, Moravia, Lusitania and the succession in Bohemia. During this quarrel intolerable conditions developed in Silesia. The old freebooter ways again ruled on the country roads, and the mayhem created by the robber knights was so extensive that no merchandise could be carried safely on the roads, but was stolen and dragged up to the mountain castles.

Matthias tried to deal with the disorder, and in 1477 he sent two thousand mercenaries to Silesia, who were to drive the robbers from their castles. But the evil only became worse, for they plundered and devastated the country more badly than the robber knights had. In the spring Bohemian troops entered, ostensibly to free the country from the mercenaries. However they only compounded the torment of Silesia. In response to this crisis Diprand stepped out from his retirement. With Christoph Gotsch von Kynast he placed himself at the head of the strongest forces of knights from the principalities of Schweidnitz and Jauer, requested Wladislaw's 'assistance' against the depredations of the outlaw troops, and wrote letters of denunciation to the forces of Breslau and to the robber knights. Notwithstanding the protests of the governor Count Stephan von Zapolin, the knights who sided with Diprand and the councillors of the cities made a peace accord with Bohemia. This bold action by the united knights under the leadership of Diprand brought order to the situation, so that King Matthias himself, on the Prince's Day in Breslau, could not refuse his recognition to the league and to its efforts to create security and order throughout Silesia. It was the last significant appearance of Diprand, whom Johannes Sinapius calls 'a knight who rendered great service' (_einen Kavalier von grossen Verdiensten_).

Three of Diprand's children are of genealogical interest. Christina married her third cousin Georg von Rybnicz and is an ancestor of Princess Michael of Kent. Katharina married Konrad von Hohberg and they are ancestors of Queen Margrethe II of Denmark as well as of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent. Nicol is an ancestor of Albert II, king of Belgium, Simeon II, king of Bulgaria, Margrethe II, queen of Denmark, Dr. Otto von Habsburg, Hans Adam II, prince von und zu Liechtenstein, Henri, grand duke of Luxembourg, Beatrix, queen of the Netherlands, Harald V, king of Norway, Juan Carlos I, king of Spain, Carl XVI, king of Sweden, and also of Prince Michael of Kent.