Kasper Doenhoff


Prince Kasper Doenhoff was a Polish nobleman of Baltic-German extraction, a Reichsfürst 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.

Early life

Kasper Doenhoff was the son of Gerhard von Dönhoff and his wife, Margaretha von Zweiffeln. He was the brother of Ernst Magnus von Dönhoff , Hermann von Dönhoff and Gerhard von Dönhoff, Governor of Pomorze and Anna von Maydel.

Career

Kasper Doenhoff was the first member of his family to enter the magnate ruling elite of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, thereby laying the foundations for his family's fortune in the country. A member of an old Westphalian, Prussian and Baltic-German House of Dönhoff, that also included Ernst Magnus Dönhoff and Marion Dönhoff, Doenhoff became a military commander ; a favorite of King Sigismund III Vasa; 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, daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II, [Holy Roman Emperor|Ferdinand II], to Władysław IV. The mission was successful, and Doenhoff also received noble title of Fürst from the Holy Roman Emperor.

Titles

He became titular Governor of Dorpat ; from 1633, Count of the Holy Roman Empire ; Governor of Sieradz ; Court Marshal of the Queen ; and starosta of Wieluń, Lauenburg, Radomsko, Bolesławiec, Łódź Voivodeship|Bolesławiec], Sokal, Małoszyce, Sobowidze and Klonowo.
In the Holy Roman Empire, he was a noble ; count ; prince ; and court marshal.

Residences and building projects

Doenhoff was influential and wealthy, enabling him to fund several interesting construction projects, mostly in Sieradz Province. He ordered the rebuilding of a medieval castle at Bolesławiec, on the Prosna River, into a new residence, complete with Italian garden. Around 1630 he sponsored a Renaissance-Baroque 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 Ujazdów, near Warsaw, where he replaced the old Ujazdów Castle with a Baroque palace.
Toward the end of his life, he ordered the construction of a family necropolis, centered around a domed chapel, in the Jasna Góra sanctuary at Częstochowa. It was completed by his descendants.
Despite his ownership of several castles, Doenhoff often resided in a modest manor near the royal residence at Warsaw.

Family

In 1620 he married Anna Aleksandra Koniecpolska. They had four children: