Catherine von Schindel, Duchess of Bernstadt

After her father had bought the Duchy of Bernstadt from Henry III, Duke of Münsterberg-Oels in 1574 the von Schindel family gained a big influence in the Silesian aristocracy in the last decades of the 16th century and made a significant social rise.

The von Schindels had the right to use the title of a Duke exclusively in connection with their property and as long as they were owners of the Duchy of Bernstadt, which covers the period of 30 years (1574-1604).

Her distant relative was Charlotte Helene von Schindel, the royal-mistress of the King Frederick IV of Denmark.

It was in 1596 when Catherine von Schindel lost her residence, the Bernstadt Palace, and the Duchy, over which she had an almost absolute power for two decades.

Catherine von Schindel moved with her third husband to her estate in Festenberg, where she lived till her death in 1601.

In April 1603, two years after her death, her third husband Caspar von Köckritz und Friedland went to hunt deer in Goschütz.

In the same year Jonas von Schindel died as well, leaving the Duchy of Bernstadt to his son Leonhard, who sold it already in 1604 back to the House of Podiebrad.