1. A SUCCESSFUL FOUNDATION
A SUCCESSFUL FOUNDATION
Foundation of Gotsche II Schoff
After the death of Bolko II the Small (28 July 1368), the grandson of Bolko I the Strict, the last independent Piast ruler in Silesia, his principality came under the rule of the kings of Bohemia, governed by district governors. The first was Beneš of Choustník. Formally, until 1392 the principality was under the lifelong rule of duchess dowager Agnes. After her death, Gotsche II Schaff (Schoff), who previously served as the armiger (knight) in the court of Bolko II the Small and as the courtier of duchess Agnes, has made considerable advancements in his career in the Schweidnitz-Jauer principality (currently Świdnica and Jawor). In 1382, he co-owned, and in 1401 fully acquired the entirety of Warmbrunn (Cieplice). He has also acquired castles Greiffenstein (Gryf) and Kynast (Chojnik).
In 1396, king Wenceslaus IV of Bohemia designated him as a member of the Council of the Six Barons at the Governor of Schweidnitz-Jauer. On the 16th of June 1403, Gotsche II Schaff constituted a new foundation “In villa Warmborn sub quadam arbore Tilia nuncupta” (“in the village of Cieplice under the linden tree”).
The eyewitnesses to the filing of the foundation were: Herman Rouch, the Prepositus of the Benedictine Monastery in Liebenthal (Lubomierz), Nikolaus of Hirschberg (Jelenia Góra), and Heinrich called Bene.
On the 20th of June 1403, Gotsche II Schoff gave the right of patronage over the Church of St. John the Baptist in Warmbrunn to the Cistercians.
In 1460, Jost II of Rosenberg, the bishop of Breslau (Wrocław) has granted 40 days of indulgence to anyone who visited the church in Cieplice, which has increased the popularity of area.
In 1486, Nikolaus, the Abbot of Grössau, ordered that the Brothers in Warmbrunn were to sing the “Salve Regina” hymn.
The Gotsche II Schoff’s foundation functioned for 407 years, 5 months, and 9 days.
On the 30th of October 1810, Prussian king Friedrich Wilhelm III signed the act of dismantlement of the Silesian monasteries, including the abbey of Grössau and its rectory in Warmbrunn.