Count Kolowrat-Liebsteinsky,
Archbishopric of Prague
Jan Vilém Vojtěch, Count Kolowrat-Liebsteinský
(29th September 1624, Innsbruck – 31st May 1668, Brno)
20. 7. 1658 Imperial Count
8. 11. 1660 Bohemian Count
6. 12. 1667 The Archbishop of Prague
18. 1. 1668 Grand master of the Military Order of the Crusaders of the Red Star
Jan was born as the sixth of eleven children to Sabina Victoria, the Baroness of Wolkenstein-Trotsburg (1596 – 1684) and Albrcht Liebsteinský of Kolowrat (1583 – 1684) who was the founder of the older Rychnovian branch of the family, a privy counsellor, an imperial chamberlain, the German vice-chancellor, and the vicegerent of the Kingdom of Bohemia.
Following his studies of theology in Rome, Jan became a canon and a prelate of Trent, Prague, Brno, and Olomouc. On 20th July 1658, along with his brothers, he was promoted to the estate of the imperial county and two years later, to the estate of the Bohemian county.
In 1663, he became a prelate and an archdeacon of the Olomouc Chapter, and on 6th December 1667, following the death of Cardinal Ernst Adalbert von Harrach, he was pronounced the Archbishop of Prague. Then, on 18th January 1668, the Military Order of the Crusaders of the Red Star accepted him as the Grand Master. This was affirmed only ten days later by the Pope Clement IX, and already at the beginning of February 1668, Jan Vilém Vojtěch signed a so-called “capitulum” and became the last postulated Grand Master of the Order.
Unfortunately, he did not get to work as the Archbishop of Prague. Before being enthroned, he died at the age of 44 during a visit to his brother in Brno. Jan Vilém Vojtěch Liebsteinský of Kolowrat was buried in Olomouc St. Wenceslas Cathedral and, upon his will, his heart was deposited in the family tomb in Rychnov nad Kněžnou.
