From a Burgher House through the Imperial Court to Loket Castle. The Careers of Kaspar and Mates Schlicks in Bohemia, Empire and Saxony ( 1390 - 1487)

From a Burgher House through the Imperial Court to Loket Castle The Careers of Kaspar and Mates Schlicks in Bohemia, Empire and Saxony (1390-1487) The presented thesis is devoted to the oldest history of the Schlick family. The rise of an originally burgher-class family was based on the court and chancellery career of Kaspar Schlick († 1449); the latter bolstered his successes in the services of Sigismund of Luxembourg and Albrecht and Fridrich Habsburgs by an array of false documents that significantly contributed to the change of his social and economic status (his false promotion to the estate of a count and gaining a fortune). In the second half of the 15th century, after Kaspar's death, his brother Mates and his sons struggled for the preservation of acquired status and health. The following topics were investigated: (1) The utilization of court services and careers for burghers' getting into aristocratic circles, as exemplified by the person of Kaspar Schlick († 1449); (2) The search of strategies the Schlicks - Mates Schlick in particular († 1487) - took to limit themselves from the aristocratic environment, part of which they became. A significant role played Schlicks' relation to the town of Cheb, from which their family came, and to the Loket region, which they acquired and tried to make..