Jan František Antonín Tschernichen

The lawyer Jan František Antonín Tschernichen from Silesian Leobschütz was appointed by Johann Christian I. von Eggenberg in 1706 to the post of town clerk, a so-called syndicator. He began a battle for municipal rights with unyielding determination - he held secular as well as church hierarchy in disdain and as a result fell into deep disgrace in both of their views. In 1713 he was arrested for refusing to give an account of Český Krumlov to the royal officers. Jan František is credited with establishing a town archive as well as writing a juridical tract to support the demands of Český Krumlov. He is highly credited with the construction of the Chapel on the Hill of the Cross in Český Krumlov. Matěj Václav Jäckel created a municipal coat-of-arms according to his design which was unique from a heraldic point of view. Jan František saved a painting of the Holy Virgin from the Saint Vitus church by having it transferred after its reconstruction to an ambit of the Křížová hora chapel, then wrote a German rhyming chronicle about it. He resigned from his post and left Český Krumlov when his wife died. In 1722 he allegedly entered the Servite religious order.

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