Notes |
- BIOGRAPHY
Johann was born in 1606, the son of Graf Johann von Porcia und Brugnera and Freiin Anna Maria von Raunach. He married three times. His first wife was Freiin Anna Konkordia Elisabeth von Auersperg, eldest child of Freiherr Herward IX von Auersperg, lord of Sissek, and Felizitas Katzianer, Freiin von Katzenstein; their daughter Isabella Magdalena would have progeny. Anna died in Laibach in 1636, and in 1642 Johann married Gräfin Maria Katharina von Althann, daughter of Graf Michael Adolf von Althann and his first wife Freiin Elisabeth von Stotzingen. Maria Katharina died in 1643 without progeny. About 1644 Johann married Beatrix Johanna Kawka von Rziczan, daughter of Johann 'der Jüngere' Kawka von Rziczan and Benigna von Lobkowicz. Their daughter Franziska Benigna would also have progeny.
Johann was a longstanding favourite of Emperor Leopold I, his ambassador to the republic of Venice, a minister at his court, and governor of the Austrian provinces of Styria and of Carinthia (both from 1658). Leopold inducted him into the Order of the Golden Fleece in 1657, and raised him to the status of Fürst (prince of the empire) on 17 February 1662. In the same year he acquired the county of Ortenburg and Mitterburg, at Spittal an der Drau in the Austrian state of Carinthia, from the patrician Widmann family. It included the important Renaissance castle now known as Schloss Porcia. Its construction had been begun in 1533 by Gabriel von Salamanca-Ortenburg, treasurer of Emperor Ferdinand I.
On 25 April 1664 Johann became a member of the Imperial Council of Princes. He died on 17 February 1665.
|