Melnice / (Melmitz) - Franz & Barbara's Village

Melmitz (Parish for Franz & Barbara Prokosch, also Lilla – Wiesner families)

The old parish village of Melmitz, located about 5 km (3 miles) northeast of Hostau, was mentioned for the first time in 1235. The village, which is located near a creek bearing the same name, was located between the Greschin (526 m) 325 miles to the south and the Lichon (614 m) 380 miles to the northeast.

Melmitz/Melnice Parish Church

According to Sedlacek, Melmitz was an old aristocracy seat, where Kunrat resided in 1235 and Dobrohost in 1291. During the 14th century, there was a citadel which belonged to Dobrohost of Melmitz. He also owned Waltersgruen in 1358, Schuettwa in 1359. Around 1370, Heinrich of Melmitz bought the territory of Kunrat from Wiedlitz, who appears as a patron of the Melmitz and Wiedlitz church.

From 1370-1378, the village belonged to Puta, who also called Pschess his own. He was again succeeded by a Dobrohost, who also ruled Elstin until 1408. In 1411, Melmitz belonged to Heinrich of Sedlce; around 1416, Wenzel von Tachau bought it. Later Mikulasch of Kostenpic was mentioned in connection with Melmitz; he also was count o Nepomuk Castle. He served the Schwanberger family for a long time. 1464, Johann Kostenpic was named as descendant. Then, Pertolt von Tachau owned the village; his wife Margareta later inherited it. Both died in 1478 and left three sons: Stasny, Oswald and Wenzel. Historical records end here for a while. It appears that William Czernin of Chudenitz, who also ruled over Taschlowitz at the same time, already held Melmitz, because his son Drslav appeared as owner of Melmitz in 1556. He died in 1569 and left three sons, William, Wenzel and Hans, who came of age and succeeded their guardian, their uncle Martin, in 1580. In 1587, the second son, Wenzel, was murdered by this guardian. Hans received the farm in Vstisch, and William got Melmitz. This William died even before 1619 and left the sons Drslav, Heinrich, Hans and Humbrecht. After Liebscher, William Cramer of Chudenitz owned the village in 1598.  Drslav received Melmitz – according to the village chronicles -- and died in 1627, after he left Hermann Czernin’s service. As stipulated, his widow, Ludmilla of Wiedersperg, inherited his estate, which she was unable to keep due to large debts.

Then, Jakob von Longin and Johann von Hartenfels succeeded as owners, both in 1637. According to the chronicles, Johann Christoph Dhumshirn took over as ruler of Melmitz in 1651; in 1652, a Mr. von Starhemberg appears as owner of the village. In 1637, the property Melmitz appears to have been bought up by the property Hostau; in 1656, it was finally acquired by the Trauttmansdorff family of Bischofteinitz. In the end, only the town quarter of Schlossberg was a reminder of a fortress/castle that had once stood there.

The parish church of Saint Ägid already was chronicled in 1384. The neighboring villages of Garassen, Liebeswar, Pschess, Holubschen, Wiedlitz and Sichrowa were part of the parish Melmitz. Prince Trauttrnansdorff was the patron. We owe the names of the clergymen to the village chronicles, who begin with Minister Heinrich (died in 1370). For a while, Melmitz was occupied by Lutheran clergyman. Beginning in1939, Ludwig Reithmeyer served as minister.

In 1701, a fire destroyed the bell tower; in 1702, it was rebuilt and received a dome. The parish of the priests of Schüttarschen was administered from 1658 to 1677, and according to the chronicles, was occupied by Praemonstratensers (?) of Tepler from 1642 to 1717, who selected Raimund, minister of Schüttarschen and Melmitz, as the Abbott of the monastery in Tepler. In 1789, Schaller mentioned the village as Melenitz with 39 houses. In 1839, Melmitz had 46 houses with 356 German inhabitants. In addition to the parish church, it had 1 school, 1 pub and 1 dairy farm and belonged to the Hostau/Bischofteinitz territory. In 1913, Melmitz counted 52 houses and 324 inhabitants. At that time, the school had two grades with 93 children from Liebeswar, Garassen, Pschess, Holubschen and Wabitz.

Associations included the fire brigade association (23 members), German agricultural association, Christian social association, catholic German fraternity “Edelweiss”.

The municipality Melmitz encompassed over 621.35 hectars in 1937. This included 316.13 hectars of fields, 60.82 hectars of meadows, 54.73 hectars of pastures, 165.67 hectars of forest and 3.42 hectars of gardens. In 1939, Melmitz had 257 inhabitants and 53 houses. In addition to two picturesque ponds, the church and school, there were 17 farms and 36 smaller farms as well as a Trauttmansdorff dairy farm, which, after many years of leased property, was split up among smaller farmers during the Czech land reform in 1918. A special point of attraction was the Egidi festival.

57 men from Melmitz served in WW II; 7 were killed and 7 more were missing in action.

Josef Bernklau in cooperation with George Ebenhöh