Landštejn

The Lords of Landštejn were one of the five chief branches of the Vítkovci clan of southern Bohemia. Originally seated at Třeboň, they took their name from Landštejn Castle, first recorded in 1231 and acquired by Sezema of Landštejn in the later thirteenth century.

Vítek of Landštejn held the office of supreme chamberlain and helped drive Henry of Carinthia from Prague in 1309. His son Vilém, after a rebellion in 1318, made peace with King John of Bohemia, served as burgrave of Prague from 1351 to 1356, and became a councillor of Charles IV.

Landštejn Castle was sold in 1381. One line settled in Moravia, where it built Nový Světlov; Mikuláš Svitáček of Landštejn became royal marshal in the later fifteenth century. The house became extinct in 1612 with the death of another Vilém, captain of Prague's New Town.