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The White Lady
All castles and chateaus of the Vítek family are associated with the White Lady Perchta of
Rožmberk, who lived between 1429 and 1476. Upon the wish of her father Oldřich of Rožmberk, she married Jan of Liechtenstein, in 1449. Oldřich, due to his strange behaviour, annoyed Liechtenstein shortly after the wedding and did not even try to resolve the problem, even later. Perchta was forced to spend her twenty-four-year long marriage without joy and without her family being particularly interested in her fate. She outlived Jan by a mere three years, although she was twenty-four years younger than he. The source of information about Perchta’s life is her personal correspondence. She dictated to the scribe letters of supplication, addressed to her father and brothers, in which she reproached them for the wrongs that she had to suffer from her husband. She did not live to see the desired help, however. Nearly two centuries later, the Czech Jesuit historian Bohuslav Balbín was preoccupied with the letters. Bohuslav Balbín was also the originator of the link between the spectre of the White Lady, who would reportedly appear in the domains of the family of Vítek, and the sad Perchta of Rožmberk. Legend has it that the cause of the White Lady Perchta of Rožmberk’s appearance was a curse by Jan of Liechtenstein. He was said to have asked Perchta for forgiveness on in his deathbed but Perchta refused to forgive him. Therefore, Jan made a curse over her before dying. For her obstinacy, Perchta is said to have to appear as a spectre in the domains of her ancestors until they turn to dust.
