Jeroným Makovský z Makové

After reaching his education in a local school, he entered into the service of the court of Wilhelm von Rosenberg in his reseidence of Český Krumlov. After Wilhelm\'s death Jeroným Makovský was accepted into the service of Peter Wok von Rosenberg in 1592. He accompanied his lord on an anti-Turkish campaign in 1594 on the Hungarian battlefield and remained in chamberial services of the last Rosenberg until 1595. Rudolf II. Von Habsburg expressed interest in Makovský\'s service and employed him in 1595 in his Prague court. In 1597 her was raised to the position of his highest personal valet.

According to instructions, he was to remain in constant close proximity to the monarch and strictly guard access to the emperor. The remarkable legal rights normally granted to a person in Makovský\'s position allowed him to enrich his own name as well as improve his own social standing. It would be hard to calculate how many bribes he accepted from nobility who awaited the audience of the Emperor. Also hidden within the folds of history forever is the amount of financial manipulation and embezzlement that Makovský allowed himself during purchases of works of art for Rudolf\'s collection. In 1603 he offered Rudolf II. A large sum of money and requested, as reciprocation, his own bureau of royal dowried towns. His impertinent stance angered the emperor, and Makovský was arrested and imprisoned. A major part of his property then passed into the ownership of the royal chamber.

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