Jacob of Jelčany and Sedlčany, a famous regent of Rosenberg, had a parrot, a pike, and a carp on his coat of arms. His life was very rich and truly in the Renaissance style, be it in his enjoyment of life or the everlasting works that he created. Great legends were told about him already during his life and even greater ones after his death. After all, how else could people explain why the dam at the Rosenberg pond held? "He could have made it only in league with the Devil", they said. However, the reality was far more prosaic. Only work and more work stood behind all of Krčín's achievements. One additional feature led to his success - a demanding and rough approach towards himself and others. And this was the stumbling block that brought all the slander and jealousy.
Short Jack Krčín first saw the sun on 18th July 1535, in Kolín nad Labem right at noon and, moreover, it was on a Sunday. After completing his studies, he served Master William Trčka of Lípa. Between 1559 and 1560, he found himself already in Borovany where he managed the economy of the Augustinian monastery. And he was a good manager. He did so well that William of Rosenberg in 1561, already called to come his underburgrave to Krumlov. Krčín at once introduced himself there very well when he drew water to the brewery and began to brew white wheat beer, which brought more than a little money to his master.
One year later, Krčín became a burgrave and in record time, he became the highest regent in 1569. In the meantime, he had diligently improved the management by reducing the benefits of the officials. He turned every coin over twice before giving it away, and he pursued embezzlers and dismissed the incapable and the lazy. Of course, he did not make many friends in this way. However, even his opponents could not but acknowledge that his improvements in agriculture and the brewing industry were well founded, and especially that his reforms started to make money, which was the point in the first place. On top of that, Krčín began to deal with the management of fishponds. "In that year (1565), God gifted him with a skill, which is not last in this world: he began to measure ponds and gullies", Václav Březina, who otherwise did not much like him, wrote about him.
While the field economy, the sheep-farms, and the breweries of his time have disappeared, his ponds have endured. His waterworks have outlasted the ages, and it was mainly these that made Krčín really famous. He constructed a fantastic number of them and only few have disappeared. His art lay not only in measuring the new work (he was not engaged in that too much); he was rather a great organiser of all aspects of the work. One action matched with the other and the result can still be admired today. He managed to surround himself with real master pond-makers on whom he could fully rely. During the work on a pond, the workers worked in companies and their foremen were responsible for the men and for their work. Every trespasser was punished, and it was not rare to find even a hangman standing at the dam. Krčín proceeded very roughly at a pond and sometimes even heartlessly. This was probably necessary because the pond-makers were "a pack" as they were called, and they were all but angels. Worse Krčín carried these manners along with an unbearable arrogance over to his relationships with his officials, and we must say that sometimes he did more harm to his people than good.
His profligate lifestyle was probably the cause. He drank a lot and at the same time chased every available woman. It is not without cause that Březina calls him the "courter of Venus". Krčín was certainly a good calculator and strategist, but still he once badly outsmarted himself. In 1566 when he was 31, he married an old bag, Dorothy Slepičková of Radkovice in Krumlov. Put more accurately, he married a house at Latráň and a treasury loaded with money.
He had it well planned; he expected that the matron would soon lay down her bones and he, as a rich widower, would then marry a young and pretty bride. However, Krčín had badly miscalculated and fate played with him. His aged wife did not die until 15th September 1587. He had to live with her for longer than he had ever imagined, and he himself wrote about it: "The poor man gets this reward for his services: he has to remain in it until The Lord takes this burden off him". When he was at last free he was 53, and yet he did not hesitate to marry the very young daughter of John Zelendar from Prošovice, the sheriff in Hradec. He merrily celebrated the wedding with her in 1588.
Krčín's motto was: "Whatever you do, do it wisely and see it to the end". He really followed it to a tee. He was tough, and did no harm unnecessarily, but he did not do any good without a purpose either.
In 1580, he established a "buchhalteria" or counting house with himself as the head, thus inspecting the work of all the Rosenberg clerks. In his report to William, he wrote about his work: "Indeed we could do a little with them (clerks). There seem to be enough idlers at the court of Your Highness, and the more scriveners, the worse the calculations are done. Anno Domini 1584."