John Adolf I of Schwarzenberg was born in Weibelskirchen on 20th September 1615 as the second son of Count Adam of Schwarzenberg. His mother paid her life for his birth and so he and his brother were brought up by their grandmother. Later they both studied at the Royal Academy in Paris. They gained access to the royal court there and even came into contact with the famous Cardinal de Richelieu. In 1631, they began extending their knowledge by travelling through Germany, Holland, France, and Italy. After their return to their homeland, a family tragedy occurred that completely changed Adolf's life: Frank Hartrad, his elder brother, died in Cologne in 1636. From that moment on, all of the family ambitions were concentrated in John Adolf alone.
Although he had originally chosen a spiritual life, had been accepted into the Order of Johannites in 1635, and had even been granted a commendam in Pomořany, he now had to deal with the duties of a family heir and take part in public life. He chose service at the Austrian imperial court and by 1637 he had achieved the rank of chamberlain. A glorious official career soon followed. In 1640, he became a counsel of the imperial court and a member of the imperial war council. Soon after, he entered the service of Archduke Leopold William, the bishop of Olomouc, who was then appointed as vice-regent of the Netherlands. Count Schwarzenberg accompanied him and stayed with him there for a full six years. His career was nearing its peak. In 1648, he became a real imperial secret counsel and two years later he received the Spanish Order of the Golden Fleece, a very high award.
When he completed his service in Holland in 1653 and left for Vienna, the archduke rewarded him handsomely for his services. Before his death, he entailed him 250,000 guldens and several precious tapestries. Next Schwarzenberg began to build up his career in Austria. His influence increased constantly and he was soon taken into the service of the most powerful man of the monarchy, Prince Wenceslas Eusebius of Lobkowice. The wonderful 14th July 1670 brought him elevation to the status of an imperial prince by right of birth and the emperor declared the Schwarzenberg county to be "the county of a prince." One success followed another. In 1671, the monarch decorated him with the "Great Palatinate" and this privilege allowed him to raise others to the aristocracy and, more importantly, to mint his own coins. However, he did not use this privilege until 1682 when he began to mint ducats and thalers of full value.
The career of Count and later Prince John Adolf was not easy, but his immense diligence and great diplomatic moves gained him vast property. On the other hand, he was also very lucky, because in 1646 the family lineage of the Bavarian Schwarzenbergs died out and he became the custodian of their heritage and the ruler of the Schwarzenberg county. In 1654, the Estates in the Bohemian kingdom accepted him among them (the "incolate"; an aristocratic citizenship privilege). In 1658, he got the Křivoklát dominion along with Krušovice as a pledge. He did not get his own property in Bohemia, however, until 1660 when Archduke Leopold William passed the Třeboň dominion on to him to pay off large debts. The acquisition of Třeboň led to further purchases of houses and lands in Bohemia. Schwarzenberg bought the Hluboká dominion in 1661, Mšec and the palace at Hradčany one year later, the farmstead in Radomilice near Protivín in 1671, Bzí and Branovice near Třeboň in 1672, the Vlčice dominion in North-eastern Bohemia in 1675, Žimutice in 1678, and Nižburk near Křivoklát in 1679. He thus laid the basis for the powerful status of his family in the Bohemian lands.
The foregoing indicates that John Adolf belonged to the most prominent men of his time. His vast correspondence and a huge written inheritance also show his abilities and great diligence. He himself carried on correspondence in five languages - German, Latin, French, Italian, and Spanish. The contents of his letters deserve admiration above all because they prove that the prince was a man with a broad and profound classical education. However, he deeply regretted that at his advanced age, he could not learn Czech, which he considered to be his responsibility as the owner of houses and lands in Bohemia. Nevertheless he ordered that all of his clerks had to speak both provincial languages perfectly, i.e., German and Czech. This also applied to his children and the whole family. John Adolf I married Mary Justine, Countess of Starhemberg, in 1644 and had seven children with her. Their son Ferdinand and daughter Mary Ernestine (1649 to 1719), who married Prince John Christian I of Eggenberg in 1666, outlived their parents. However, because Mary's marriage was childless, and her grandnephew John Christian of Eggenberg also left no offspring, the entire estate fell to the Schwarzenberg family with Krumlov at the top. This happened after John Adolf died suddenly at Laxenburg near Vienna on 26th May 1683.