The Lords of Švamberk had a beautiful coat of arms, indeed. Their silver swan with a gold bill or a gold lip, as it is called in heraldry, shows off very well in a red field. This family came originally from Southwest Bohemia, but as it branched extensively many of its members got as far as Moravia. One of the branches was the Bor lineage.
The founder of this lineage was John of Švamberk, who inherited Bor from his father Hynek, along with the Domažlice office. Due to the influence of his wife Benigna of Starhemberg and the fact that his family lived close to the Bavarian border, his offspring were germanised. They also abandoned the Catholic faith and became Lutherans. When John died in 1533 his sons Peter, Bartholomew, and John Erazim shared his legacy so that the eldest (Peter) got Ronsperg and each of the others got half of Bor. John Erazim became a sheriff in Austerlitz and Shonfeld between 1557 and 1560. He also became the highest master of the mint in 1561. At his death (10th May 1580), he had no children, so the nephews of his brother Peter became his heirs.
Peter had died on 24th June 1575. He had been married twice. First, he married Dorothy of Haidek who died in 1551 and then he married Agnes of Lobkovice in 1553 (she died on 9th December 1572). John George, his only son, got Ronsperg from his father in 1573 and Orlík in 1584. He bought Kovářov in 1592. He became a rich master and began to deal in politics as well. He became the King's Counsel and even the Chamber Counsel in 1595 and he was the court judge between 1600 and 1609. Finally, he accepted the office of the highest chamberlain and became the sheriff of the Práchno and Bechyně regions between 1609 and 1611. He passed the part of Bor he had inherited from John Erazim to his cousins in 1600 in exchange for Mašťov, which he sold in 1603 before buying Lasovice in 1604.
Then his time had come. According to the hereditary agreements between the Rosenbergs and Bohuslav of Švamberk as of 1484, he was able to claim the estate of Peter Vok of Rosenberg, who was the last of his family and had no descendants. Indeed, the Lord of the Rose acceded to this legacy and recognised the claims of the Švamberks in an agreement concluded on 4th January 1610. After the death of Peter Vok in 1611, John George gained the Švamberks' Třeboň, Borovany, Nové Hrady, a house at Hradčany, and in 1612, also Rosenberg and Libějice. Then he bought Zvíkov in 1612 as well. Emperor Mathias confirmed (on 24th February 1614) his ancient coat of arms for him and let him add the Rosenberg rose to it.
He did not enjoy his wealth for too long, for he died in June 1617. His two sons and daughters inherited everything. The eldest son Peter had travelled to Paris (1600) even before his father's death and he intended to go to England, but he returned home upon his father's wish. He married Anne Maximilliana of Operstorf in 1605 and already in 1607, he became the sheriff of the Pilsen region. In 1612, King Mathias invited him to accompany him to an election in Frankfurt. After his return in 1615, his father consigned the management of the houses and lands to him. Three years later, he took an active part in the Bohemian Uprising (1618). He was even elected as one of the provincial directors and managers. Unlike the others, he supported the state very efficiently and he outfitted an infantry battalion from his own resources. However, he died prematurely in Prague, in May 1620.
The punishing hand of the Habsburgs did not miss him after the battle of White Mountain, although he was long since dead by that time. In 1621, the judges confiscated all of his property and his memory was publicly cursed. His entire estate was immediately sold regardless of his innocent heirs. The widow (already married to Žerotín) had left the country for King Frederick Falcký and lived with her 7 children in Frankfurt for some time. Then she moved to Poland from where she called in vain for justice. Peter's brother Adam ended up equally badly. At the time of Peter's death, he was not yet of age and, moreover, he was outside the kingdom of Bohemia. Still, he was deprived of all his inheritance. It is said there were 11 chests full of his silver and goods. He demanded at least the half of Orlík and Zvíkov (1628) but in vain. Not until 1652 did the court order him to be paid half of the value of his inheritance. He did not agree with this, and with the same pride he refused the payment of a mere sustenance allowance. He lived on the little money he received from the Bohemian Chamber and from what he received from Count Schwarzenberg. In 1655, he assigned his right to Count Paar and he died on 24th December 1664. Four days before his death, he assigned his right to Třeboň to Count Schwarzenberg, who had bought it shortly before that.