After the Piast dynasty had died out the Emperor granted the Cieszyn Duchy as a liege to his son, Ferdinand IV, who confirmed the former privileges of Cieszyn (except for the right to follow the Lutheran religion). However, the new ruler died a year later and the Duchy was taken over by his father, Ferdinand III. After that time the Duchy of Cieszyn, which included Cieszyn, was ruled by the Habsburgs in a double role: by right as Kings of Bohemia and as the owners of the private property of the Cieszyn Princes now administered by the Teschener Kammer with its base in Cieszyn castle. Regents of the Teschener Kammer did not respect the rights of the town. In 1654 a brewery was established in the castle which undermined the beer monopoly of the Cieszyn burghers. The Teschener Kammer also installed craftsmen not belonging to guilds in the suburbs under its jurisdiction. Towns in the Duchy (Skoczów, Strumień, Jabłonków) were subordinated to the Teschener Kammer which represented the Habsburgs in their role as feudal lords. However, Cieszyn managed to receive the status of a royal town, although this was never confirmed by the appropriate rulings. The town’s authorities were appointed by a provincial starosta in the name of the Emperor, and not the Teschener Kammer, but the starosta supervised the municipal office. From 1659 Cieszyn obtained the right to send its own representatives to the Silesian Diet in Breslau (Wrocław). Cieszyn lost this right after 1722 when the Emperor conferred the Duchy to Leopold, Prince of Lorraine. His son, Francis, later married Empress Maria Theresa and their descendents (the House of Habsburg-Lorraine) ruled the Duchy and Cieszyn until 1918. The Cieszyn’s privileges were gradually reduced and at the beginning of the 19th century all the town’s affairs were subordinated de jure and de facto to the Teschener Kammer. The period of feudal dependence on the Habsburgs lasted until 1848.
       In the 17th and 18th centuries the town went through an economic crisis caused by the devastation caused by the Thirty Years’ War and by subsequent wars waged by the Habsburgs in the second half of the 17th century. The Habsburgs also forcefully introduced the Counter-Reformation using the Jesuit Order which was brought to Cieszyn in 1670. In 1674 the Jesuits set up a Latin school, the first grammar school in Cieszyn Silesia. As a result many Lutherans emigrated from the town deepening Cieszyn’s economic recession even more. At the end of the 17th century most of the citizens declared themselves Catholics and Lutherans had to worship in secret. In this light the building of the Church of Jesus on the strength of an imperial decree of 1709, the first Lutheran church to be built in Cieszyn Silesia after the Counter-Reformation, was a very important event in the history of Cieszyn and the region. A Lutheran school was established next to the church in 1711. Earlier, in 1700, Adam Borek had founded a monastery of the Order of St. John of God, whose monks looked after the sick and also ran the first permanent pharmacy in Cieszyn. In 1753 the Grey Nuns of St. Elizabeth, also looking after the sick, established a convent in the Cieszyn town square. Another powerful benefactor, Adam Wacław Paczyński, Count of Tęczyn, founded a boarding school for sons of noblemen, which started functioning in 1727. As free places became available the sons of Cieszyn’s burghers were also offered an education, board and lodging at the school. 
       Midway through the 18th century there were about 230 houses and 2,200 inhabitants in Cieszyn not including the suburbs belonging to the Teschener Kammer. After another fire of 1720 many plots of land were left untouched for many years, and the town’s debt had risen to 7,000 Austrian florins. Larger buildings were only built by the authorities for their use, for example salt and tobacco warehouses and a customs house. During the Seven Years’ War Cieszyn was occupied by the Prussian army. In 1766 Emperor Joseph II visited the town. He was the first ruler among the Habsburgs to be interested in his provincial possessions. This was linked to a change in the Imperial court’s politics in the second half of the 18th century which emphasized industrial and commercial development and other factors which would consolidate the unity of the monarchy and its economic power. The Imperial road on which work began in 1775 joined Cieszyn with Olomouc and Vienna in one direction, and Kraków and Lvov in the other. Permanent postal connections were also set up. In 1775 international trade fairs started being organised in Cieszyn, but they were soon abandoned. In 1779 a peace conference marking the end of the war of the Bavarian succession took place in Cieszyn. The Cieszyn Peace Treaty resulting from the conference made the name of the town known throughout Europe for a short period. In the 18th century a very active, but small, group of Italian merchants came to Cieszyn from Lombardy, which at that time was also ruled by the Habsburgs. The Tino and Contessa families were the most famous ones and the latter set up the biggest commercial company of that time. The Italians brought with them to Cieszyn Silesia the skill of producing rosolio – a strong liqueur made from rose hips. In the next century it became not only one of the best selling alcoholic drinks in Cieszyn but also one of the best selling export products. 
       The absolute Austrian rulers, Maria Theresa and in particular her son and heir Joseph II, introduced a lot of reforms to many different aspects of life finally resulting in the subordination of not only the nobility, but also the Church. In 1773 the Jesuit Order was suppressed and its wealth was used for introducing educational reforms. The so-called Main School (Szkoła Główna) was founded in Cieszyn followed later by a girls’ school. The Catholic gymnasium was reformed and the Lutheran one – expanded. The Paczyński boarding school was closed down owing to poor conditions and was replaced by a new one founded by Baron Karol Cselesta in 1796. In 1781 Joseph II issued the Edict of Tolerance for the Jews and even more importantly for Lutherans later that year. It gave limited rights to Lutherans and more Lutheran communities started being established in Cieszyn Silesia on the strength of the edict. However, the Lutheran congregation of the Church of Jesus kept its honorary position as leader of all Lutherans in Cieszyn Silesia. Cieszyn Lutherans mainly inhabited the Upper Suburb (Górne Przedmieście). The register of 1790, which did not include suburbs belonging to the Teschener Kammer, showed 181 Lutherans, 2,464 Catholics and 46 Jews living in Cieszyn. 
       After the last great fire of 1789 Cieszyn was rebuilt relatively quickly, in a more up to date way, with the help of government departments and tax relief. On that occasion the authorities suppressed the Dominican monastery, the Dominican church became the new parish church, and barracks were built on the site of the previous one. The rebuilding was supervised by Fr. Leopold Jan Szersznik, a Jesuit scholar, for many years the prefect of Cieszyn gymnasium and the most outstanding representative of the Enlightenment in Cieszyn Silesia. His most lasting contribution was to establish the first library in this region and the oldest museum in Silesia and whole Austrian monarchy, which he made available to the people of Cieszyn in 1802.
       The turn of the 19th century was another difficult period in the history of Cieszyn due to wars waged by the Habsburgs with revolutionary France, and then with Napoleon. In 1805 for a short time Cieszyn became the capital of the Austrian monarchy when the Imperial court stopped off in Cieszyn after leaving Vienna in their flight from Napoleon. These wars caused the bankruptcy of Austria in 1811, leaving none of its citizens unaffected. However, it allowed the town authorities to reduce the municipal debt. Thanks to this in the first half of the 19th century with Alojzy Kaufmann as mayor the town authorities were able to begin some municipal investments. A modern brewery (owned as a co-operative by townspeople with brewing rights) was built and street lighting illuminated the town’s main buildings and streets at night. In 1810 the thousandth anniversary of the legendary foundation of Cieszyn was celebrated. Most of the town’s income was still derived from trade, at the turn of the 19th century several rosolio factories were set up in the town, as was the printing-house established by the Prochaska family in 1806, the oldest in the region and still functioning. However, a textile factory set up at the beginning of the 19th century by Baron Mundy was closed down after only a few years. After Napoleon’s wars a decision was made to establish a house for cadets in Cieszyn in which youths, mainly the orphans of soldiers, intending to take up a career in the army would receive a general and military education. It functioned in Cieszyn until the mid-19th century. 
       Social life started to develop and the first cafés and restaurants began to appear. Cieszyn Rifle Club, founded in 1795, was the oldest association. In 1798 it was granted a particular privilege by the Emperor that allowed an 8-day “Royal” shooting competition. In 1801 in reward for their faithful service during the Napoleonic wars the association was given the right to create an armed, uniformed company of marksmen. It built a rifle-range which became the centre of Cieszyn’s social life in the first half of the 19th century. In 1841 a male voice choir was established. 
       In 1837 the town’s population had reached around six thousand. Further development was limited, however, by the bureaucratic restrictions of the absolute Austrian Monarchy and the feudal system.

J. Spyra, transl. D. French