Nicholas received a good education in the (
Henryków). After his father's death on 11 June 1341, he took control of the government of his domains. He almost immediately went to
Prague, where on 24 August he paid
homage to King
John of Bohemia. The huge debts left by his father forced Nicholas on 14 October 1343 to promise not to sell any of his lands without John's consent. In addition, if he did sell, the King had the first option to buy. He also agreed that, if the male line of the Dukes of Ziębice became extinct, the duchy would be annexed to the Bohemian Kingdom on condition that appropriate dowries be provided to the late Duke's daughters. Financial problems as early as 1343 forced Nicholas to sell the district of Zobten (
Sobótka) to his cousin
Bolko II the Small for 1,000
grzywnas of silver. Three years later, and for the same amount, he sold Frankenstein (
Ząbkowice) and the monastery of Kamenz (
Kamieniec Ząbkowicki) to the Bohemian magnate Heinrich von Haugwitz. A combination of favorable circumstances enabled him to sell the same land in 1348, this time definitively, to
Emperor Charles IV for 6,000 grzywnas. Finally, in 1350 Nicholas sold the town of
Wąsów to the
Bishop of Breslau,
Przecław of Pogorzela. As a result, of the vast domains he inherited from his father, Nicholas retained only Münsterberg, Strehlen (
Strzelin), Kanth (
Kąty Wrocławskie) and Patschkau (
Paczków). In 1355, Nicholas took part in the coronation of Charles IV as
Holy Roman Emperor in
Rome. After a long stay in
Prague, he returned to his duchy a year later. The Duke then went on a pilgrimage to
Palestine between 1357 and 1358. Nicholas died in
Hungary on 23 April 1358 during his return trip. His body was brought to the duchy and buried in the monastery in Heinrichau. ==Marriage and issue==