Inauguration of Heinrich Julius von Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel as Prince-Bishop of Halberstadt
The inauguration of Heinrich Julius von Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel as Prince-Bishop of Halberstadt on December 7th, 1578, was an event of religious and political explosiveness that sparked violent public reactions. The 14-year-old Prince Heinrich Julius , who was raised in a Lutheran manner , was introduced by the Halberstadt Cathedral Chapter as Bishop - Elect of the Halberstadt Diocese and Prince of the Halberstadt Monastery at the behest of his father Duke Julius with Catholic ceremonies in Halberstadt Cathedral .
prehistory
In the Holy Roman Empire of the bishops of the church were dioceses also rulers of a connected to the bishop's chair Principality, the Bishopric . Since the late Middle Ages, these positions were regularly given to later-born princely sons, who usually had little interest in the clerical parts of their office, but at least belong to the clerical class because of the minor ordinations and had to receive episcopal ordination in order to fully take office . Marriage and heredity were excluded.
The Reformation initiated by Martin Luther in 1517 was provisionally concluded under imperial law in 1555 in the Augsburg Religious Peace . In it, the imperial princes were granted the right to establish either the Catholic or the Lutheran confession for their subjects. The principal bishoprics were excluded. Their rulers had to abdicate in the event of a change of denomination and be replaced by Catholic successors (“ spiritual reservation ”). As a result of the often unclear legal and denominational relationships and the turning away from the old church by large parts of the population, the north German Lutheran princely houses succeeded in many cases in circumventing the spiritual reservation and making the principal bishoprics Lutheran and hereditary.
The Diocese of Halberstadt has been ruled as Prince Archbishop by Sigismund von Brandenburg since 1552 in personal union with the Archdiocese of Magdeburg . He had been confirmed by the Pope , but professed Lutheranism and promoted it in his territories. But while the Magdeburg cathedral chapter as a whole became Lutheran, the majority of the Halberstadt cathedral chapter still adhered to the old faith. Sigismund died in 1566 at the age of 28. The right of new election for Halberstadt lay with the cathedral chapter.
In Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel , Heinrich II ruled in 1566 , the last north German sovereign who opposed the Reformation. He obtained from the Halberstadt cathedral chapter for his two-year-old grandson Heinrich Julius the assurance of the official succession in Halberstadt. In return, he assured his grandson that he would be brought up in a Catholic way and, in his name, waived all of the prince-bishop's income for a period of twelve years - a welcome concession for the indebted bishopric.
Heinrich II died in 1568. His son and successor Julius immediately carried out the Reformation and also had his sons raised in a Lutheran manner. However, the situation of Lutheranism was tense due to the second sacrament controversy and further bitter disputes between " Gnesiolutherans " and " Philippists ". In 1577 the formula of concord was created , which was to decide this dispute in terms of “real” Lutheranism. Julius was one of the princes who politically and financially intensively promoted the creation of the concord formula and wanted to make it a binding teaching basis in their territories. The theological opponents saw the emphasis on the sacramental real presence as a rapprochement with " papism ".
procedure
preparation
Heinrich Julius turned 14 on October 15, 1578. Emperor Rudolf II declared him of legal age , ordered him to administer the Temporalia of the Halberstadt Monastery at the instigation of his father and ordered the cathedral chapter and the monastery to pay homage to him . The monastery residents, already predominantly Lutheran, were ready to do so, provided that their denomination was not threatened. The cathedral chapter also consented. Although it had prevented the papal confirmation of his election in view of the prince's Lutheran upbringing, it now accepted the Lutheran confession of the elect and advocated that Heinrich Julius should take over not only the secular administration but also the spiritual jurisdiction of the diocese. To do this, in order not to openly break canon law - which would have had unforeseeable consequences under imperial law - he had to be accepted into the clergy through minor ordinations.
Julius, the father, had serious misgivings about this Catholic ceremony and its liturgical details, and in Halberstadt made no mistake about the fact that his son was and remained a Lutheran. However, his doubts were dispelled when he was assured that not only Sigismund in 1552 for Magdeburg and Halberstadt, but also Heinrich von Sachsen-Lauenburg in 1567 for Bremen had accepted several degrees of consecration and tonsure .
Minor ordinations in the Huysburg Monastery
At the end of November 1578 Duke Julius found himself with his son Heinrich Julius, the bishop's candidate , and his younger brothers Philipp Sigismund and Joachim Karl in the Benedictine monastery of Huysburg , and Abbot Johannes Köpen (ruled 1568–1583) donated the three princes in a small circle Tonsure and minor ordinations. He authenticated the accomplished Heinrich Julius act with the words: "We, John, by the grace of God abbot of the Benedictine monastery Huysburg, publicly declare and confirm that in the year of our Lord 1578, on the 5th day of December, we kalends (Nov. 27) , on behalf of the venerable cathedral chapter, have given our most gracious and gracious Lord, Lord Heinrich Julius, Bishop of Halberstadt and Duke of Braunschweig and Lüneburg, our most gracious Lord, in the name of God, in the name of God, our most beloved and illustrious Lord, Mr. Heinrich Julius, in application of the and in this regard customary celebrations. ”In a certain deviation from this, the report, which Duke Julius had later published to justify himself, says that“ the primi ordines ”were“ even simpliciter performed without any condition or obligation, and thereby no oils , theres, plate shears , lubricants, Consecration also used other things, and all of this in secret, and less of what the Lord had postulated Councilors and servants, including the cathedral chapter's presence by the abbot ”, with the express declaration that“ through this, nowhere to join the papacy ”.
Returning to Wolfenbüttel, Duke Julius had his son sworn to assure him that he would adhere to the Lutheran confession, and on Friday, December 4th, both received the Lord's Supper in the chapel of Wolfenbüttel Castle from court preacher Johannes Malsius .
Enthronement in Halberstadt Cathedral
On Monday, December 7th, 1578, Duke Julius and his son, the Prince-Bishop, set out with their escort from Hesse Castle to Halberstadt. At the border of the bishopric they were received in a festive manner by the people of the monastery, and Julius again assured his son that the Lutheran creed would be upheld. Half an hour from the town they received the knighthood with about 400 horses and received the same assurance. When moving into the city, the bells of all churches rang, both the Catholic cathedral and collegiate churches as well as the Lutheran parish churches.
The leading pastors from Wolfenbüttel and the professors of the Lutheran State University of Helmstedt, founded in 1576, were waiting in the cathedral courtyard . The four oldest Halberstadt canons received the new prince-bishop on behalf of the cathedral chapter. He was "created a long red episcopal velvet coat, a red square sammetnes Baret on a red sammetnes Häublein set and the white Chorröcklein attracted - has also been kept as these things at Archbishop Sigismund Introduction". Once again, the ducal chancellor Franz Mützeltin declared that none of this meant submission to the “papacy and its abuses”. Then the procession formed into the cathedral, led by the acolytes and the clergy, followed by the bishop between the dean and the senior of the chapter. A gilded cross was presented to him by the youngest canon as a sign of his clergy and by a monastery count a gilded sword as a sign of his imperial rule. A pen held the tip of his robe. Behind him walked Duke Julius with his two younger sons, behind them the whole entourage.
The cathedral was brightly lit with many candles, the choir was lined with red and gold parament . When moving in, the Responsorium Iustum deduxit Dominus and the first part of the Te Deum up to the “Salvum fac” were heard. Arrived in the choir room, the elected was lifted by the four oldest canons to the high altar and placed on a red velvet cushion, then taken down again. Then the chosen one and the canons knelt in front of the altar and sang three times “Salvum fac, Domine, servum tuum et benedic haereditati tuae”. Then the new bishop was lifted up on the altar again and the Te Deum was sung to the end. This completed the enthronement , the procession left the cathedral and a banquet in the Petershof followed .
On the following day, Tuesday, December 8th, 1578, the cathedral chapter asked the new bishop to attend Holy Mass in the cathedral and to take the bishop's oath. Heinrich Julius, however, at the behest of his father, refused to even attend the pre- mass, which the cathedral chapter had "insistently" requested, and instead heard a Lutheran sermon in the Petershof chapel. At 11 o'clock he took the oath in the chapter house. Then he received the oath of homage from the nobility. Again a feast closed the day.
The homage of the citizens was scheduled for Wednesday, December 9th. In contrast to all previous bishop introductions, however, the day began at Heinrich Julius' instigation with a three-hour Lutheran service in the Martini church , led by the city superintendent Christoph Fischer . The cathedral chapter then postponed the act of homage to Thursday in order not to set the precedent for the innovation. On December 10th Heinrich Julius received the homage of the council and the citizens' representatives in the morning in the town hall, in the afternoon on the Petershof that of all citizens.
consequences
The news of the "papist" ordination and introductory acts in Huysburg and Halberstadt spread like wildfire in Protestant Germany and was a topic of conversation among all social classes. The terminology quickly got mixed up - there was talk and writing of episcopal ordination almost everywhere - and the ceremonial details were embellished without any closer knowledge of what was going on. The Catholic side also made use of the events in their own way. Julius von Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel, one of the main pillars of Orthodox Lutheranism , was now regarded as an apostate who had sold his and his son's salvation for the lentil dish of worldly advantages. The opponents of the formula of concord saw themselves confirmed in their opinion that it was only the first step towards recatholization, and its proponents came under the greatest pressure to justify themselves.
Duke Julius was surprised by this sensation. But he was extremely embittered by several letters that reached him on this matter, written by theologians from "his" University of Helmstedt and in particular by the Brunswick city superintendent Martin Chemnitz , one of the initiators of the concord formula. In it he was accused, using the most frightening biblical parallels, of having hooked himself with papist "idolatry" and of forcing the mark of the beast on his son ; He was openly threatened with God's punishment. With this in mind, the fourth Sunday in Advent preached in the sharpest tone from all Brunswick pulpits. In addition, there were statements and letters from other Lutheran princes such as Georg Wilhelm in Celle, Ludwig of Württemberg , Wilhelm of Hesse , the Electors of Saxony and Brandenburg and the Count Palatine of the Rhine, who reprimanded him in a milder but condescending tone. In the continuation of the agreement, Julius was not taken into account.
In a justification, Duke Julius had the actual events presented, devaluing the “Catholic” actions, emphasizing the repeated public commitment to the Lutheran faith and also pointing out similar religious-political compromises even among those who now criticized him. The wounds from this experience no longer healed, however, and his resentment against the Orthodox Lutheran theologians and the theological guild in general was deep. He let Martin Chemnitz and the Helmstedt spokesmen feel his anger. He resigned from the formula of concord and, on the contrary, made the theologians in his domain obligated to reject the theory of ubiquity in particular .
literature
- Eduard Bodemann : The consecration and introduction of Duke Heinrich Julius of Braunschweig as Bishop of Halberstadt and the related disputes 1578–1580 . In: Journal of the historical association for Lower Saxony , year 1878, Hanover 1878, pp. 239–297
- Inge Mager : The concord formula in the Principality of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel. Creation contribution - reception - validity (= studies on the church history of Lower Saxony . Volume 33). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1993, ISBN 3-525-55238-6 , pp. 325-366.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Latin original text in Bodemann, pp. 243–244, note
- ↑ Quoted in Bodemann, p. 244 .
- ↑ Quoted in Bodemann, p. 246 .
- ↑ text .
- ↑ The letters in the wording in Bodemann.
- ↑ In a letter from Julius to the Electors of Brandenburg, Saxony and Palatinate of November 19, 1579, regarding the concord formula, it says: “... so that after the concord has been completed not every controversial and ambitious theologian is free to please and as soon as it is not Go straight after her composed sense and fake four eyes to excite something new and pour out her own displeasure - in the pulpits or through printed documents in a hostile manner. How then, under the appearance of Christian zeal, mostly private affects predominate in such people much more than others, and it is very necessary to put the stick on the dog ”(Bodemann p. 292 ).
- ↑ Bodemann p. 297 .