Bernhard (bishop)

Bernhard († August 13, 1023 in Hildesheim ) was bishop of the Slavic Diocese of Oldenburg from 1013/14 to 1023 , but resided on the Mecklenburg until his expulsion in 1018 .

Bernhard came from the East Saxon nobility, probably the Billunger family . Together with Thietmar von Merseburg he had belonged to the cathedral chapter of Magdeburg before he was ordained as titular bishop to the diose residence of Oldenburg by the Hamburg - Bremen archbishop Unwan after the death of his predecessor Reinbert between February 3, 1013 and July 1014 . Bernhard was unable to begin his pontificate on the Oldenburg; the situation in the Wagrian tribal area of the Slavic Abodrites was too uncertain. Instead, like his predecessor Reinbert, he avoided the Mecklenburg, the residence of the Christian Abodrite prince Mistislaw . During his tenure , he first proselytized in the Abodritenland, but had to flee from Mecklenburg in 1018 at the latest in connection with the invasion of the Lutizen .

Bernhard turned to Emperor Heinrich II for support , but he only found time to hire the Slavic princes three years later. Despite the emperor's efforts to restore the diocese of Oldenburg, the pagan Abodritic nobility Bernhard failed to return.

Bernhard sought refuge with Bernward von Hildesheim , in whose vicinity he was to be found on September 22, 1022 at the consecration of St. Michael's Church in Hildesheim. He was buried there after his death.

swell

The chronicle of Bishop Thietmar von Merseburg and her Korveier revision. Thietmari Merseburgensis episcopi chronicon. Edited by Robert Holtzmann . Berlin 1935. (Monumenta Germaniae Historica. Scriptores. 6, Scriptores rerum Germanicarum, Nova Series; 9) ( digitized version ).

literature

Albrecht Count Finck von Finckenstein: Bishop and Empire. Investigations into the integration process of the Ottonian-Early Salian Empire (919–1056). Thorbecke, Sigmaringen 1989, p. 133.

Remarks

↑ Jürgen Petersohn : King Otto III. and the Slavs on the Baltic Sea, Oder and Elbe around the year 995. Mecklenburgzug - Slavnikid massacre - Meißen privilege. In: Early Medieval Studies. Vol. 37, 2003, ISSN 0071-9706 , pp. 99-139 p. 110 with reference to the Quedlinburg annals for the year 1023: Bernhardus Mekilinburgensis episcopus in: Martina Giese (ed.): Scriptores rerum Germanicarum in usum scholarum separatim editi 72 : The Annales Quedlinburgenses. Hahn, Hannover 2004, p. 572.

personal data
SURNAME	Bernhard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Bishop of Mecklenburg
DATE OF BIRTH	10th century
DATE OF DEATH	August 13, 1023
Place of death	Hildesheim

[1] Jürgen Petersohn : King Otto III. and the Slavs on the Baltic Sea, Oder and Elbe around the year 995. Mecklenburgzug - Slavnikid massacre - Meißen privilege. In: Early Medieval Studies. Vol. 37, 2003, ISSN 0071-9706 , pp. 99-139 p. 110 with reference to the Quedlinburg annals for the year 1023: Bernhardus Mekilinburgensis episcopus in: Martina Giese (ed.): Scriptores rerum Germanicarum in usum scholarum separatim editi 72 : The Annales Quedlinburgenses. Hahn, Hannover 2004, p. 572.