Christian von Mühlhausen

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Epitaph in the Divi-Blasii-Church in Mühlhausen

Christian (Kristan, Kirstan) von Mühlhausen († September 2, 1295 ) was Prince- Bishop of Samland and Auxiliary Bishop of Mainz (1276–1295).

Life

Christian came from a respected knightly family named after the imperial castle Mühlhausen in Thuringia and was born in the imperial city of Mühlhausen.

He sought to establish his future by entering the clergy and at the same time the Teutonic Order , which had quickly taken broad roots in Thuringia. In December 1271 he appeared in a document as a member of this order and appeared the following year as Komtur der Kommende in the old town of Mühlhausen, with whom the position of pastor at the main church of St. Blasien was connected.

At the same time, he came into close relationships with Landgrave Albrecht of Thuringia very early on. It is believed that he was in its immediate service from 1260 to 1270, and their close relationships have continued into later times. In all likelihood, it was the Landgrave's recommendation that Christian, who was not lacking in ambition, promoted to a higher dignity in the beginning of 1276.

Episcopal ordination

With the death of Heinrich von Streitberg , the Prussian diocese of Samland , in whose district Königsberg fell, was finished. In August 1275, Pope Gregory X asked Bishop Friedrich I of Merseburg to appoint a new shepherd from among the priests of the German order for the finished church (ecclesia Sambiensis) . His choice fell on Commander Christian von Mühlhausen, who was soon given consecration by the Bishop of Merseburg.

The bishopric of Samland was partly in partibus infidelium , that is, it did not even have a chapter at the time, and its income was precarious and meager. From the beginning of his exaltation Christian therefore expressed the possibility that the Lord himself provided him with a better diocese in Germany, or that he could exchange the religious dress that he was now wearing for another. The diocese, whose arduous custody he had been given, therefore exercised little attraction on him throughout. During the entire 19-year period of his episcopate, he visited it only twice and spent no more than two to three years in total.

First trip to Samland

It was not until the late autumn of 1277 that he set out for the first time to visit his diocese. His stay lasted about a year without anything significant of its effectiveness during this time being passed on, apart from a measure of a business nature.

At the beginning of 1280 Christian was back in Germany, on the Rhine and even more often in Thuringia. During these years he held the office of auxiliary bishop of the Mainz church based in Erfurt (1276–1295). In Thuringia, his already touched relationship with Landgrave Albrecht von Thuringia involved him in his well-known disputes with his sons Friedrich and Diezmann . It so happened that Christian was lifted by the Margrave Diezmann in 1281 and kept for a long time at Schlotheim Castle near Mühlhausen; only a ransom, which was considerable for those times, gave him freedom again.

Second trip to Samland

In the course of 1284 Christian made a second trip to his diocese of Samland. The reason for this was its organization, which could no longer be postponed. Indeed, on the advice of the Teutonic Order and in agreement with it, he now brought a cathedral chapter into being. In keeping with its character, the cathedral chapter was also not there. The appointed canons belonged to the Teutonic Order, but all lived in Mühlhausen in Thuringia and its surroundings and it never occurred to them to move to the inhospitable Samland or even to make use of their new dignity. First and foremost, it seems that unworthy thriftiness also motivated Christian to adopt this procedure. Nevertheless, the Archbishop John I of Riga , to whom Christian had personally gone, confirmed his foundation.

Bishop in Thuringia

In August 1285 the "mobile" bishop is back in Thuringia. Here he arbitrarily sold enough goods from the Samland church that were near Gotha , which later rightly earned him bitter defamation. Otherwise he is in secular shops near Landgrave Albrecht, later King Adolf , who at that time undertook his well-known expedition to and through Thuringia.

In March 1287 Christian attended the National Council in Würzburg , but went to Silesia before it was over to mediate between the Bishop and the Duke of Wroclaw.

In 1289 he traveled to the papal court in Rome on behalf of Archbishop Gerhard von Mainz , but in May 1290 he appeared again in Erfurt, where King Rudolf had stayed for a long time.

The constant absence of Christian from his district and his continued wandering life, however, meant that his opponents claimed that he was illegally posing as Bishop of Samland and that in reality it was not. At least it can hardly be understood otherwise when Bishop Heinrich von Merseburg solemnly affirmed in an open letter to all bishops and prelates in August 1292 that Christian was indeed chosen by his predecessor Friedrich at the request of Pope Gregory X. to be Bishop of Samland and was consecrated as such. Anyway, Christian had appointed a deputy for himself in Samland; But in the long run the Teutonic Order was not satisfied with this inadequate oversight of the Samland Church and now insisted on the creation of a real cathedral chapter , which would have its seat in Prussia, the right of co-optation and possibly the new bishop from among the Teutonic Orders - Clergy should choose. This decision was then carried out; the negotiations were conducted in Thuringia and Mühlhausen. Christian has not seen his diocese again.

End of life

From his activities in the last part of his life, some rich foundations are to be highlighted, which he donated to the order of preachers and the main parish church and the Teutonic order house in the old town of Mühlhausen. On September 2nd, 1295 Christian died in his hometown, for which he seems to have always had a clear predilection, and his body was buried in the main church mentioned above. If the assumption of his newest biographer is justified, then the grateful hometown has tried to preserve the memory of its so devoted son by erecting a statue on the north portal of St. Blasius Church; the Samland diocese, on the other hand, has not preserved any appreciative memory for him.

literature
predecessor Office successor
Hermann I. from Cologne Bishop of Samland
1276 - 1295 		Siegfried von Reinstein
personal data
SURNAME Christian von Mühlhausen
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kristan von Mühlhausen; Kirstan of Mühlhausen
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Bishop of Samland
DATE OF BIRTH 13th Century
DATE OF DEATH September 2, 1295