Christoph Fuchs from Fuchsberg

Christoph Fuchs von Fuchsberg (* 1482 in Eppan ; † December 9, 1542 in Brixen ) was an Austrian military , imperial councilor and later Bishop of Brixen .

Life

Christoph Fuchs von Fuchsberg zu Jaufenburg came from Eppan . He received a court education in Heidelberg and Stuttgart and initially sympathized with the Reformation. Sworn by his father to the Catholic denomination, he was initially given the post of captain and councilor in the Upper Austrian government in Ensisheim . In 1526, Christoph Fuchs coordinated the punishment of the city of Waldshut, which was guilty of high treason . The catalog of penalties he wrote as war commissioner, the "Fuchsian Treaty", severely curtailed urban autonomy and the church system by the end of the 18th century. In the fight against the rebellious peasants , on December 13, 1525, he hanged the leader of the Hauensteiner Haufen , Kunz Jehle .

This was followed by the position of imperial governor in Innsbruck . The main focus of his activity was again the persecution of the Anabaptists and the organization of military transports. The marriage with Magarethe von Maxlrain in Innsbruck resulted in a son and three daughters. In 1530 Christoph Fuchs took over the offices of his father and became imperial councilor and captain of Kufstein. In 1535 the wife Margarethe died.

After her death, Christoph Fuchs sought a higher rank by acquiring a diocese. Several members of the three lines of the noble family of the Fuchs von Fuchsberg had risen to spiritual dignitaries. In 1536 Christoph Fuchs was appointed canon of Brixen and provost of Innichen . In 1539 he was appointed cathedral dean and on September 1, 1539 he was elected Bishop of Brixen. Christopher II also held important secular offices as bishop. From 1540 he was the regional president of the Upper Austrian states . Due to a tendency to nepotism, the nuncio threatened him with a pastoral visit in 1542 , which could, however, be turned off. Christoph Fuchs succeeded in installing his nephew Cristoforo Madruzzo first as Bishop of Trento and shortly afterwards as his own successor. The offices of the Imperial Council and Captain von Kufstein, however, passed to his son. Christoph Fuchs von Fuchsberg died on December 9, 1542 in Brixen and was buried in Brixen Cathedral . The tomb commissioned by Madruzzo was only completed in 1580 by his nephew Johann Thomas von Spaur and placed in the cathedral cloister .

family

Christoph Fuchs von Fuchsberg zu Jaufenburg was the son of the imperial council and captain von Kufstein Degen Fuchs von Fuchsberg and Eva von Frundsberg, a sister of the field captain Georg von Frundsberg . In his capacity as captain of Kufstein, the father issued the " Fuchsbrief " on behalf of Emperor Maximilian I in 1506 , which laid down the state and tax law of the Berchtesgaden abbey in writing. The Berchtesgaden peasantry had filed a complaint against the provost Balthasar Hirschauer because of excessively high taxes . For the state of Berchtesgaden, the “Fuchsbrief” had the character of a first legally binding, written contract between the rulers and the “landscape”.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Franz Biasi: Kufstein: 600 years of the city, 1393-1993. Tyrolia-Verlag, 1992, p. 119
2. ↑ Archivum historiae pontificiae, Volume 38, Pontificia Università gregoriana. Facoltà di storia ecclesiastica, Facultas Historiae Ecclesiasticae, 2001, p. 75
3. ^ Franz Biasi: Kufstein: 600 years of the city, 1393-1993. Tyrolia-Verlag, 1992, p. 119

literature

• Franz von Krones:  Christoph (Fuchs), Prince-Bishop of Brixen . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 4, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1876, p. 239.
• The Hohe Dom is her tombstone , article from August 21, 2008 in the newspaper Dolomiten , p. 9.
• Heinrich Dold: Knight Christoph von Fuchsberg in land between the Upper Rhine and the southern Black Forest, history association Hochrhein and Waldshut, 2001, pp. 81–85.

predecessor	Office	successor
George of Austria	Bishop of Brixen 1539–1542	Cristoforo Madruzzo