Christoph von Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel

Christoph von Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel the spendthrift (* 1487 ; † January 22, 1558 in Tangermünde ) was a prince from the House of Welfs and from July 11, 1502 Bishop of Verden and, from 1511, Archbishop of Bremen .

origin

Christoph was a son of Heinrich I of Braunschweig-Lüneburg . In 1495 his grandfather Wilhelm II of Braunschweig-Calenberg-Göttingen abdicated and by dividing the inheritance his father, one of two parallel dukes of Braunschweig-Lüneburg, got the Principality of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel as part of the Duchy . This also gave rise to the Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel Guelph line, which ruled the principality until 1634.

Life

His father helped the Archbishop of Bremen , Johann Rode von Wale . For this he took 13-year-old Christoph as coadjutor around 1500 . In 1511 he became Archbishop of Bremen. The mayor of Stade , Claus von der Betten , had probably made the knighthood, which was rebellious towards his predecessor, compliant. This also helped him with large advances. In 1515 he plundered the Osterholz monastery . In 1535 he had the former mayor of Lübeck , Jürgen Wullenwever , arrested and executed two years later. Archbishop Johann had acquired the wooded Wingstberge west of the Oste , which his nephew, the knight Johann Rode, now owned. Christoph tried, on the pretext that these were Kirchgut, to turn them to his own son Karsten Hillen. This led to the Rodeschen feud in 1544, including with Georg von Holle , in which the dioceses of Bremen and Verden were devastated.

He was wasteful and rampant. Because he did not want to repay the borrowed money, his Harsefeld monastery was attacked in early 1545 .

literature

Karl Ernst Hermann Krause : Christoph (Archbishop of Bremen) . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 4, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1876, pp. 235-239.
Friedrich Prüser : Christoph. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 3, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1957, ISBN 3-428-00184-2 , p. 243 f. ( Digitized version ).
Theodor Wolters: Archbishop Christoph's struggle for the spiritual principality in the founders Bremen and Verden. Hamburg 1939.

Web links

Bremen state parliaments until 1550 (PDF, 46 kB) and introduction (PDF, 25 kB)

Individual evidence

^ Karl Ernst Hermann Krause: Christoph (Archbishop of Bremen) . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 4, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1876, pp. 235-239.
^ Dietrich von Engelhardt; Walther Killy; Rudolf Vierhaus (ed.): German biographical encyclopedia. (DBE) Volume 2. Bohacz – Ebhardt. Saur, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-598-25030-4 , p. 342. ( online )

predecessor	Office	successor
Johann Rode von Wale	Archbishop of Bremen 1511–1558	Georg of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel
Berthold von Landsberg	Bishop of Verden 1502–1558	Georg of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel

personal data
SURNAME	Christoph von Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Christoph of Bremen
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Archbishop of Bremen, Bishop of Verden
DATE OF BIRTH	1487
DATE OF DEATH	January 22, 1558
Place of death	Tangermünde

[1] Karl Ernst Hermann Krause: Christoph (Archbishop of Bremen) . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 4, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1876, pp. 235-239.

[2] Dietrich von Engelhardt; Walther Killy; Rudolf Vierhaus (ed.): German biographical encyclopedia. (DBE) Volume 2. Bohacz – Ebhardt. Saur, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-598-25030-4 , p. 342. ( online )