Ferdinand of Bavaria (1577–1650)

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Ferdinand as Archbishop of Cologne, painting in the chapter house of Cologne Cathedral
Archbishop Ferdinand of Bavaria

Ferdinand of Bavaria (born October 6, 1577 in Munich ; † September 13, 1650 in Arnsberg , Westphalia ) was elector and archbishop of Cologne from 1612 to 1650 . As such, he also commanded Vest Recklinghausen and was Duke of Westphalia . He was also Prince-Bishop of Hildesheim , Liège , Munster and Paderborn . He was a leading representative of the Counter Reformation and an authoritative promoter of witch trials in northwest Germany.

Life

Origin and education

Ferdinand was the son of Duke Wilhelm V of Bavaria and his wife Renata of Lorraine . His uncle was the Cologne Archbishop Ernst von Bayern . One of his brothers was Elector Maximilian I of Bavaria .

His father intended him for a spiritual career at an early age. In 1587, at the age of nine, he, like his brother Philipp Wilhelm, was sent to the Jesuit grammar school in Ingolstadt . The upbringing by the Jesuits strongly influenced Ferdinand's later counter-Reformation attitude.

Very early on he held canonicals in the cathedral , for example in Mainz , Trier , Salzburg , Würzburg , Passau , Strasbourg, and in Cologne . The Wittelsbach power policy provided for Ferdinand to gain access to the office of bishop. In particular, it was about securing the successor to his uncle Ernst von Bayern, who was at the same time bishop or archbishop in Cologne, Liège, Hildesheim and Munster. After completing his studies in Ingolstadt, Ferdinand first traveled to Cologne to fulfill his residence duty as a canon. From around 1590 the Speyer canon Adolph Wolff von Metternich (1553-1619) was his spiritual educator and mentor . In the years 1592/93 Ferdinand stayed with him to study in Rome. Pope Clement VIII generously overlooked the collection of benefices, which had actually been forbidden since the Council of Trent .

From coadjutor to archbishop

His uncle Ernst von Bayern had triumphed over Gebhard I von Waldburg, who had converted to Protestantism, and had taken his place as Archbishop of Cologne. Although he had initiated counter-Reformation measures, his personal lifestyle did not correspond to the spirit of the Reform Council of Trent. He neglected his duties in favor of hunting and even had a son with his lover Gertrud von Plettenberg , who later became the prince abbot of the Abbey of Stablo-Malmedy, Wilhelm II of Bavaria . For this reason, the papal nuncio in Cologne brought the pious Ferdinand to the Roman Curia as coadjutor. The Pope approved this choice. The Cologne cathedral chapter also agreed after Ferdinand's father Wilhelm had agreed to take over the costs of his son's court as coadjutor as well as part of the debts caused by Ernst.

As early as 1591 he was elected coadjutor of Jakob II. Pütrich in the prince provost of Berchtesgaden and after his death in 1594 elected prince provost. During his more than 50 years of responsibility, he was unable to take care of the affairs of the prince-provost due to his other tasks. A year later he became coadjutor in Cologne. The Stablo-Malmedy monastery followed in 1599, the diocese of Liège in 1601 and the dioceses of Hildesheim and Münster in 1611. His uncle left almost all official business to Ferdinand. In particular, he immediately left the church duties to his nephew. However, Ernst retained the electoral rights and maintained them until his death.

In 1612 his uncle Ernst of Bavaria died, so the way was now free for Ferdinand, and he became Archbishop of Cologne and Bishop of Munster , Liège and Hildesheim . From 1618 he was also Bishop of Paderborn . However, he was never ordained a priest or a bishop . One reason for this was that his brother Maximilian, as Elector of Bavaria, remained without an heir for a long time. In order to be able to succeed his successor in Bavaria and enter into a marriage, he renounced the higher ordinations.

This unification of numerous ecclesiastical territories in one hand protected them from neighboring Protestant areas.

Counter-reformation

Even as coadjutor, Ferdinand pursued a policy of counter-reformation or catholic reform in accordance with the Council of Trent. Ferdinand founded the “Cologne Church Council”, a competent church authority. He continued this policy after he actually took office. In 1614 he enacted a religious order that provided civil rights and public offices only for Catholics. At first he worked with the papal nuncio, who resided in Cologne. Ferdinand was also supported by capable vicars general and auxiliary bishops.

He promoted the Jesuits , Capuchins and other new orders. Numerous visitations and synods took place during his time. In 1615 a seminary was opened. Ferdinand had an agende re-published in 1614, the breviary in 1618 and the missal in 1628. He pursued a church policy similar to that in Cologne in the other areas and dioceses under his control.

Despite all his efforts for the Counter Reformation, Ferdinand did not fully follow the bishop's ideal drawn up by the Council of Trent. Like his predecessor Ernst, he was an avid hunter.

Art patron

Ferdinand was also a patron of art who placed it in the service of religion. During his tenure, he had the precious shrine made for the bones of Archbishop Engelbert von Berg by the goldsmith Konrad Duisberg . He also had the Jesuit Church of St. Mary of the Assumption built in Cologne by Christoph Wamser . The core of the church on the Kreuzberg in Bonn also goes back to Ferdinand's time.

Secular Politics and the Thirty Years War

In the area of ​​secular politics, he reorganized the finances of the electoral state and reformed the administration. He also campaigned for an impartial judiciary. He also tried to regain lost areas. In the case of the Diocese of Liège, however, this ran into difficulties.

His politics as elector were always closely aligned with the politics of his brother, the Bavarian elector Maximilan. This became particularly clear when he was the only one of the electors on the Regensburg electoral deputation day in 1623 to support the transfer of the electoral dignity of the outlawed Elector Friedrich V (Palatinate) to his brother Duke Maximilian I of Bavaria, as proposed by Emperor Ferdinand II . was true.

The political cooperation had already started before the outbreak of the Thirty Years' War when he and his brother Duke Maximilian supported his brother-in-law Count Palatine Wolfgang-Wilhelm von Neuburg after 1609 in the Jülich-Klevian succession dispute . After the death of the last Duke Johann Wilhelm, the dispute over the possession of Jülich-Berg led to a dispute between the Electorate of Saxony , Kurbrandenburg and Wittelsbach and to international conflicts.

Even when the Catholic League was founded , which Ferdinand joined in 1618, he was entirely on the side of Bavaria. Overall, he followed Bavarian politics and warfare throughout the Thirty Years' War . Amazingly, at the beginning of the war, he prophesied that the war would last 20, 30 or 40 years. Wallenstein prophesied something similar and blamed the decree of the edict of restitution for this.

During the first decade of the war, with the help of negotiations, but also with military action, he managed to largely protect his territories from the consequences of the war. This changed when Sweden entered the war. When, after the total defeat of the army of the Catholic League against the Swedes in the Battle of Breitenfeld, the territories of Kurköln and Kurtrier were endangered by Spanish troops stationed on the Rhine, there was a secret offer from the Elector of Cologne to Richelieu , Kurköln under French To provide protection. The elector even banned Spanish troops from marching through, which worried Emperor Ferdinand II , who was dependent on Spanish financial subsidies. Until the end of the war, the areas of Kurköln remained a playground for Swedish, French, imperial and Spanish war groups.

Witch hunt

In his time the witch hunts increased sharply. A witch trial ordinance, written by Ferdinand von Bayern in 1607 and revised in 1628, tightened the provisions of the imperial neck court order Constitutio Criminalis Carolina for the implementation of witch hunts and thus made the use of torture easier . The witch commissioners appointed proceeded with extraordinary brutality.

During his reign and under his significant support, the witch trials were carried out with particular violence. Under his rule, Westphalia formed a core zone of the witch trials in Germany. The largest witch hunt in the country took place here. Almost all charges resulted in a death sentence.

A wide flare-up of these questionable trials from 1626 to 1631 has proven to cost the lives of around 574 defendants in the Duchy of Westphalia , 283 of whom came from the Balve office alone .

This called the determined opposition of the Jesuit acting as confessor of the witches, Friedrich Spee (1591-1635) on the plan.

Succession and Death

In 1642 his nephew Maximilian Heinrich von Bayern , the son of his younger brother Albrecht, became coadjutor of the Archdiocese of Cologne. In the following years this also followed in Hildesheim (1643) and Liège (1649). In this way, Ferdinand ensured the continuation of the Wittelsbacher secondary school in north-west Germany, which arose with Ernst von Bayern.

Ferdinand died on September 13, 1650 in Arnsberg . He was buried in front of the Dreikönigenkapelle inside Cologne Cathedral .

swell

  • Plausus alexidakryoi seu laetitiae reduces ...  : [Poem on the election of Archbishop Ferdinand of Cologne and on the death of Archbishop Ernst of Cologne, Dukes of Bavaria, April 11, 1612] / scriptae a Gymnasij Paullini Societatis Iesu discipulis. - Monasterii Westphalorum: Raßfeld, 1612. Digitized edition of the University and State Library Düsseldorf
  • Provisional comparison between the ... Mr., Mr. Ferdinanden Ertzbischoffen zu Cölln, and Elector Prince ... And Mr. Wolffgang Wilhelmen, Pfaltzgraven [...] . - Issues from 1621 , 1735 and 1753 as digital copies of the University and State Library Düsseldorf
  • Ferdinand of Bavaria: Theses ex universa philosophia, Ingolstadii 1595 digitized

literature

Web links

Commons : Ferdinand von Bayern (1577–1650)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Manfred Feulner : Berchtesgaden - history of the country and its inhabitants , pp. 106-108.
  2. ↑ Wolfgang Reinhard: History of State Power. A comparative constitutional history of Europe from the beginnings to the present , Munich 2003, p. 135.
  3. ↑ Richard Faber (Ed.): Catholicism in History and Present , Würzburg 2005, p. 94.
  4. ↑ CV Wedgewood: The 30 Years War . Cormoran Verlag, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-517-09017-4 , p. 138.
  5. ↑ G / History 9/17
  6. ↑ CV Wedgewood: The 30 Years War . Cormoran Verlag, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-517-09017-4 , p. 270.
  7. ↑ Rainer Decker: Hexen-Verfolungen , pp. 212-213.
  8. ↑ Gerhard Schormann : The war against the witches. Göttingen 1991, pp. 36-37.
  9. ↑ Rainer Decker: Witches pursuits , p. 199.
  10. ^ Rolf Schulte: Hexenmeister, The persecution of men in the context of the witch hunt from 1530–1730 in the Old Kingdom , p. 74.
predecessor Office successor
Jakob II. Pütrich Electoral Cologne administrator of Berchtesgaden
1594–1650 		Maximilian Heinrich of Bavaria
Ernst of Bavaria Elector and Archbishop of Cologne
1612–1650 		Maximilian Heinrich of Bavaria
Ernst of Bavaria Prince-Bishop of Liège
1612–1650 		Maximilian Heinrich of Bavaria
Ernst of Bavaria Prince-Bishop of Hildesheim
1612–1650 		Maximilian Heinrich of Bavaria
Ernst of Bavaria Prince-Bishop of Münster
1612–1650 		Christoph Bernhard von Galen
Ernst of Bavaria Abbot of Malmedy and Stablo
1612–1650 		Wilhelm II of Bavaria
Dietrich IV von Fürstenberg Prince-Bishop of Paderborn
1618–1650 		Dietrich Adolf von der Recke
personal data
SURNAME Ferdinand of Bavaria
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ferdinand I.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Elector and Archbishop of Cologne
DATE OF BIRTH October 6, 1577
PLACE OF BIRTH Munich
DATE OF DEATH September 13, 1650
Place of death Arnsberg ( Westphalia )