Franz cow lard

Franz Kuhschmalz (also Franz Resel , Franz Kuhschmalz of Warmia ; † June 10, 1457 in Breslau ) was Prince-Bishop of Warmia from 1424 to 1457 and Auxiliary Bishop in Breslau from 1455 to 1457 .

Life

Franz Kuhschmalz, whose parents immigrated to Warmia from Silesia and presumably came from cow lard in the Principality of Neisse , may have been born in Warmia. In any case, he first called himself Franz Resel , which probably refers to his place of birth Rößel .

He studied in Leipzig , where he obtained the academic degree of a baccalaureus. It is not known when he was ordained a priest. 1412 he was at the Law Faculty of Charles University in Prague enrolled and in 1414 or 1415, he received his doctorate in Vienna Doctor of Laws . Then he was the private secretary of Grand Master Michael Küchmeister . At the Council of Constance he belonged to a legation that was supposed to represent the rights of the Teutonic Order against the claims of the Polish King Władysław II Jagiełło . From 1418 he stayed in the Teutonic Order state again . In 1419 he became canon of Dorpat and in 1420 provost of the Frauenburg cathedral .

After the death of the Warmian bishop Johannes Abezier , the cathedral chapter unanimously elected Franz Kuhschmalz as his successor on February 13, 1424. According to the papal confirmation of April 8th d. In late July he was consecrated bishop in the parish church of Heilsberg in the presence of the Grand Master. The consecration was carried out by Johann Marienau von Kulm and Gerhard Stolpmann von Pomesanien . Soon after the consecration he appointed K. Petrus Steinbutt as his official . In 1427 he adopted the new state order of the Order for his district, but added some articles that regulated the service of the Prussians . In the same year a synod of the ecclesiastical province of Riga was held in Elbing at his suggestion . In 1437/38 he took part in the Council of Basel on behalf of the Archbishop of Riga, Henning Scharpenberg . In his diocese he arranged a visit , the results of which were announced in 1444. In addition to Prussians and Germans, Poland is also mentioned for the first time. It was settlers from Mazovia who were brought into the country in large numbers after the devastation of the previous wars. In 1449 he held a synod in Heilsberg, which denounced above all the immoral life of the clergy . In addition, she passed the resolution that the pastors in communities with a German and Prussian population should keep a local ( i.e. Prussian ) chaplain. Where this was not possible, an interpreter should be used for the sermons. As early as the middle of the 14th century, a school for twelve boys had been founded in Heilsberg Castle to train the Prussian clergy. It died during the tenure of Franz Kuhschmalz because of the Thirteen Years' War after 1454.

As a bishop, Franz Kuhschmalz continued to advise the Grand Masters politically and legally, for whom he also took on diplomatic services. He was a leading exponent of the Teutonic Order's policy, which was directed against the estates. These joined together in 1440 in the Prussian Confederation . Nevertheless, he turned against the attempts of Grand Master Konrad von Erlichshausen to incorporate the Warmia cathedral chapter into the order. 1453/54 he led at the court of Emperor Frederick III. the trial of the Prussian Confederation, which started the war against the Teutonic Order before the bishop's return. Since the riot spread to the Diocese of Warmia, Bishop Kuhschmalz sought refuge in the Marienburg . In the spring of 1455 he fled to Breslau, with which he already had contacts. As early as 1444, after the resignation of Bishop Konrad von Oels , he had been chosen by the Breslau cathedral chapter as his successor, but refused. During his exile in Breslau, numerous acts of auxiliary bishopric were entrusted to him under Bishop Peter II Nowag . Among other things, the consecration of the Church of St. Bernardine founded by Johannes Capistranus on September 28, 1455 , in which he held a pontifical mass twice at Christmas 1455 , is handed down. He died in Breslau on June 10, 1457. His body was buried in the Breslau Cathedral .

literature

• Hans-Jürgen Karp : Kuhschmalz, Franz († 1457) . In: Erwin Gatz : The Bishops of the Holy Roman Empire 1448–1668 , ISBN 3-428-08422-5 , p. 398.
• Joseph Jungnitz : The auxiliary bishops of Breslau . Verlag von Franz Goerlich, Breslau 1914. P. 56f.

predecessor	Office	successor
Johannes Abezier	Bishop of Warmia 1424–1457	Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini

predecessor	Office	successor
Bernhard Wenzeslaus von Pransnitz	Auxiliary bishop in Breslau 1455–1457	Johannes Pelletz