Friedrich on the Rhine

Friedrich zu Rhein († January 5, 1451 ) was Prince-Bishop of Basel from 1437 until his death .

Friedrich comes from the Mühlhausen branch of the Basel ministerial family Zu Rhein . His parents were Fritschmann the Younger in Rhein-Häsingen and Ursula von Halle. His brother Alexander was a canon in Basel, his sister Agnes was abbess of the Heiligkreuz monastery near Colmar , another sister Clara was the prioress of the Klingental monastery . The Basel bishop Kaspar zu Rhein was his great-nephew.

Friedrich studied in Heidelberg from 1406 to 1407 . He was a canon in 1398 in Basel, 1419 domkustos . In Constance he is recorded as a canon in 1430 and became archdeacon of the Breisgau. In the election of the bishop on January 9, 1437, Frederick had a majority of the votes, as was the case when the election was repeated the following day. The defeated Bernhard von Ratsamhausen did not accept the voting decision and appealed to the council . He was only resigned in 1440 with money and the position of cathedral curator.

Friedrich received papal confirmation on February 9, and the ordination by the Bishop of Digne took place on May 5. The regalia had him Emperor Sigismund awarded on February 4. The Basel bishop was one of the voters of the antipope Felix V in 1439 , and the city of Basel also supported Felix. It was not until 1448 that Frederick submitted to the Pope in Rome, the excommunication imposed on him was lifted by Pope Nicholas V on June 29th . Frederick, who was little respected by his clergy, neither celebrated mass nor did he perform church functions.

King Friedrich III. appointed him imperial council in 1442 . zu Rhein was an experienced political mediator between Austria and Bern and in 1444 between Basel and Austria. He had the episcopal castles in Kallenberg, Goldenfels and Delémont expanded and in 1447 he founded a hospital in Delémont. After his death on January 5, 1451, he was buried in Basel Minster .

literature

• Bernd Fuhrmann, Kurt Weissen : Insights into the rulership practice of a prince in the 15th century. The personal notebook of the Basel bishop Friedrich zu Rhein 1441 / 42-1445 . In: Journal for the history of the Upper Rhine , NF 106 = 145 (1997), pp. 159-201
• Pierre Louis Surchat: To Rhein, Friedrich . In: Erwin Gatz (Ed.): The Bishops of the Holy Roman Empire 1488 to 1648 . Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1996, ISBN 3-428-08422-5 , pp. 775-776 .

Web links

• Romain Jurot : to Rhein, Friedrich. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .

predecessor	Office	successor
Johann IV of Fleckenstein	Bishop of Basel 1437–1451	Arnold von Rotberg