Gebhard (Salzburg)

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Manegold von Lautenbach hands his work to Archbishop Gebhard von Salzburg, Liber ad Gebehardum , Blaubeuren, 12th century. Karlsruhe, Badische Landesbibliothek, Ms. Rastatt 27, fol. 1r

Gebhard (* around 1010; † June 15, 1088 in Werfen ) was Archbishop of Salzburg .

Life

Hohensalzburg Fortress

Gebhard came from a noble Swabian family that is not known. In the line of ancestry that Gabriel Bucelinus put together around 1670, he is referred to as Count von Helfenstein . Gebhard certainly did not belong to this gender. The name Helfenstein is probably a further development of "Helfenburg", an earlier Salzburg name, which is derived from an incorrect translation of the Roman Juvavum .

Gebhard's father was called Chadoldo (Chadoldus), his mother Azala. Their names can be found in the necrologies of Admont and Salzburg .

Gebhard's intellectual status was determined early on and enjoyed excellent instruction, as his later erudition proves, which even his opponents had to acknowledge. It is not known where he did his studies. It is usually called Paris , but this is not guaranteed. Adalbero von Würzburg and Altmann von Passau are referred to as his fellow students. On March 9, 1055, he was ordained a priest by Archbishop Baldwin of Salzburg . Gebhard was court chaplain of Heinrich III. He traveled to Constantinople as envoy and was Chancellor from 1057 to 1059 . On July 30, 1060 he was ordained archbishop of the diocese of Salzburg . He ended the privileges that had resulted from the lower measured Slav tenth and rearranged the parish system in Carinthia . He solved the of Hemma of Gurk donated Monastery Gurk and founded in 1072 in its place the suffragan Gurk and 1074 the Admont . He also had the fortresses of Hohensalzburg , Hohenwerfen and Friesach significantly expanded.

In the investiture controversy he was on the side of Pope Gregory VII and, like Altmann von Passau, did not take part in the court conference in Worms in 1076 . In 1076 he was at the Lent Synod in Rome and in 1077 supported the election of the anti-king Rudolf of Swabia .

Since he did not want to be reconciled with King Heinrich IV , he was expelled from Salzburg in 1077 and stayed in Swabia and Saxony for nine years . He continued to try to win bishops to support Pope Gregory VII. In Salzburg, Berthold von Moosburg was installed as an opposing bishop from 1085. Gebhard was only able to return to Salzburg in 1086 with the support of Duke Welf I of Bavaria . A short time later he died on June 15, 1088 at Hohenwerfen Fortress . He is buried in the Admont Abbey and rests there in the high altar in the Abbey Church.

Gebhard was depicted as a bishop with a Greek cross and a unicorn .

Critical assessment

In 1629, at the express request of Prince Archbishop Paris Lodron, a canonization process was initiated, which subsequently remained unresolved in the turmoil of the Thirty Years' War. Gebhard's life's work is, however, as the well-known historian Prof. Heinz Dopsch explains, increasingly critically assessed in historiography: Although his extraordinary erudition and great personality are generally praised, these virtues are often countered by high vanity and striving for power. While he was in exile in a safe place in Saxony, he left his country defenseless, which was thus plundered and devastated to an unnecessary extent. Gebhard was also by no means a great church reformer. With his tenacious adherence to church law, he prevented the reform of the Salzburg Church for decades and hindered it in the long term. From today's perspective, Gebhard can therefore not be regarded as a saint or blessed.

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predecessor Office successor
Baldwin Archbishop of Salzburg
1060-1088 		Thiemo
personal data
SURNAME Gebhard
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Gebhard von Helfenstein
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Archbishop of Salzburg, Blessed
DATE OF BIRTH around 1010
PLACE OF BIRTH Swabia
DATE OF DEATH June 15, 1088
Place of death Throw