Georg Friedrich von Greiffenclau on Vollrads
Georg Friedrich von Greiffenclau zu Vollrads or Georg Friedrich von Greiffenklau (born September 8, 1573 at Vollrads Castle ; † July 6, 1629 in Mainz ) was Prince-Bishop of Worms and from 1626 to 1629 Archbishop and Elector of Mainz and thus Arch Chancellor of the Holy Roman Empire . He was instrumental in many witch trials.
Life
Georg Friedrich came from the Rheingau noble family Greiffenclau , it was an originally Mainz servant family on the Rheingau. He is a descendant of Richard von Greiffenklau's brother zu Vollrads († 1531), Archbishop of Trier. His parents were Dietrich von Greiffenclau zu Vollrads (1549-1614) and his wife Appollonia von Reiffenberg († 1601). His brother Johann (1575–1646) was canon and choir bishop in Trier, brother Heinrich (1577–1638) was the Mainz Privy Councilor.
He studied at the Germanicum in Rome , then was in the diplomatic service and civil servant in Kurmainz . In 1616 he was elected as Bishop of Worms and in 1626 as Archbishop of Mainz .
His grave is in the Mainz Cathedral .
Act
He was the father of the Edict of Restitution that influenced the Thirty Years War . In 1627 he expanded the Martinsburg to include a palace in the Renaissance style .
Witch trials
Even under his predecessors Johann Adam von Bicken and Johann Schweikhard von Kronberg there were over 1,000 executions as a result of witch trials in Kurmainz from 1601 to 1626 . Under Elector Georg Friedrich von Greiffenclau from 1626 to 1629 further executions of alleged witches took place in the Hochstift 768.
On his first visit to Dieburg in 1626 , the elector was asked to order the necessary investigations to eradicate the vice of sorcery. In 1627 witch trials began in Dieburg. Many people were “said” as alleged accomplices, so that there were a series of new trials in Dieburg, Seligenstadt , Aschaffenburg etc. In 1627 36 people were executed in Dieburg according to the files available, and according to Pastor Laubenheimer's notes even 85 “witches”. In November 1629, a new wave of trials against 21 suspects began, and entire families were almost completely exterminated.
From 1604 to 1629 , documents relating to the deaths of 1779 people as victims of witch persecution have been preserved for the Mainz Archbishopric . Similar massive persecutions in southern Germany can only be proven in the witch trials series of the Hochstifte Bamberg and Eichstätt as well as in Würzburg and Ellwangen .
literature
- Steiner's history of the city and former Seligenstadt abbey. Aschaffenburg 1820, p. 283 f.
- Karl Georg Bockenheimer : Georg Friedrich von Greiffenclau to Vollrads . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 8, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1878, p. 679 f.
- Anton Ph. Brück : Georg Friedrich v. Greiffenclau to Vollrads. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 6, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1964, ISBN 3-428-00187-7 , p. 219 ( digitized version ).
- Horst Heinrich Gebhard: Witch trials in the Electorate of Mainz in the 17th century. Aschaffenburg, 1989.
- Ferdinand Sender: Georg Friedrich Greiffenclau von Vollrads 1573-1629. A prelate from the knighthood of the Middle Rhine. Promotion and assumption of government in Mainz. Sources and treatises on the history of the Middle Rhine Church, Vol. 30, Society for Church History in the Middle Rhine, Mainz 1977 ( digitized version ).
- Wilhelm Gottlieb Soldan and Heinrich Heppe: History of the witch trials. Revised and edited by Max Bauer. 2 Vol. G. Müller, Munich 1911, Vol. 2, pp. 45-48 (various reprints).
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Traudl Kleefeld: Against forgetting. Witch persecution in Franconia - places of remembrance. J. H. Röll, Dettelbach 2016. p. 40.
| predecessor | Office | successor |
|---|---|---|
| Wilhelm von Efferen |
Prince-Bishop of Worms 1616–1629 |
Georg Anton von Rodenstein |
| Johann Schweikhard von Kronberg |
Elector Archbishop of Mainz 1626–1629 |
Anselm Casimir Wambolt von Umstadt |
Wilhelm von Efferen | Georg Friedrich von Greiffenclau | Georg Anton von Rodenstein | Sedi vacancy 1652–1654 | Hugo Everhard Cratz von Scharfenstein | Johann Philipp I, Count of Schönborn | Lothar Friedrich von Metternich-Burscheid | Damian Hartard von der Leyen | Karl Heinrich von Metternich-Winneburg | Franz Emmerich Kaspar Waldbott von Bassenheim | Johann Karl Reichsfreiherr von und zu Franckenstein | Ludwig Anton Count Palatine of Palatinate-Neuburg | Franz Ludwig Count Palatinate of Pfalz-Neuburg | Franz Georg Count von Schönborn | Johann Friedrich Karl Graf von Ostein | Johann Philipp II. Baron von Walderdorff | Emmerich Joseph Freiherr von Breidbach zu Bürresheim | Friedrich Karl Joseph Imperial Baron von Erthal | Karl Theodor von Dalberg (last bishop)
Peter von Aspelt | Matthias von Buchegg | Baldwin of Luxembourg (administrator) | Henry III. von Virneburg (1346–1353 schism) | Gerlach of Nassau (1346–1353 schism) | Johann von Luxemburg-Ligny | Ludwig von Meissen | Adolf I of Nassau | Conrad II of Weinsberg | Gottfried von Leiningen | Johann II of Nassau | Conrad III. by Dhaun | Dietrich Schenk von Erbach | Diether von Isenburg | Adolf II of Nassau | Diether von Isenburg (2nd) | Adalbert III. of Saxony (administrator) | Berthold von Henneberg | Jakob von Liebenstein | Uriel von Gemmingen | Albrecht of Brandenburg | Sebastian von Heusenstamm | Daniel Brendel von Homburg | Wolfgang von Dalberg | Johann Adam von Bicken | Johann Schweikhard von Kronberg | Georg Friedrich von Greiffenclau | Anselm Casimir Wambolt von Umstadt
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Greiffenclau zu Vollrads, Georg Friedrich von |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Georgius Fridericus Moguntinae Archiepiscopus; Greiffenklau, Georg Friedrich von |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Archbishop and Elector of Mainz (1626–1629) |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 8, 1573 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Vollrads Castle |
| DATE OF DEATH | July 6, 1629 |
| Place of death | Mainz |