George II Albrecht

Georg II. Albrecht (* before 1556; † February 2, 1560 ) was abbot of the Benedictine monastery of Sankt Mang in Füssen from 1556 until his death .

life and work

Contrary to the usual custom of electing the abbot from the monastic community, Georg Albrecht was appointed abbot by the Prince-Bishop of Augsburg, Cardinal Otto Truchseß von Waldburg , in 1556. The reason was because Abbot Simpert and some of his immediate predecessors had done badly in the church, sold a lot and incurred a lot of debt , as a later chronicler, Abbot Heinrich Ammann, notes. Georg Albrecht was not a conventual of the Sankt Mang monastery, but a priest and monk in the Benedictine monastery Ottobeuren .

In order to achieve a consolidation of the desolate financial situation of the monastery, the new abbot tried to get this under control by selling property on a large scale. Although these sales brought in cash, they severely weakened the abbey's economic strength. Now Cardinal Otto pulled the emergency brake, demanded a list of the sales, their valuation and forbade him to make any further sales without official approval. At the same time he made a visit to the monastery in 1556 to determine the condition of the abbey and to prescribe measures against the grievances. This was followed by a turnaround in economic policy. With the support of the Prince-Bishop, special taxes were to be approved at the Reichstag , and outstanding taxes from subjects were collected. After the many sales, purchases and repurchases were made again. So the Faulenbach bath house was repurchased.

Abbot Georg Albrecht experienced the high point of his tenure when he and all his successors were granted the right to inful by Cardinal Raynutius on behalf of Pope Paul IV . For the abbot this meant an obvious increase in rank and an enormous gain in prestige. Now he was allowed to wear episcopal marks of dignity such as the miter and other pontifical insignia. However, he only achieved this through the influence, mediation and protégé of the merchant and baron David von Baumgartner.

Abbot Georg Albrecht died on February 2, 1560. He left behind an economically unstable monastery whose debt had increased even further. But since his reign the monastery was headed by an inful abbot.

Sources and literature

• Heinrich Ammann: Füssen Chronicle. In: Alt Füssen. Yearbook of the historical association Alt Füssen 1992 . Pp. 14-27.
• Rudibert Ettelt: History of the City of Füssen. Füssen 1971, pp. 139-140.
• Otto Geiger: The documents of the former Benedictine monastery St. Mang in Füssen. Munich 1932.