Gerhard III. (Bremen)

Gerhard III. or Gerhard von Hoya († April 11, 1463 ) was Archbishop of Bremen from 1442 to 1463 . He is not to be confused with the possible Minden Bishop Gerhard III. (also from the Count House Hoya ) and Count Gerhard III. by Hoya .

Life

He was the son of Count Otto III. by Hoya and mother Mechthild. She was the daughter of Duke Magnus II of Braunschweig-Lüneburg .

As a later-born son, he entered the clergy. In 1429 he renounced the archdeaconate Groß Stöckheim , probably in favor of a canon position in Hildesheim . In 1433 he was named as permanent commissioner of the Archbishopric of Bremen and in 1437 as Canon in Halberstadt . For a long time there have been attempts on the paternal and maternal side of the family to get him the post of provost of the Blasiusstift in Braunschweig . There he was mentioned for the first time in 1433 as provost. In 1438 he resigned the provost. By this year at the latest he was provost in Bremen.

The bishopric was elected unanimously. It was consecrated by Archbishop Günther II of Magdeburg . Papal confirmation followed in 1442.

Gerhard von Hoya avoided violent conflicts with neighboring princes. He therefore managed to largely keep the peace during his reign. That was no mean feat given the numerous feuds of the time. In addition, in 1442 he concluded alliances with the Bishop of Verden and the Dukes of Braunschweig-Lüneburg . An alliance followed with the cities of Bremen , Stade and Buxtehude to secure peace and curb feuds.

After the death of the last Count of Bruchhausen, who had been the feudal man of the Archbishops, he did not confiscate his land as a reverted fiefdom , but rather allowed his family, the Counts of Hoya, to occupy the area.

At first he was yielding to the city council of Bremen. Before his election, the councilors promised to stand up for him if he promised not to redeem the pledged Langwedel Castle . Relationships later apparently deteriorated, with the cities of Bremen, Stade and Buxtehude complaining that the archbishop, contrary to his election surrender, had disregarded old city rights. They therefore concluded a mutual alliance in 1445.

literature

• Rudolf Meier: The provosts of the Braunschweig collegiate monasteries St. Blasius and St. Cyriacus in the Middle Ages. In: Braunschweigisches Jahrbuch 52 (1971), p. 39
• FW Wiedemann: History of the Duchy of Bremen. Stade, 1864 p. 310f.
• Peter von Kobbe: History and description of the country of the duchies of Bremen and Verden. Göttingen, 1824 p. 199f.

predecessor	Office	successor
Baldwin II, from Wenden	Archbishop of Bremen 1442–1463	Heinrich XXVII. from Schwarzburg