Gottfried von Raesfeld

Gottfried von Raesfeld in 1566, painted by Hermann tom Ring

Gottfried von Raesfeld (* 1522 - 23 October 1586 ) or Goddert von Raesfeld (he used to sign in this Low German form) was the most important cathedral dean of the post-Reformation period and the most important clergyman of the Münsterland in the second half of the 16th century. His work was decisive for the assertion of the Catholic Church in the Principality of Münster . As his legacy, the canon donated the Jesuit College , from which the University of Münster emerged many years later .

origin

Coat of arms of those of Raesfeld

Gottfried von Raesfeld came from the Westphalian noble family Raesfeld . He was born in 1522 at Haus Hameren near Billerbeck as the sixth of nine sons of his parents, who had been married since 1506, Arnd von Raesfeld zu Hameren (* 1479, † 1567) and Petronella von Merfeld zu Merfeld († 1534), who together had 20 children, of whom twelve reached adulthood, including his eldest brother Bernhard , Prince-Bishop of Munster . His brothers Heinrich , Arnd , Bitter and Dietrich Franz were canons in Münster. After the father was widowed, he had already lived with his maid Adelheid Mensing for a long time before he married her in 1555, which also legitimized the seven children who came from this connection. (It is possible that there were children from a connection with another maid named Christine ; in any case , the first son after Petronella's death was born in 1536.)

Spiritual career

Since Gottfried von Raesfeld was not intended to be the heir of his father's manor Hameren, he, like his eldest brother Bernhard and five other brothers, embarked on a spiritual career. Gottfried's relatives were powerful men: his great-uncle Franz von Ketteler († 1547) was Prince Abbot zu Corvey , the Münster bishop Wilhelm Ketteler , who had preceded Gottfried's brother Bernhard von Raesfeld in the bishopric from 1553 to 1557 , was a cousin of his mother, just like Gotthard von Ketteler , who became a Protestant as the Teutonic Order Master in the Baltic States in 1562 and was named Duke of Courland . At the age of 17, Gottfried von Raesfeld was enrolled in the artist faculty of the University of Cologne on December 14, 1539 . Already in 1541 he was a canon at Mauritz pen in Muenster become the place but resigned in 1552 his brother Bitter Raesfeld from, and then in 1557 his brother Bernhard, Office of the Provost to follow St. Mauritz. Around 1546 he acquired canon positions in Paderborn and Münster. In 1552 he took over the residential curia of his uncle, Canon Goddert von Merfeld († 1552), to whom he also owed his first name, at the cathedral square in Münster. But unlike many relatives, Gottfried was a staunch advocate of the Catholic cause. The experience of the war over the Munster Anabaptist Empire in 1534/35 is likely to have given him a skeptical attitude towards religious innovations.

Benefice as canon of Münster

The accumulation of benefices was common practice at the time and allowed Gottfried von Raesfeld to accumulate a large fortune, especially since other offices also brought him additional income, for example as archdeacon zu Stadtlohn (as the successor of his brother Bernhard there , confirmed in 1555), where he exercised spiritual supervisory rights and 1557 (as successor dortiger also by Bernhard) as provost of St. Mauritz and Domscholaster and director of the cathedral school at Munster. Since 1559 also as archdeacon of Hoetmar and Lüdinghausen .

In the service of the episcopal brother

As canon, Gottfried had an ever increasing influence on the politics of the prince-bishops since 1552. After his brother Bernhard had been elected Prince-Bishop of Munster to succeed Wilhelm Ketteler on December 4, 1557 , Gottfried went to Vienna as envoy to obtain the regalia for his brother. During the reign of his brother, Gottfried represented the bishopric of Münster at the Diet of Augsburg from 1559 to 1566 (and beyond that until his death) . He seems to have had particular influence on the instructions given by the papal cardinal legate to the Catholic imperial estates in 1566 . Under the reign of Bernhard's hesitant successor, Johann IV von Hoya , Gottfried's importance increased even more. Gottfried only gave the Principality of Münster a political future if it remained Catholic and with the old constitution and not first Protestant, then secularized and transformed into a secular principality. The cathedral chapter and thus the established nobility eligible for a foundation could only assert its leading role in the country as a Catholic . What was Catholic needed new definitions. In 1548 , the Augsburg Interim had softened celibacy . Gottfried von Raesfeld also had at least one daughter, Katharina ( Trineken ) , in 1561 . Most canons, especially the younger ones, were inclined to evangelical doctrine and lived with women. The Council of Trent had established from 1545 to 1563, which was Catholic, also enjoined celibacy, and the enforcement of the reform decrees applied the bishops and strengthened its authority. As cathedral scholaster , Gottfried directed the cathedral school in this sense. Incidentally, there is a letter from Archbishop Friedrich von Köln to Gottfried from 1566 , regarding the acceptance of a possible election of bishops. But Gottfried personally did not seem to have considered this position, certainly also because of the example and because of his brother, who was just about to resign . However, he made sure that other key positions in the diocese, such as those of the official , were filled by people of trust like Everwin Droste .

Cathedral Dean of Münster

In 1569 Gottfried was able to enforce a reform statute in the cathedral chapter of Münster , which strengthened the position of the cathedral dean , who, as the disciplinary superior of the cathedral clergy, also had to convene and chair the meetings of the cathedral chapter. This was all the more important as the successive Prince-Bishops Johann IV von Hoya and Johann Wilhelm von Jülich-Kleve-Berg were too weak politically to implement a decidedly Catholic policy. When Gottfried himself was elected cathedral dean on May 19, 1569, he was given a key position that he used to depose the Reformation-minded pastors, vicars and teachers in the Münster archdeaconate , on the one hand , and to replace them with Catholic ones, and on the other, Bishop Johann von To urge Hoya to a general visitation of the diocese, which then took place in 1571–1573. Incidentally, Gottfried also had thoughts of resignation a few times . As early as the summer of 1572 he asked to be dismissed from his deanery , not out of recklessness, but the work was far too arduous, he had nothing but work. Exactly two years later he repeated his complaints and announced that he would give up. But there was no resignation, he remained dean of the cathedral until his death on October 23, 1586. Above all, Gottfried tried to prevent the election of evangelical bishops. The resignation of Johann Wilhelm von Jülich-Kleve-Berg, who succeeded him in the Duchy of Jülich-Kleve-Berg in 1575 after the death of his older brother , Gottfried was able to postpone until the most promising candidate for a new bishopric election, the Lutheran-minded bishop von Osnabrück and Bremen , Heinrich von Sachsen-Lauenburg , succumbed to a riding accident in 1585. Immediately resigned Bishop Johann Wilhelm, and the Catholic Elector of Cologne, Ernst von Bayern , was also elected Prince-Bishop of Münster.

Jesuit college in Münster

Gottfried saw the establishment of the Jesuits in Munster as the second main goal . His attempts to transfer the cathedral school to them were unsuccessful, but he bequeathed them a capital of 12,000 thalers in order to found a Jesuit college in Münster, which was established in 1588, two years after his death. Soon the school had more than 1,000 students, was able to build a church and the college building, and within a generation, not least thanks to state support and pressure, Münster was able to become a Catholic city. When the Thirty Years' War broke out , the Münsterland was so Catholic again that this creed was also enshrined in the Peace of Westphalia in 1648.

Bailiff to Lüdinghausen

Bust of Gottfried von Raesfeld.
The sculpture is located near Lüdinghausen Castle

Since 1568 Gottfried von Raesfeld was not only archdeacon of Lüdinghausen , but also bailiff (clerk) of Lüdinghausen, the office always administered by a Münster canon . In Lüdinghausen around 1573/74 Gottfried had rebuilt the local office building there (today Lüdinghausen Castle ) for 6,000 thalers , which he later bequeathed to the cathedral chapter of Münster. Shortly before his death in 1586 he founded a poor house in Lüdinghausen, to which he bequeathed a capital of 4,000 thalers. He is also considered the founder of the elementary school in Lüdinghausen. As a memento, there is a bust in Lüdinghausen that depicts Gottfried von Raesfeld.

Further legacy and death

Gottfried von Raesfeld gave his cathedral curia , which he had newly built opposite the western front of the cathedral in Münster, to his successors as cathedral dean . The cathedral mechanic, which was modernized in Baroque style from 1732–1736, has been the episcopal palace and official seat of the bishop since 1823 . The fact that Gottfried von Raesfeld's book collection (around 1,500 books) became the basis of the cathedral library, where his portrait from 1566 by Hermann tom Ring has survived, secured his memory, as did other foundations. The treasure trove of books from the cathedral chapter, which was repealed in 1811, came to the library in the Paulinum grammar school in Münster in 1823 . The Hermann tom Ring painting is in the LWL State Museum for Art and Cultural History in Münster. In his will, Gottfried von Raesfeld asked to be buried in Münster Cathedral next to his brother, Bishop Bernhard von Raesfeld , which was implemented one day after he died on October 23, 1586.

literature

• Aloys Bömer: Gottfried von Raesfeld. In: Westphalian pictures of life. Vol. 2. Münster 1931, pp. 232–248.
• Hermann Degering : Gottfried von Raesfeld. His gender, his life and his will. In: From the intellectual life and work in Westphalia. Festschrift for the opening of the new building of the Royal University Library in Münster (Westphalia) on November 3, 1906. Münster 1906, pp. 137–250. Digitized version (however different page counting, as this edition is not identical to the original commemorative publication, see also note on p. 114)
• Gerd Dethlefs: The family book of Bernhard Schenckinck 1561–1582. LWL State Museum for Art and Cultural History -Westfälisches Landesmuseum- Manuscript 439. Vol. 1: The miniatures of the coat of arms. Text transcriptions-translations-comments. Emmendingen 2007, pp. 43-45.
• Max Geisberg: The painter tom Ring. In: Westfälische Lebensbilder Vol. 2. Münster 1931, pp. 30–50.
• Carl Göllmann: Gottfried von Raesfeld and his time (= contributions to regional and folklore of the Coesfeld district, vol. 22). Coesfeld 1987.
• Hans Crusemann: The early history of the Ketteler family (Kettler) 12. – 16. Century. Ed. And edit. by Karl-Josef Freiherr von Ketteler. Münster 2004, pp. 323–327.
• Andreas Holzem: The denominational state 1555-1802 (= History of the Diocese of Münster, Vol. 3). Münster 1998, pp. 90-91.
• Ludwig Keller: The Counter-Reformation in Westphalia and on the Lower Rhine, files and explanations. Leipzig 1881, pp. 269–342.
• Wilhelm Kohl : The cathedral monastery of St. Paul in Münster (= Germania Sacra NF. 17, 1–3). 3 volumes. Berlin / New York 1987/1982/1989, here Vol. 1 (1987), pp. 155-163, Vol. 2 (1982), pp. 136-140.
• Wilhelm Kohl: The diocese of Münster (= Germania Sacra NF. 37, 2-3) Vol. 2-3. Berlin / New York 1999-2003, here Vol. 2, pp. 225-246, Vol. 3, pp. 574-604.
• Maximilian Lanzinner, Dietmar Heil (arr.): German Reichstag files, imperial assemblies 1556–1562. The Reichstag in Augsburg 1566. 2 volumes. Munich 2002, pp. 95, 154, 1567.
• Günter Lasalle (Ed.): 1200 years of the Paulinum High School in Münster 997–1997. Münster 1997, pp. 560-561.
• Angelika Lorenz: The painter tom Ring. Exhibition catalog. Vol. 2. Münster 1996, pp. 460-461, 565.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ jokuhl.de
   Arnd von Raesfeld zu Hameren (* 1479, † 1567), was like his older brother Johann (II.) Von Raesfeld zu Ostendorf a son of Goswin von Raesfeld zu Ostendorf and Hameren (* 1428, † 1503), who himself was a 22nd generation descendant of Emperor Charlemagne . Arnd's son, Gottfried von Raesfeld, was thus a descendant of Charlemagne in the 24th generation. Homepage of Joachim Kuhl. Retrieved April 6, 2010.
2. ↑ GenWiki website with family tree of the owners of House Hameren near Billerbeck. Retrieved April 6, 2010.