Heinrich II of Veringen

Heinrich II. Von Veringen († March 9, 1223 ) was Prince-Bishop of Strasbourg from 1202 until his death under the rule of the emperors Otto IV and Friedrich II , under the pontificate of Innocent III. and Honorius III. and under the patronage of the Mainz Metropolitan Siegfried II. von Eppstein .

Origin and family

Veringen coat of arms

Hermann the Lame

Heinrich II came from the Swabian house of the Counts of Veringen , who derive their origin from the Duke of Swabia, Burkhard I. He is the son of Marquard I von Veringen and brother of Heinrich, Ulrich and Manegold. The latter married a Nellenburg heir daughter and became the progenitor of the Nellenburger Veringen line. His great-great-grandfather, Wolfrad von Veringen, was the father of the famous Hermann the Lame , who became a monk in Reichenau and distinguished himself as a historian, philosopher, astronomer, poet and musician.

Spiritual and worldly sovereignty

The Strasbourg bishop had been Prince of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation since the early Middle Ages . In personal union with his spiritual power, as sovereign he exercised a secular rule over the bishopric of Strasbourg , which over the centuries developed into an institutional, but territorially fragmented state.

The spiritual influence of the Strasbourg bishop went beyond the bishopric, because only two dioceses administered the Alsatian territory with numerous independent imperial cities, ecclesiastical and secular dominions: the Strasbourg diocese in the north and the Basel diocese in the south.

Live and act

Saint Thomas Church Strasbourg

Seal of the Saint Thomas Monastery of Strasbourg

Heinrich came from the Swabian family of the Counts of Veringen . He was mentioned as custodian of the cathedral chapter from 1181 and was provost and provost of St. Thomas from 1202 .

Around 1200 the high monastery of the Strasbourg cathedral consisted only of members of the high nobility. The canons were no longer appointed by the bishop, but elected by co-opting among themselves. In order to be allowed to join the monastery, the applicant had to prove 14 noble ancestors on both his father's and mother's side. That is why only a few influential families could claim the vacant places and the associated prebends, such as the Ochsenstein , the Geroldseck , the Lichtenberg or even the Veringen . The Strasbourg canons allowed themselves to be called "Lords Grand Counts" and only very few were ordained priests. They no longer lived in the community but in private houses. The Grand Counts founded the “Great Choir” so that remunerated clergymen sang at church services in their place.

Heinrich was one of the ordained canons and is described by the annalists as a pious, peaceful and good-natured man. He was elected bishop of Strasbourg by the clergy and people in 1202, but was not ordained bishop until 1207. He waited four years for the consecration because the metropolis of Mainz was involved in a schism. Pope Innocent III had confirmed Siegfried as Archbishop of Mainz, the Roman-German King Philip of Swabia supported Leopold, Bishop of Worms. Most recently, Heinrich obtained a dispensation from the Pope to be ordained by the Archbishop of Sens.

In the dispute between the Staufers and Guelphs , he initially stood on the side of Otto IV. The city of Strasbourg used this to obtain a privilege from King Philip of Swabia that exempted its citizens from taxes on their extra-urban possessions. In 1214 Heinrich joined the Staufer Friedrich II . In 1220 he reached an agreement with the Strasbourg citizens on their demands.

Otto IV was officially recognized as the Roman-German King in Frankfurt in 1208 . The following year he got engaged in Würzburg to Beatrix, Philip's eleven-year-old daughter. Bishop Heinrich attended the engagement and accompanied Otto to Rome to witness his coronation as emperor on October 5, 1209. When the Count of Kyburg accompanied the young Friedrich Basel, the Bishop of Strasbourg was able to meet him with 500 sticks. In 1214 Friedrich renewed the old privileges that Emperor Otto II. Erkenbald had soon granted.

In order to better exercise his office and for a more efficient administration of his district, Bishop Heinrich divided the Sprengel into 13 so-called long chapters around the year 1205, which he subordinated to the seven archdiaconates established by Bishop Heddo .

Under the reign of Bishop Heinrich, the monastery of St. Leonard near Bœrsch had come into complete disrepair, so Bishop Heinrich decided to merge it with the provost in 1214. In the same year, the bishop had Dachstein Castle restored. In 1215, Bishop Heinrich promised to join the fifth crusade to Jerusalem with Emperor Friedrich II . But the emperor delayed his plan and the bishop of Strasbourg died on March 11, 1223 without having performed his vows. His body was buried in the St. Andrew's Chapel.

literature

• Ludwig Spach:  Heinrich von Vehringen . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 11, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1880, p. 621 f.
• Ludwig Fuchs:  Heinrich II of Veringen. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 8, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1969, ISBN 3-428-00189-3 , p. 401 ( digitized version ).
• Ludwig Gabriel Glöckler: History of the diocese of Strasbourg. Printed by Le Roux, Strasbourg 1879, pp. 223-226.
• Francis Rapp: Le Diocèse de Strasbourg. Editions Beauchesne, January 1, 1982, "Histoire des diocèses de France" collection, number 14.
• Base numérique du patrimoine d'Alsace (BNPA): Histoire de Strasbourg. Center régional et départemental de pédagogie (CRDP).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Dieter Mertens: The Prince. Medieval realities and ideas. Cologne, 1998, p. 71: around 1190 there were 92 ecclesiastical and 22 secular imperial princes, among them the Bishop of Strasbourg.
2. ^ Ernst Schubert: Reichsfürst. In: Lexicon of the Middle Ages. VII, p. 617 f.
3. ^ Henry Riegert: Le journal historique de l'Alsace. Editions L'ALSACE, Mulhouse, 1980, Volume 1, 4th Edition, 1995, p. 103.
4. ^ ^{A b} Glöckler: History of the diocese of Strasbourg. P. 223.
5. ^ Fuchs: Heinrich II. Von Veringen.
6. ^ Glöckler: History of the diocese of Strasbourg. P. 224.
7. ↑ Spach: Heinrich von Veringen.
8. ^ Glöckler: History of the diocese of Strasbourg. P. 226.
9. ↑ Spach: Heinrich von Vehringen. Pp. 621-622.