Hermann (Schaumburg)

Hermann, Count of Holstein-Schaumburg ( November 1, 1545 - March 5, 1592 ) was Bishop of Minden from 1567 to 1582 .

Family and youth

Hermann was the eldest son of Otto IV, Count of Holstein-Schauenburg-Pinneburg and his first wife Maria , (* 1527; † 1554), daughter of Barnim IX. , the Duke of Pomerania-Stettin. Anton von Schaumburg , Archbishop of Cologne, was his paternal uncle.

Although his father had introduced the Reformation in his territory in 1559 , he designated Hermann and his younger brother Anton for a career in the clergy and had them educated by the Jesuits in Ingolstadt , while Hermann's brother Adolf XI. was trained as his father's successor and after his death took over the rule in the county. He followed after the death of Adolf XI. Hermann's clearly younger half-brother Ernst as regent. Anton was bishop of Minden from 1587 to 1599.

In 1559 Hermann received his first benefice as a canon in Cologne and in 1562 a second in Liège .

Bishop of Minden

After the death of Bishop George on January 9, 1567, Hermann was appointed bishop and on May 29, 1573 by Pope Gregory XIII. confirmed as bishop. His penchant for alcohol is passed down from his tenure. He is said to have ruled strictly and made himself hated by the population. During the first years of his tenure, his father influenced the bishopric through him. The ordination he never received. After the death of his father in 1576 he tried in vain to enforce his primogeniture law; but his stepmother Elisabeth Ursula von Braunschweig-Lüneburg , together with the state estates, ensured that the indebted county was governed by the state estates for ten years.

Especially among his predecessors from the house of Braunschweig-Lüneburg, the Lutheran doctrine had established itself in the diocese. Hermann, whose late confirmation by the Pope was due to his long refusal to adhere to the Tridentine creed , ruled Minden like a Protestant prince. The Minden cathedral chapter therefore asked in 1581, without Hermann's knowledge , the former bishop elect of Minden Julius von Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel , who was close to the Reformation , that his son Heinrich Julius , already administrator in Halberstadt , should become bishop in Minden. The successor of Hermann should be a member of the House of Braunschweig-Lüneburg because of the great influence of the Guelphs in the region. Heinrich Julius came from the Protestant-minded Welf dynasty, which had held the office of bishop in Minden several times and which had often not resolutely dealt with reformatory efforts. Nevertheless, the cathedral chapter hoped to consolidate the Catholic doctrine in Minden through the change at the head of the diocese and far-reaching agreements with Heinrich Julius as a condition for his election.

Hermann could not ignore the efforts of the canons to replace him. Therefore, he did not resign entirely voluntarily as bishop of the diocese of Minden and regent of the Minden monastery on January 29, 1582, thus clearing the way for his successor Heinrich Julius. Allegedly Hermann was rewarded for his renunciation of the diocese by Julius von Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel . In spite of everything, the cathedral chapter attested Hermann a Catholic attitude. After the new bishop took office, the hope of consolidating Catholic doctrine was not fulfilled; because Heinrich Julius ignored the promises made in the run-up to his election.

After his resignation, Hermann married his lover, the daughter of a farmer. With her he had three children, Johann, Jobst and Margarethe.

literature

• Helge bei der Wieden : Schaumburg Genealogy. Family tables of the Counts of Holstein and Schaumburg - also dukes of Schleswig - up to their extinction in 1640 (= Schaumburg Studies. Vol. 14). 2nd, revised edition, Knoth, Melle 1999, ISBN 3-88368-305-1 .
• H. Kampschulte: History of the introduction of Protestantism in the area of ​​the current province of Westphalia . Schöningh, Paderborn 1866, p. 432 ( digitized from Google Books ).
• Ludwig Freiherr von Pastor, Ralph Francis Kerr: The History of the Popes from the Close of the Middle Ages . tape 10 . Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner, London 1930, p. 351 (English, digitized from Google Books ).

Web links

• Entry on Hermann von Schaumberg on catholic-hierarchy.org ; Retrieved July 18, 2016.
• Anton von Holstein-Schauenburg on thepeerage.com , accessed on August 23, 2015.

predecessor	Office	successor
Georg of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel	Bishop of Minden 1567–1582	Heinrich Julius (Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel)