Hermann II (Cologne)

Bishop Hermann II of Cologne on the picture of the Hermann Ida Cross he donated

Hermann II , also Heriman (* around 995 ; † February 11, 1056 in Cologne ) was Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Cologne from 1036 to 1056 .

Life

Hermann was the son of Count Palatine Ezzo of Lorraine and his wife Mathilde , a daughter of Emperor Otto II and his wife Theophanu .

His sisters were u. a. Queen Richeza of Poland , who is buried in Cologne Cathedral, and Theophanu , who was abbess of the Essen monastery from 1039 to 1058 . Another sister, Mathilde, was the abbess of the Vilich Abbey and Dietkirchen Abbey near Bonn . In Vilich, Mathilde took up her brother Hermann's design ideas and also built a church based on the model of Old St. Peter in Rome.

In 1036 he was appointed Archbishop of Cologne by Konrad II ; in the same year he is named as a cardinal priest . As Archbishop of Cologne, he baptized Heinrich IV , the son of Emperor Heinrich III in 1051 . and his wife Empress Agnes. Three years later, on July 17, 1054, he crowned Henry IV as King of Germany . The Archbishop of Mainz, Luitpold I, protested against this coronation , because he also claimed the right of coronation for himself.

Hermann developed extensive construction activities to make Cologne an image of Rome and thus to consolidate its primacy over the archbishops of Trier and Mainz, which was documented by the right to crown the German kings. So the Cologne Cathedral should correspond to the then St. Peter's Basilica. The church of St. Maria in the Capitol, which was expanded under Hermann and his sister Ida , was supposed to correspond to Santa Maria Maggiore . Hermann is also the founder of the Hermann Ida Cross, which probably came from St. Maria in the Capitol and is now in the Diocesan Museum in Cologne .

Hermann II, who was also called the noble, died in Cologne and was buried in Cologne Cathedral .

Hermannstadt in Romania is named after him .

literature

• Irmingard Achter : The building history of the Vilich churches. In: 1000 Years of Vilich Abbey 978 - 1978. Contributions to the past and present of Vilich Abbey and Place. Bonn 1978, ISBN 3-7928-0412-3 .
• Klaus Gereon Beuckers : The Ezzonen and their foundations. LIT Verlag, Münster 1993, ISBN 3-89473-953-3 .
• Hermann Cardauns:  Hermann II, Archbishop of Cologne . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 12, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1880, pp. 130 f.
• Ulrike Surmann: The cross of Herimann and Idas. Diöszesanmuseum Cologne 1999.
• Erich Wisplinghoff :  Hermann II .. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 8, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1969, ISBN 3-428-00189-3 , p. 635 ( digitized version ).

Web links

• Hermann. In: Salvador Miranda : The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church. ( Florida International University website), accessed August 13, 2016.

predecessor	Office	successor
Pilgrim	Archbishop of Cologne 1036–1056	Anno II.