Jacob III from Eltz

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Archbishop Jakob von Eltz
Jakob von Eltz

Jakob von Eltz , actually Jakob von und zu Eltz-Rübenach , also Jakob zu Eltz (* 1510 at Eltz Castle near Münstermaifeld ; † June 4, 1581 in Trier ), was Jakob III from 1567 until his death in 1581 . ( Jakob III. Von Eltz) Elector and Archbishop of Trier . From 1576 he was the first of the Archbishops of Trier to hold the office of administrator (prince abbot) of the Reich Abbey of Prüm . He came from the line of "Eltz zu Rübenach" from the Moselle noble family "von und zu Eltz".

origin

Jakob zu Eltz was born as Johann Jacob von und zu Eltz in 1510 at the ancestral home of the Burg Eltz family as the second son of Johann V. von und zu Eltz and Maria von Breitbach. He had three brothers: Georg, the firstborn and heir of Eltz Castle , Johann Reichard, heir of the Eltzer Hof in Boppard, and Wolfgang. The family at that time consisted of the lines of the noble lords von und zu Eltz and the barons von Eltz zu Rübenach. His great-great-grandfather Johann I von und zu Eltz († 1480) was court master under the archbishops Jakob I von Sierck (1439-1456) and Johann II von Baden (1456-1503). In some sources it is used with the double name "Johann Jacob" or "Johann".

Life

His career began in 1523 when he was accepted into the Trier cathedral chapter as domicellar (candidate for canons) . This was followed by studies at the universities of Heidelberg , Löwen and Freiburg i. Br. For six years in law and theology . On September 15, 1525 he was first canon of Trier, then rose to cathedral capitular on December 7, 1535, to cathedral cantor on June 30, 1547 and a few months later on October 13 to cathedral dean. In 1550, the devout Catholic was ordained a priest - as such, he showed himself to be an envoy of the Archbishopric in his capacity as an envoy of the Archbishopric at the Diet of Regensburg in 1555 and at the Worms Religious Discussion of 1557 , with strict rejection of the evangelical cause . In the function of cathedral dean, he acquired extensive knowledge of the administrative work of the state and made decisive experience in the management of government affairs. From 1564 he also took over the rectorate of the University of Trier , which had been shaped by the Jesuits who had been active in Trier since 1560 , for two years , at which he also enforced his stance on Catholicism by taking the creed (“ Professio fidei Tridentinae ”) from all professors and students in 1565 according to the bull " Iniunctum nobis " (Latin for "us burdened") Pius IV. of November 13th 1564. demanded.

After the death of Archbishop Johann VI. von der Leyen on February 10, 1567 in Koblenz, Jakob zu Eltz was named Jakob III on April 7, 1567, also in Koblenz, from the cathedral chapter after lengthy deliberations at Ottenstein Castle (which had been lost since the 17th century) in Wittlich . elected archbishop of Trier. Due to extreme tensions between the city of Trier and the archbishopric, the election could not take place in the state capital Trier. His election was very much welcomed by the archbishopric, and the entire archbishopric paid homage to him, with the exception of Trier. One of his first official acts was the implementation of the process of introducing and informing the resolutions of the Council of Trent (May 15, 1567) as the first of the German bishops. On April 17, 1569, Jacob III. to Eltz in Koblenz by the bishops of Speyer , Liège and the Trier auxiliary bishop Gregor von Virneburg the episcopal ordination. He received the regalia as Elector of Trier from the hands of Emperor Maximilian II .

Term of office

Trinity altar in Trier Cathedral, grave altar of Archbishop Jakob von Eltz

Jacob III As a devout Catholic with a morally impeccable standard of living, zu Eltz was a resolute opponent of the Reformation and a great advocate and implementer of the Counter-Reformation and the ecclesiastical reform system in the Archdiocese, whose structures he laid down, according to the Council of Trent . To this end, he issued a visitation of the entire archbishopric, promoted the reform of numerous monasteries (such as the Laach Monastery (Abbatia ad Lacum), today's Maria Laach Abbey , whose abbot during the reign of Jacob III of Eltz John VI of Cochem (Joh.Ricius 1568–1597) and supported the appointment of reform-minded clergy to top positions. In 1580, at the end of his reign, he summoned the Jesuit order, which he had already promoted in Trier, to Koblenz in 1580. His form of reign moved in the direction of a so-called "tempered spiritual absolutism". His declared religious main goal in the age of the Reformation was to use all the resources available to him to maintain the Catholic faith, at least in his sphere of influence, and to push back the Reformation, which he succeeded in doing up to the county of Saarbrücken . There the new denomination was established in 1575 by the new sovereign Count Philipp III. introduced by Nassau-Saarbrücken (1575–1602). During his government activities as Archbishop and Prince of Kurtrier, the prevention of the separation of his own diocese of Luxembourg, as well as the incorporation of the old Reich Abbey of Prüm in 1576 with all the Eifel regions that belonged to it in the Electoral State of Trier, a territorial increase and associated one Preservation measure of the Catholic faith in these areas. Since then, the electors and archbishops of Trier have acted as administrators of the abbey.

The decades-long claims of the Abbey of St. Maximin and the city of Trier to imperial immediacy were finally rejected by the Imperial Court of Justice in 1570 and again in 1580 after a total of 12 years of trial, and the verdict of Emperor Rudolf II was confirmed on March 12, 1580. On May 23, 1580, the city key was given to Elector Jacob III. von Eltz, who in the course of the imperial judgment for Trier as a city unconditionally subordinate to the state sovereignty of the elector obtained its legal system and city constitution, which was valid until 1794 and tailored to the elector or his representative. It came into force on June 13, 1580 and was named after him Constitutio Eltziana or simply Eltziana ( Eltz Constitution ).

He succeeded not only in preserving the territorial unity of his electoral state, but also in enlarging the areas of the Prüm Abbey and largely rehabilitating his finances. The area growth was the last significant in the history of Kurtrier. In the year of his death in 1581, the Trier Jesuit College he sponsored had grown to 73 people. In the course of the same year, the disputes about the imperial immediacy of St. Maximin (the abbots' claim continued until 1669) and the city of Trier, plus the years of poor harvests in this area at that time, provided part of the reason for the massive witch hunts that began under his Successors achieved notoriety.

Jakob III., A level-headed, religious and morally impeccable sovereign, who saw himself less as the elector than the father of his subjects and the pastor of the Trier church, is in the place of his spiritual work, in the high cathedral church of St. Peter in Trier, the Trier St. Peter's Basilica , buried. Since 1597 his grave has been adorned by the trinity altar created by Hans Ruprecht Hoffmann and considered to be significant in art history as a grave altar.

literature

Web links

Commons : Jakob von Eltz  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
predecessor Office successor
Johann VI. von der Leyen Elector and Archbishop of Trier and Prince Abbot of Prüm
1567–1581 		Johann VII of Schönenberg
personal data
SURNAME Jacob III from Eltz
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Johann Jacob von und zu Eltz; Jakob von und zu Eltz; Jakob von Eltz; Jakob zu Eltz; Jacob III to Eltz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Archbishop and Elector of Trier (1567–1581)
DATE OF BIRTH 1510
PLACE OF BIRTH Eltz Castle near Cochem
DATE OF DEATH June 4, 1581
Place of death trier