John IV of Dražice

Johann IV. Von Dražice (also: Johann IV. Von Draschitz ; Czech: Jan IV. Z Dražic ; * around 1250; † January 5, 1343 , probably in Prague ) was Bishop of Prague .

Origin and career

Johann came from the old Central Bohemian family of Dražice . His parents were Gregor von Dražice ( Řehník z Dražic ), court official Ottokar II. Přemysl and the Queen's chamberlain, and Anna, née von Skyšice. There was a relationship with the Prague bishop John II of Dražice . The mother of the Prague bishop Johann III. is also said to come from the Dražice family.

Johann is first recorded in 1274 as a beneficiary of Saaz and at the same time canon of Prague and canon of the Vyšehrad monastery. He was ordained a subdeacon around 1287 .

Bishop of Prague

After the death of the Prague bishop Gregor von Waldek , Johann was elected as his successor. The investiture by King Wenzel II was followed on December 10, 1301 by the episcopal ordination by the then Basel Bishop and later Archbishop of Mainz Peter von Aspelt , who held the Bohemian Chancellery.

After the death of Wenceslas III. , the last Bohemian king from the Přemyslid family , a political dispute broke out over the succession to the throne, in which John was also involved. In 1310 he supported the election of John of Luxembourg as King of Bohemia. Subsequently, he came to the king's aid with episcopal armies during the sieges of Prague, Kuttenberg and other East Bohemian cities. In 1313 he accompanied the king to the Reichstag in Nuremberg. In 1315 the king appointed him administrator for a few months.

Even during the ongoing political conflict, Johann devoted himself to his episcopal duties. Against the resistance of the nobility he achieved full episcopal sovereignty over the parishes in 1308. At the diocesan synod in August 1308, statutes were issued with which the basic norms of canon law were established. The Archbishop of Mainz, Peter von Aspelt, visited Johann's diocese in his capacity as Metropolitan . Johann, for his part, visited the Benedictine monasteries in his district. In the old town of Prague , he arranged for the Gothic renovation of St. Aegid and the expansion of the episcopal court to include the farm building and a stone tower.

1311-1312 John took part in the Council of Vienne and held a diocesan synod after his return in autumn 1312 . In the next few years he got into numerous disputes with the nobility and the cities. He turned against the excesses of the Inquisition and the associated punishments and persecutions by the Dominicans . Therefore, he subsequently had to defend himself against the allegations of the mendicant monks . The Leitmeritz provost Heinrich von Schönburg ( Jindřich ze Šumburka ), who had been removed from his office by Johann, accused him in 1316 of Pope Johannes XXII. that he had protected accused heretics. This is probably why the Pope ordered the establishment of the office of inquisitor in 1318 .

Suspended bishop

On April 1, 1318, the Pope suspended Johann from his episcopate due to the accusations. At the same time an investigation was initiated and Johann was summoned to the Curia in Avignon . The almost 70-year-old Johann went there and was found innocent in 1326. During his suspension, the diocese was administered by an auxiliary bishop and the office of official was established. He was only able to return to Prague in 1329.

Back in office

Already from Avignon Johann undertook the restoration of the episcopal administration and the restitution of the episcopal property. After his return he could turn to the episcopal duties again. In a dispute between the parish clergy and the mendicant orders, he appointed a cathedral preacher from the secular clergy in 1334 and dismissed the mendicants who had worked at the cathedral until then .

In St. Vitus Cathedral he had the grave of St. Adalbert decorated with gilded reliefs and donated three new prebends to the Prague cathedral chapter . He called the Augustinian canons to Bohemia and founded an Augustinian monastery in the episcopal city of Raudnitz in 1333 after a planned monastery in the old town of Prague did not materialize . He gave the monastery valuable manuscripts that he had brought from Avignon or had written in Bohemia. A little later he had a hospital for the poor and a stone bridge built over the Elbe in Raudnitz. Above the Dražice castle he had the church of St. Ludmilla built; In 1334 he acquired the Geiersburg as an episcopal estate .

Johann was a supporter of education and art. The collection of historical writings he created was preserved in the library of the Prague Metropolitan Chapter. He had Francis of Prague continue the Prague Chronicle .

For that time Johann reached a high age. After his death he was buried near the New Year's Eve altar donated by his family in St. Vitus Cathedral.

literature

• Zdeňka Hledíková : Art. Johann von Drazice (around 1250–1343). 1301–1318 Bishop of Prague. 1318–1329 suspended bishop of Prague. 1329–1343 Bishop of Prague . In: Erwin Gatz (ed.), Clemens Brodkorb (collaborator): The bishops of the Holy Roman Empire 1198 to 1448. A biographical lexicon. Volume I, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-428-08422-5 , pp. 585-587.
• Václav Chaloupecký : Jan IV. Z Dražic, poslední biskup pražský . Magazine Společnosti přátel starožitností českých 16, 1908.

Web links

• Literature and other media by and about John IV of Dražice in the catalog of the National Library of the Czech Republic

predecessor	Office	successor
Gregor von Waldeck	Bishop of Prague 1301–1343	Ernst von Pardubitz