Johann Otto von Gemmingen

Johann Otto von Gemmingen, Prince-Bishop of Augsburg

Coat of arms of Bishop Johann Otto von Gemmingen

Johann Otto von Gemmingen (born October 23, 1545 in Mühlhausen ad Würm , † October 6, 1598 in Dillingen an der Donau ) comes from the Steinegg line of the Swabian noble family of the Lords of Gemmingen . He was prince-bishop in Augsburg .

Life

Johann Otto was born as the fourth of 13 children of Hans Dietrich von Gemmingen and his wife Magdalena, née Mundbrod (Muntpratt) von Spiegelberg. He probably spent a few years of his childhood in Weinfelden , which his father had acquired from Mundpratt in 1551 and sold to Fugger in 1555 . He probably spent his studies in Italy and from 1565 at the University of Ingolstadt . In 1565 he received a cathedral canonical in Augsburg and in 1568 in Eichstätt . In 1580 he was promoted to cathedral dean in Augsburg and was ordained a priest a year later. In 1590 the Eichstätter cathedral chapter elected him bishop of Eichstätt, but Johann Otto refused because he wanted to stay in Augsburg.

In 1591 he became Prince-Bishop in Augsburg (election on March 21, consecration on August 25 in Dillingen an der Donau). During his tenure in office he tried relentlessly to consolidate the Roman Catholic religion in his sphere of influence and issued numerous new ordinances for this purpose. He introduced the Catechism of Canisius into the schools in his sphere of influence. He also called the Jesuits to his prince-bishopric and introduced a new system of punishment, in which the clergy were especially recommended to catechize . He set up and financed many charitable foundations.

During his reign, the cathedral church was beautified and enlarged to include the Jakobiskapelle. The family chronicle reports that he tried to raise his nephews to be loyal servants of the Church and capable fighters against the hereditary enemy. In particular with his nephew, the later Prince-Bishop of Eichstätt Johann Konrad von Gemmingen , he had an influence on the education and promoted him significantly. He died in Augsburg in 1598 and was buried in the Jakobiskapelle. He used the wealth he left behind for schools, hospitals and churches.

literature

• Placidus Braun: History of the bishops of Augsburg . 4th volume, Augsburg 1815
• Carl Wilhelm Friedrich Ludwig Stocker : Family Chronicle of the Barons of Gemmingen , Heidelberg 1895, p. 340/341.
• Erwin Gatz (ed.), With the assistance of Clemens Brodkorb: The Bishops of the Holy Roman Empire 1448 to 1648. A biographical lexicon. Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1996, ISBN 3-428-08422-5 , pp. 216f.

Web links

Commons : Johann Otto von Gemmingen  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

predecessor	Office	successor
Marquard II from the mountain	Bishop of Augsburg 1591 - 1598	Heinrich V of Knöringen