Johann von Naves

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John of Naves (also Jean Naves de Messancy ) (* to 1500 at Marville , † 20th February 1547 in Ulm ) was under Charles V Imperial Vice-Chancellor . Although he himself remained Catholic until his death, he also recognized Protestantism and was thus a balancing factor in imperial politics.

Ascent

He came from a noble Luxembourg family. Little is known about family and early years. According to his own statements, he studied, probably in Mainz . In 1524 he was in Strasbourg . There he came into contact with Protestant circles. He entered the service of Luxembourg as an administrative officer. Between 1525 and 1529 he was responsible for internal affairs in the country as a Greffier. He was also entrusted with assignments at the Imperial Court of Justice on behalf of the governor of the Netherlands Queen Maria of Hungary . He married Madeleine von Schauenburg in 1530.

In 1538 he was first sent to Philip of Hesse as a diplomat . A short time later he was sent on a second mission to Hesse on behalf of the government of the Spanish Netherlands in Brussels. However, to move Philip to a somewhat independent policy towards the Schmalkaldic League failed. Nevertheless, these missions were important later, as he got to know the leaders of Protestant Germany. For this, Naves became one of the most important brokers in Vienna.

Naves was appointed administrator of the Marville provost in 1539. From 1540 he entered the service of Emperor Charles V in full. Initially, he served as an assistant to the French diplomat Nicolas Perrenot de Granvelle during the religious talks in Haguenau and Worms .

Reich Vice Chancellor

Initially as an interpreter, Naves was present at the Reichstag in Regensburg. On April 5, 1541, he read alongside Friedrich von der Pfalz for the imperial side the proposal of the Reichstag. Without being formally appointed, he thus exercised the function of Reich Vice Chancellor. He became Matthias Held's successor . In the run-up to the Regensburg Declaration of July 13, 1541, he argued for the establishment of a city union under imperial leadership. This was intended as a counterweight to the territorial princes. By integrating Protestant imperial cities, the Schmalkaldic League was to be smashed. Naves was unable to implement this idea. He also pursued the idea of ​​an imperial covenant on the following diets.

During the Reichstag between 1542 and 1546, Naves worked as an imperial representative (Reichstag commissioner or councilor). Together with King Ferdinand , he succeeded in persuading the most important imperial estates to send their envoys to the Diet of Speyer in 1542 . The attempt of the French king to split the estates failed mainly because of the threat to the empire from the Ottomans. Naves wrote a memorandum which invalidated the allegations on the French side. This writing earned him recognition of the imperial estates.

In 1543 Naves welcomed Emperor Charles V on his arrival in Genoa and stayed close to him during the war against the Duchy of Cleves . In November 1545, on behalf of the emperor, he oversaw the election of a new archbishop and elector of Mainz , from which Sebastian von Heusenstamm emerged as the winner. He also traveled several times in 1545 and 1546 on behalf of the emperor as a diplomat to various imperial princes. For example, he was supposed to dissuade the Cologne elector and Archbishop Hermann von Wied , who was inclined to Protestantism, from his church reforms and rapprochement with the Schmalkaldic League. In 1546 he succeeded in mediating a meeting between Philip of Hesse and the emperor. When Friedrich von der Pfalz openly confessed to Protestantism, Neves managed to persuade the Elector to be neutral in the Schmalkaldic War . After the imperial victory, he was engaged in negotiations for submission to the emperor.

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