Konrad von Oels

Konrad von Oels (also: Konrad IV. Von Oels ; Konrad IV. "Senior" , * 1384 in Oels ; † August 9, 1447 in Jeltsch ) was Duke of Oels and Bernstadt , Prince-Bishop of Breslau and the first governor of Silesia .

Life

Konrad's parents were the Oelser Duke Konrad III of the same name . and Jutta / Gutha († 1418/19), whose origin is unknown. Konrad was the oldest of five brothers, all of whom were baptized with the first name Konrad, which is why they are referred to by individual surnames to distinguish them.

Konrad "Senior" was mentioned as a cleric of the diocese of Breslau as early as 1399 , in 1410 he belonged to the cathedral chapter, a year later he rose to the dean of the cathedral and at the same time held the office of papal notary. In 1411 he and his father were involved in bringing about the First Peace of Thorn . After his father's death in 1412, he took over the guardianship of his brothers who were not yet of legal age as well as the government of the duchies of Oels and Cosel , whereby the duchy of Bernstadt was spun off for him . Even after the division of the paternal inheritance in 1416, the brothers managed some of their territories jointly.

After the resignation of Bishop Wenzel von Liegnitz , Konrad was elected Bishop of Breslau with the support of the Roman-German King Sigismund . Pope Martin V confirmed the election on December 17, 1417, the episcopal ordination took place on January 22, 1418 by Auxiliary Bishop Johann Tylmann Wessel in Ottmachau . In 1419 he pledged the Kanth inherited from his father to the Breslau cathedral chapter.

In the fight against the Hussites , Konrad was decidedly on the side of Sigismund, who was now also King of Bohemia. Since the Breslau Reichstag of 1420, Konrad organized the resistance against the Hussites. In 1421 he occupied the Braunau land with episcopal mercenaries , which he was able to defend for a few years. Probably for this reason Sigismund appointed him the first Silesian governor in 1422.

In the following years large parts of Silesia and the diocese were devastated by the Hussites. The monasteries in Grüssau , Kamenz , Wartha and Frankenstein were destroyed. In 1428 the Hussites took Ottmachau, where they looted and burned large parts of the city and looted the valuables brought there on the orders of Konrad. After negotiations with Konrad and payment of 1000 shock Bohemian groschen , they vacated the city in 1435. The demolition of the episcopal castle demanded by the Hussites was forbidden by Emperor Sigismund. Despite these defeats, Konrad was elected as “Federal Governor” as its spokesman in 1435 by the Princely Association, which came about at the suggestion of Emperor Sigismund to protect the peace . In 1443 the Hussites again occupied Ottmachau Castle, which Konrad was able to redeem in 1444 after paying 2000 gold guilders.

In addition to religious zeal, national antipathies probably also played a role in Konrad. When in 1427 the bishop of Gniezno wanted to extend a visit to the diocese of Breslau, Konrad decided not to. In 1435 he issued a statute that stipulated that in future benefices and clerical offices in his diocese should only be given to born Silesians and other applicants should only be considered if they had a degree in theology or canon law . After Sigismund's death in 1437, Konrad supported the candidacy of Duke Albrechts of Austria against Polish ambitions for the Bohemian royal throne. Subsequently, Polish mercenaries who wanted to enforce their candidate ravaged the diocese land several times. Probably because of his anti-Polish attitude, the Krakow chronicler Jan Długosz drew a negative personality image of him.

The diocese was financially ruined by the Hussite Wars and the associated devastation. After the cathedral chapter unsuccessfully requested access to the indulgences that cathedral provost Nikolaus Gramis had collected, Konrad was urged to resign from his bishopric. At the same time, he was guaranteed a respectable annual salary.

Since no successor could be found for the fallen diocese, Pope Eugene IV ordered the previous bishop Konrad with a bull of July 21, 1445 to take over the leadership of the diocese again. Although the cathedral chapter protested violently against the reinstatement, Konrad held a diocesan synod on May 27, 1446 , but died a year later at Jeltsch Castle. His body was buried in the Breslau Cathedral.

literature

• Josef Joachim Menzel:  Conrad IV., Duke of Oels. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 12, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1980, ISBN 3-428-00193-1 , p. 502 f. ( Digitized version ).
• Colmar Grünhagen :  Konrad, Bishop of Breslau . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 16, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1882, pp. 572-576.
• Jan Copyc : Art. Konrad von Oels (1388–1447). 1417–1446 bishop of Breslau . In: Erwin Gatz (Ed.): The Bishops of the Holy Roman Empire . Vol. 1: 1198-1448 . Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-428-10303-3 , p. 113.
• Hugo Weczerka (Hrsg.): Handbook of the historical places . Volume: Silesia (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 316). Kröner, Stuttgart 1977, ISBN 3-520-31601-3 , pp. XLVIII, 216 and 389 and family tree on pp. 594–595.
• Gerhard Scheuermann: The Breslau Lexicon in two volumes . Laumann-Verlag Dülmen 1994, ISBN 3-87466-157-1 , pp. 823-824.

predecessor	Office	successor
Wenceslas of Liegnitz	Prince-Bishop of Breslau 1417–1447	Peter II. Nowag