Leonhard von Götz

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Bishop Leonhard von Götz
Bishop Leonhard von Götz, with coat of arms
The founding of the Catholic League with the help of Leonhard Götz, Munich, 1609, painting by Carl Theodor von Piloty

Leonhard von Götz (* around 1561 in Feldkirch , Vorarlberg ; † November 28, 1640 in Graz ) was Bishop of Lavant as Leonhard II .

Leonhard Götz was born as the son of middle-class parents in Feldkirch, married and had a son named Heinrich and a daughter named Barbara († 1628, married to Johann Leonhard Clario) with his wife. He was a doctor of both rights; from 1604 to 1606 he served as the bishop of Augsburg court chancellor and "governor" of the University of Dillingen . Eventually he became episcopal court chancellor in Constance in which capacity he participated in the Munich conference for the establishment of the Catholic League in July 1609 . Then he entered the service of the Austrian Archduke Ferdinand (later Emperor Ferdinand II) as a privy councilor and vice-chancellor . In 1617 he was promoted to royal Bohemian and in 1618 royal Hungarian privy councilor. In addition, he already held a canon of Constance and Augsburg .

At Ferdinand's suggestion, the Archbishop of Salzburg, Markus Sittikus von Hohenems, appointed the widowed Götz as Georg Stobäus von Palmburg's successor as Bishop von Lavant while he was still alive . In his justification, the monarch u. a. to, Leonhard Götz is striving for the priesthood and already has a canonical in Augsburg. On January 21, 1619 he was appointed bishop, the papal confirmation followed on March 2. Since Leonhard Götz was still in the service of Emperor Ferdinand, he was consecrated as bishop in Graz on July 12, 1620. He was consecrated by the Prince-Bishop of Seckau , Jakob Eberlein von Rottenbach .

On September 6, 1620, Götz became governor of Inner Austria, which he remained until August 26, 1630. After the death of Laibach bishop Thomas Chrön in 1630, Emperor Ferdinand proposed Götz as his successor, but the archbishop refused to give his consent.

In 1625 and 1638 Götz became a member of a reform commission in Carinthia, which was supposed to track down secret Protestants and above all in Klagenfurt to check all clergymen and officials for their Catholic faith. The commission also looked for Protestant books and watched over the observance of the fasting order. In addition, the prelate encouraged the settlement of Capuchins in Wolfsberg and Villach .

Bishop Götz died in Graz in 1640. He was first buried in the church of St. Florian and later transferred to the cathedral church of St. Andrä .

The contemporary Caspar Schoppe (1576–1649) described Leonhard von Götz as "a man of the highest ability, cleverness and eloquence" .

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Georg Wieland: Biberacher craftsmen in Venice. Aspects of the will of the Venetian baker Christoph Wattenlech from Biberach an der Riss (1598/99). In: Commission for historical regional studies in Baden-Württemberg, Württembergischer Geschichts- und Altertumsverein Stuttgart (Hrsg.): Festschrift for Hansmartin Decker-Hauff on the 65th birthday (= magazine for Württembergische Landesgeschichte . Vol. 41, 1982). Volume 2. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1982, pp. 75-103, here p. 77.
  2. ^ Anton Kreuzer: Carinthian. Biographical sketches. 13-20 Century. 2000, p. 30.
  3. ↑ Helmut Maurer : The dioceses of the ecclesiastical province of Mainz. The diocese of Constance. Volume 1: The St. Stephan Abbey in Constance (= Germania Sacra . NF Vol. 15). de Gruyter, Berlin et al. 1981, ISBN 3-11-008386-8 , p. 380.
  4. ^ Walter Brunner : Sparbersbach - Hallerschloß. History of a noble seat in Graz. In: Historical yearbook of the city of Graz. Vol. 32, 2002, ISSN  0440-9728 , pp. 163-260, here p. 194.
  5. ^ Wilhelm Weiß: Chronicle of Dillingen in the administrative districts of Swabia and Neuburg of the Kingdom of Bavaria. Kränzle, Dillingen 1861, p. 231 .
  6. ↑ Peter Philipp Wolf : History of Maximilian I and his time. Volume 2. Joseph Lindauer, Munich 1807, p. 444 .
  7. ^ Franziska Neuer-Landfried: The Catholic League. Establishment, re-establishment and organization of a special association 1608–1620 (= Munich historical studies. Department of Bavarian History. 9). Laßleben, Kallmünz 1968, (at the same time: Mainz, university, dissertation, 1966).
  8. ^ Anton Kreuzer: Carinthian. Biographical sketches. 13-20 Century. 2000, p. 31.
  9. ↑ To Prince-Bishop Jakob Eberlein von Rottenbach: Carl Schmutz : Historisch Topographisches Lexicon von Steyermark. Part 3: N - Se. Kienreich, Graz 1822, p. 572 .
  10. ^ Helmut-Theobald Müller (ed.): History and topography of the Deutschlandsberg district. Volume 2: Bezirkslexikon (= Great historical regional studies of Styria. 3, 2). Steiermärkisches Landesarchiv et al., Graz et al. 2005, ISBN 3-901938-15-X , p. 135.
  11. ↑ On the assessment by Caspar Schoppe: Kaspar Schoppe: Autobiographical texts and letters. Volume 1: Philotheca Scioppiana. An early modern autobiography 1576–1630 (= Bavarian Scholar Correspondence. 2, 1, 1). Volume 1. In collaboration with Ursula Jaitner-Hahner and Johann Ramminger edited by Klaus Jaitner. Beck, Munich 2004, ISBN 3-406-10651-X , pp. 68 and 327 .
personal data
SURNAME Götz, Leonhard von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Bishop of Lavant
DATE OF BIRTH around 1561
PLACE OF BIRTH Feldkirch
DATE OF DEATH November 28, 1640
Place of death Graz