Matthew Schiner

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Cardinal Matthäus Schiner

Matthäus Schiner (* around 1465 in Mühlebach near Ernen ; † October 1, 1522 in Rome ) was Bishop of Sion , Cardinal , Papabile and co-author of the Edict of Worms . He acquired large parts of what is now Ticino for Switzerland , was an advisor to Emperor Charles V and the architect of the special papal-Swiss alliance from which the Swiss Guard emerged, and bore massive joint responsibility for the battle of Marignano , which gave Switzerland its temporary position of great power lost.

Life

Promotion to Bishop of Sion

His exact date of birth is not known. He was born around 1465 in Mühlebach near Ernen as the son of the farmer and carpenter Peter Schiner and Katharina Zmitweg.

He was ordained a priest on April 21, 1489 in Rome after studying at the cathedral school in Sion and Como . In 1496 he became pastor and chaplain of Ernen and in 1492 secretary to the people's leader Jörg auf der Flüe ( Georg Supersaxo ), his protector and later bitter political opponent. Schiner took part in the deposition of the unpopular Sion Prince-Bishop Jost von Silenen (1482-1496), who appeared as governor of France in the Valais. To this end, he tolerated or supported the otherwise condemned Valais form of popular uprising, the matzo .

On September 20, 1498 Schiner was by Pope Alexander VI. appointed bishop and received on October 13, 1499 the diocese of Sion . On December 6, 1499, the Valais district administrator , presided over by Georg Majoris , accepted Schiner's papal appointment as Bishop of Sitten. Due to the geographical location of the Valais pass country and France's Italian policy, Schiner soon gained a key political position and, as a skilled diplomat and military leader, confidently intervened in European politics. Schiner opposed the French with all his might. In the Peace of Arona (1503) he secured Switzerland's possession of the Bellinzonese and the Blenio Valley .

Promotion to cardinal and papal legate

Cardinal Matthäus Schiner

He motivated the confederates to form an alliance with Pope Julius II and thus indirectly became the obstetrician of the papal Swiss Guard. With the help of the confederates succeeded in two battles, 1512 at Pavia and 1513 at Novara , the French under King Louis XII. ousting from Italy. For this act, Pope Schiner bestowed the honorary title “Liberator of Italy and protector of the Church”. On September 22, 1511, Julius II, who was already ill, made him Cardinal of Santa Pudentiana and provost of Würzburg and papal legate. Between 1512 and 1517 he also led the Diocese of Novara in Italy. He is said to have considered connecting Milan and Genoa to Switzerland and considered it possible.

However, after the defeat in the Battle of Marignano in 1515, in which Schiner had led the Pope's Swiss mercenary troops without sufficient political security, he had to bury his plans. He fell victim to the policy of reconciliation between Pope Leo X (1513–1521) and France and now tried, as envoy from Emperor Maximilian, to draw the English King Henry VIII into an alliance against France. In 1517, his former political foster father Jörg auf der Flüe (now in a relationship with the French) prevented him from returning to his diocese in Sion and forced him to flee. Schiner then settled in Zurich , but remained influential. Thanks in part to his influence, Maximilian's grandson Charles I of Spain was elected Emperor Charles V , and not Francis I of France . Schiner immediately made himself available to Charles V as a consultant. In 1521, at his instigation, on an imperial order against the Swiss mercenaries, who had turned to the French side, Milan was recaptured in the Battle of Bicocca , which sealed the win of Milan for Habsburg and at the same time the end of the Swiss dreams of great power in northern Italy.

Erasmians and Papabile

Schiner was devoted to humanistic ideas and was friends with Erasmus von Rotterdam and Huldrych Zwingli . Convinced of the need for reform in the Church, Schiner firmly refused to break with Rome. In 1521 he was therefore one of the most influential opponents of Martin Luther and was co-author of the Edict of Worms .

In the election of the Pope after Leo X's death in 1522, he received a significant number of votes. However, due to the resistance on the part of the cardinals loyal to France, Schiner was not elected Pope. They agreed on the compromise candidate Hadrian VI proposed by Schiner and Cardinal Cajetan . Schiner died of the plague in Rome on October 1, 1522 and was buried in the church of Santa Maria dell'Anima . His tomb apparently fell victim to the Sacco di Roma , because there is no trace of it left.

Appreciation

Schiner was regarded as a church politician endowed with brilliant gifts of the spirit, who thought on a large scale, made European politics and rose to the highest offices in a steep career. He is commonly counted among the very great and honorable churchmen. He recognized the need for reform in the church, but the Reformation of both Luther and Zwingli went too far for him. Francis I , whose grave in the Saint-Denis basilica is adorned with a relief image of the Battle of Marignano , showing Schiner on horseback amid the Swiss mercenaries, characterized him with the words:

"Rude homme que ce Schiner, dont la parole m'a fait plus de mal que toutes les lances de ses montagnards."

"A rough block like this carpenter, whose words hurt me more than all the lances of his mountain men."

literature

Web links

Commons : Matthäus Schiner  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
  • Tomb in the Requiem project
predecessor Office successor
Nicolas Schiner Bishop of Sitten
1499–1522 		Philipp Platten
personal data
SURNAME Schiner, Matthew
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Schinner, Matthäus; Schiner, Matteo
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Bishop of Mores and Cardinal
DATE OF BIRTH around 1465
PLACE OF BIRTH Mühlebach VS
DATE OF DEATH October 1, 1522
Place of death Rome