Melchior Zobel from Giebelstadt

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Melchior Zobel von Giebelstadt medal ( Joachim Deschler , 1551)
Melchior Zobel's tomb in the nave of the Würzburg Cathedral
Coat of arms of the von Zobel family according to Siebmacher's book of arms

Melchior Zobel von Giebelstadt (born September 18, 1505 in Giebelstadt , † April 15, 1558 in Würzburg ) was Prince-Bishop of Würzburg from 1544 until his assassination in 1558 .

Parentage and first years

Melchior Zobel von Giebelstadt came from the Franconian, imperial-free noble family of the Zobel zu Giebelstadt (see also list of Franconian knight families ). The reference place Giebelstadt for this baronial branch of the family is today a market in the Lower Franconian district of Würzburg . Another important figure in this family was Johann Georg I. Zobel von Giebelstadt . There were only 20 years between the reign of Melchior in Würzburg and Johann Georg as Prince-Bishop of Bamberg (1577–1580). Other church dignitaries also came from the family, e. B. the Würzburg canon Philipp Franz Johann Adolf Christoph Friedrich Zobel von Giebelstadt or Ferdinand Zobel von Giebelstadt (see Kloster Holzkirchen ).

His father was Georg Zobel and his mother Dorothea Rüdt von Collenberg . You also know his brothers Christoph († 1539) and Georg. As was common with many influential families of the time, he was appointed to the ministry as a later-born son. On January 27, 1521, he became domiciliary in Würzburg and began studying at the University of Wittenberg in the summer semester of 1521 . In doing so he could have got to know the developing Wittenberg movement , but initially stuck to the scholasticism of the time. In the winter semester of 1521 he continued his studies at the University of Leipzig , became canon in Würzburg in 1522, was one of the defenders of the Marienberg Fortress in 1525 , was elected dean of Würzburg Cathedral on March 6, 1540 and received the necessary staff on April 16 Ordination.

In the election on July 1, 1540 he sought in vain for the office of bishop, in 1541 he was verifiably vicar general, judge at the basement court of the cathedral chapter and in 1543 wanted to renounce his deanery at the Würzburg cathedral because of the conditions in the cathedral chapter. However, on August 19, 1544, he was elected Bishop of Würzburg by the Würzburg Cathedral Chapter. Therefore, on August 22, he informed Emperor Charles V of the election, had the papal confirmation in office by a delegation from the cathedral monastery on October 27 of the same year and was appointed to his office on August 23, 1545. As one of his first official acts, he revised his predecessor's donation of 10,000  florins to Wilhelm von Grumbach , who resigned from the Marshal's office in 1545.

Activities during his tenure

Lorenz Fries, a long-serving member of his predecessors, was one of his advisory staff .

Letter from Charles V to Melchior Zobel von Giebelstadt, with orders for compliance with the interim by his estates

At the Augsburg Reichstag in 1547/48 he was initially one of the declared critics of the Augsburg Interim , which earned him and six other clergy princes and prelates a sharp, personal reprimand from Emperor Charles V at an audience on April 9, 1548 . Already on April 15, long before the majority of the Catholic imperial estates, which only gave in when Charles V announced that the interim would only be binding for the Protestant imperial estates, the clergy warned in this way declared their submission to the emperor. Despite the limited validity of the interim, which was promulgated as an imperial law on June 30, 1548 , which excluded all Catholic imperial estates, the Würzburg bishop was nevertheless urged in July and then again in October 1548 by the emperor in unmistakable terms to comply with the interim to take care of all estates under his jurisdiction , which, however, as almost everywhere in the empire, had little effect in practice.

A medical ordinance relating to pharmacists and doctors, first enacted in Würzburg in 1502 by Lorenz von Bibra , was updated under Melchior and the basic positions contained therein in 1549.

The bishop had heated arguments with Friedrich Bernbeck (1511–1570), mayor and designer of the Reformation in Kitzingen . Melchior Zobel of Giebelstadt tried in 1556, a first Jesuits - College to bring in his diocese, but the order could not yet provide sufficient staff for it.

Victim of a feud

Non-contemporary portrait of Wilhelm von Grumbach (19th century)

Shortly before his death, Zobel's predecessor as Prince-Bishop, Konrad III. von Bibra handed over a personal gift of 10,000 gold florins to Wilhelm von Grumbach without obtaining the consent of the cathedral chapter . After Konrad's death, Zobel asked Grumbach to remove boundary stones in the Gramschatzer Forest , which the latter had illegally and for his benefit, in order to regain his alleged property. Grumbach also demanded 8,000 guilders from the bishop, which Konrad Grumbach's wife had bequeathed in his will. In return, Zobel tried to reclaim the money and an additional 10,000 guilders (a donation from Konrad to Philipp von Grumbach without consent) from Grumbach. Grumbach initially paid 3,000 guilders, but the harmonious relationships between lord and vassal were destroyed, which is why Grumbach left Würzburg. After litigation before Reichshofrat it came to the escalation , as Albrecht Alcibiades of Brandenburg-Kulmbach in July 1553 after his defeat in the battle of sievershausen , with the imperial ban has fled to France. Zobel took advantage of this to seize Grumbach's lands. In order to strengthen his position and enforce the return of his possessions, Wilhelm von Grumbach tried to seize Melchior Zobels von Giebelstadt. The knight and his servant and his closest confidante Kretzer pulled three times against the bishop, twice in vain. In the third assassination attempt in April 1558, Zobel and his court lords Fuchs von Winfurt and Carl von Wenkheim were killed. The killers escaped. Grumbach protested his innocence, but nobody believed him, and he fled to France like Albrecht Alcibiades, who was also involved in the feud. Friedrich von Wirsberg , as the newly appointed Bishop of Würzburg, took on the persecution of the perpetrators with great energy. Kretzer was caught on the French border, but hanged himself before he could be tried. Grumbach himself was tried much later and after countless other wrongdoings (main article: Grumbachsche Handel ); he was quartered in April 1567 on the market square in Gotha .

Melchior Zobel received his Kiliansdom in Würzburg, probably from Peter Dell the Elder. J. created tomb.

literature

Web links

Commons : Melchior Zobel  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ^ Paul Eber : Calendarium historicum. Wittenberg 1550 u. ö.
  2. ↑ Amtmann zu Jagstberg (Council Chronicle of the City of Würzburg, QFW 2 p. 69 No. 209)
  3. ↑ Publ. In Continuous Collection of Old and New Theological Matters, Leipzig 1732, pp. 695-697, "Kaysers Caroli V. Inquiry whether the interim has been introduced to the Bishop of Würtzburg"
  4. ^ Horst Rabe: Reichsbund and Interim , Cologne / Vienna 1971, p. 438.
  5. ↑ Horst Rabe: Reichsbund and Interim , Cologne / Vienna 1971, p. 441.
  6. ↑ Horst Rabe: Reichsbund and Interim , Cologne / Vienna 1971, p. 440.
  7. ↑ Christoph Bauer: Melchior Zobel von Giebelstadt, Prince-Bishop of Würzburg (1544–1558). Diocese and Hochstift in the crisis , (Reformation History Studies and Texts, Vol. 139), Münster, 1998. ISBN 978-3-402-03803-1 , p. 159 f.
  8. ^ Alfred Wendehorst: The dioceses of the ecclesiastical province of Mainz . The Diocese of Würzburg. Germania Sacra Vol. 13, Part III, The Bishops Series from 1455 to 1617, Berlin 1978, ISBN 978-3-11-007475-8 , p. 125.
  9. ^ Peter Kolb: The hospital and health system. In: Ulrich Wagner (Hrsg.): History of the city of Würzburg. 4 volumes, Volume I-III / 2 (I: From the beginnings to the outbreak of the Peasant War. 2001, ISBN 3-8062-1465-4 ; II: From the Peasant War 1525 to the transition to the Kingdom of Bavaria 1814. 2004, ISBN 3 -8062-1477-8 ; III / 1–2: From the transition to Bavaria to the 21st century. 2007, ISBN 978-3-8062-1478-9 ), Theiss, Stuttgart 2001–2007, Volume 1, 2001, p 386-409 and 647-653, here: p. 405.
  10. ↑ Dieter Schnabel: Ritter Wilhelm von Grumbach , URANIA Culture and Education Association Gotha eV, 2012
  11. ↑ Stefan Kummer : Architecture and fine arts from the beginnings of the Renaissance to the end of the Baroque. In: Ulrich Wagner (Hrsg.): History of the city of Würzburg. 4 volumes; Volume 2: From the Peasants' War in 1525 to the transition to the Kingdom of Bavaria in 1814. Theiss, Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 3-8062-1477-8 , pp. 576–678 and 942–952, here: p. 582.
predecessor Office successor
Conrad III. from Bibra Prince-Bishop of Würzburg
1544–1558 		Friedrich von Wirsberg
personal data
SURNAME Sable from Giebelstadt, Melchior
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Prince-Bishop of Würzburg
DATE OF BIRTH September 18, 1505
PLACE OF BIRTH Gable City
DATE OF DEATH April 15, 1558
Place of death Wurzburg