Melchior of Braunschweig-Grubenhagen

Melchior von Braunschweig-Grubenhagen (* 1341 ; † June 6, 1381 ) was bishop of Osnabrück from 1369 to 1375 and bishop of Schwerin from 1376 to 1381 .

Life

Melchior von Braunschweig-Grubenhagen came from the house of the Guelphs and was the youngest son of Duke Heinrich II. De Graecia of Braunschweig-Grubenhagen and his second wife Heilwig, a daughter of the Lusignan royal family of Jerusalem and Cyprus.

Little is known about his early life. He was a canon in the diocese of Hildesheim. In 1358 he is also mentioned as a canon with benefices from St. Otto in Stettin . On September 30, 1358, Pope Innocent VI provided the very young Duke Melchior with a canon in Mainz. Melchior is said to have been 17 years old at the time.

After the death of Bishop Johann II Hut there was an almost three-year vacancy in Osnabrück . On the succession of the pin vicar Dietrich von der Mark , the could Domkapitel not a majority agree. Finally, Bernhard von Schaumburg was elected. The Pope did not recognize this choice. Therefore, the spiritual affairs of a vicar in Spritualibus and the worldly business continued to be carried out successfully by Dietrich von der Mark. The curia finally appointed Duke Melchior von Grubenhagen as bishop .

He arrived in the bishopric in 1369 and took the inaugural oath before the chapter on July 18, 1369, he was about 28 years old. He swore the old rights. First, he concluded a two-year country peace with the Bishop of Minden Wittekind II von Schalksberg , the city of Minden and the county of Hoya . Dietrich von der Mark also seems to have left the castles to him. At least this is the case with the Iburg . Dietrich did not prevent him from doing other things either, but he and his supporters filed a claim for compensation. In order to be able to make these payments, the clergy had to pay tithe of their income. Since this was not enough, the bishop pawned various castles and properties. Among them was the Gogericht Grönenberg with at least 16 parishes. Most of these were permanently lost to the County of Ravensberg . The Iburg with the town of the same name and six other parishes was pledged to the Count of Tecklenburg . Melchior von Grubenhagen supported the Bishop of Munster Florence von Wevelinghoven in combating his rebel servants. He was involved in the siege of Dinklage Castle in 1371. He joined the great Westphalian country peace. Because of various disputes, the Count of Hoya marched into the bishopric of Osnabrück . The city of Osnabrück refused to take part in military countermeasures. Eventually his last knights abandoned him during a battle and Melchior was taken prisoner. As a result, lawless conditions broke out in the monastery. The negotiations on a release proved difficult. Melchior was unable to raise the required sum of 10,000 guilders. He recommended that Dietrich von der Mark be appointed administrator of the pen again. He finally took over the office again.

Melchior von Grubenhagen went to the papal court in Avignon to litigate against the disenfranchisement. Pope Gregory XI. put an end to the mess quickly. Melchior von Grubenhagen was transferred to Schwerin on October 17, 1375.

Nothing is known of receiving episcopal ordination. The assumption of the new office did not go smoothly either. The Schwerin cathedral chapter had already elected the provost of the Premonstratensian monastery Rehna Marquard Bermann as the new bishop. Bishop Melchior initially withdrew to the Pomeranian diocese and tried from there to lead the diocese of Schwerin that had been transferred to him. This only succeeded very gradually with the support of Emperor Karl IV. On July 17, 1376, we find him in Barth and after a long dispute he is threatened with a settlement with the dukes Albrecht, Heinrich and Magnus of Mecklenburg because of the possession of the episcopal castles of Sülze and Eikhof. Bishop Melchior was not happy with what had been achieved , and soon there were disputes between the cathedral chapter and the dukes Heinrich and Magnus of Mecklenburg due to the violent deprivation of other monasteries in the city of Brüel and in the town of Jürgenshagen . From 1377 onwards, after an agreement with Duke Albrecht, Melchior was generally recognized in Tangermünde on April 10th and personally documented it in Bützow.

The bishop got along well with his chapter, but is said to have been extremely unpopular because of his immoral conduct. Only 40 years old, Bishop Melchior died on June 6, 1384 in Bützow. Poison was given as the cause of death, the effect of which was intensified by alcohol and strawberries. His tombstone in the Bützow collegiate church has been lost. The inscription reads: In the year of Lord 1381 Frytag after Pentecost or the other day after St. Bonifacii, the Venerable Father in Christ, Herr Melchior, Hertzog zu Braunschweig and Bishop of Schwerin, died and is buried all there; pray for him.

After his death, Potho von Pothenstein was appointed as his successor by the Pope. The Schwerin cathedral chapter, however, elected Johann IV. Junge as (counter) bishop.

seal

Two different seals are known from Bishop Melchior from his term of office in Schwerin .

A large elliptical seal. In a narrow niche with a rounded crown, without a Gothic pediment, a bishop sits with his right hand raised and a staff in his left hand; on the right, half in the open field, half in the space of the inscription stands the episcopal shield with two bishop's staffs, on the left a shield with two lions one above the other.

The inscription reads: +… ChIORIS DEI GRA ... ENSIS ET D 'UC' BRUSWICENSIS

A small, round seal. On this, in a large three-leaf rosette, is a multiple-split shield, in each of which there are two and two opposing fields on two of the bishop's family coat of arms (two lions one below the other), on two of which there is the episcopal Schwerin's coat of arms.

The inscription reads: S MELChORIS EPI ZWERINEN

Two seals are also known from the Osnabrück tenure.

image

Two pictures of Bishop Melchior are known from his office in Osnabrück. However, these are not contemporary.

A picture of the bishop hangs in the knight's hall of the palace and Benedictine abbey in Iburg . It shows him in knight armor with a pectoral cross, wrapped in a white cloak (cape), which could also be a cope. He is holding a staff in his right hand and the bishop's ring can be seen on his finger. The left touches a white miter held by a cleric. The accompanying inscription identifies the sitter and also mentions the translation to Schwerin.

The second picture of him is said to be in Berger's Bishop's Book, which is in the possession of the Osnabrück City Museum.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Occupation of the German bishoprics (PDF; 289 kB)
2. ^ Monthly papers of the Society for Pomeranian History and Antiquity No. 3, 1903, pp. 39–40.
3. ↑ Handbook of the Diocese of Osnabrück. 1968, 9, No. 40.
4. ^ Gerhard Müller-Alpermann: Status and origin of the bishops of the Magdeburg and Hamburg church provinces in the Middle Ages. Prenzlau 1930, p. 90.
5. ↑ MUB XIX (1899) No. 11011.
6. ↑ MUB XIX (1899) No. 11039.
7. ↑ MJB XXIII. (1858) pp. 145-146.
8. ^ The Westphalian seals of the Middle Ages, II. Booklet, I. Department: The seals of the bishops. Münster 1885, plate 56.
9. ^ Georg Berger: Contrafactur of the Osnabrück bishops . 1607.

Web links

• Literature about Melchior von Braunschweig-Grubenhagen in the state bibliography MV

Literature and Sources

literature

• Johann Karl Bertram Stüve : History of the Hochstift Osnabrück. Vol. 1. Osnabrück, 1853 pp. 233-251
• Friedrich Wilhelm Ebeling: The German bishops until the end of the sixteenth century. Vol. 2 Leipzig, 1858 p. 342, p. 433.
• Alfred Rische: Directory of the bishops and canons of Schwerin with biographical remarks. Ludwigslust 1900.
• Josef Traeger : The Bishops of the Diocese of Schwerin. In: The Stiftsland of the Schwerin bishops around Bützow and Warin. St. Benno Verlag Leipzig 1984, p. 94.
• Friedrich Lisch : About the death of the Schwerin bishop Melchior, Duke of Braunschweig . In: Mecklenburgische Jahrbücher , Volume XXIII (1858) pp. 145–146.
• Josef Traeger: The bishops of the medieval diocese of Schwerin . St. Benno Verlag Leipzig 1984, pp. 108-112.
• Marhit Kaluza-Baumruker: The Schwerin Cathedral Chapter (1171–1400). Cologne, Vienna 1987.
• Clemens Brodkorb: Melchior, Duke of Braunschweig-Grubenhagen . In: 1198-1448 (2001) pp. 709-710.
• Andreas Röpcke : Wismarer on the Schwerin bishop's chair. In: Wismar contributions. Series of publications from the archive of the Hanseatic City of Wismar. Wismar 2014 pp. 7–23.

Printed sources

• Mecklenburg record book
• Mecklenburg yearbooks

predecessor	Office	successor
Johann II hat	Bishop of Osnabrück 1369-1375	Dietrich von Horne
Friedrich II. Von Bülow	Bishop of Schwerin 1376-1381	Potho from Pothenstein