Michael von Kuenburg

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Michael von Kuenburg (born October 10, 1514 , † November 17, 1560 ) was an Archbishop of Salzburg and the first to make the fight against Protestantism his primary task as sovereign.

ancestry

Kuenburg came from an old Carinthian noble family that emerged from the ministerials of the Counts of Ortenburg and first named themselves after the place Deinsdorf (Deudorf) (in the municipality of Magdalensberg near Klagenfurt). Since 1388, however, it was named after the Kuenburg (today the ruins of Khünburg in Southern Carinthia) of Kuenburg .

Before being elected archbishop

Kuenburg's father was the keeper (judge) at the Obersachsenburg Fortress, Christoph II von Kuenburg. He had a total of nineteen children from three marriages. Michael von Kuenburg studied at the University of Ingolstadt and in 1538 became Canon of Passau. He was accepted into the Salzburg Cathedral Chapter in 1550. The designated Prince Archbishop Ernst von Bayern had advised the cathedral chapter to elect the new archbishop as soon as possible in order to avoid disputes. Emperor Charles V wanted the Bishop of Trento Cardinal Christoph von Madruzzo to be elected as the new Prince of Salzburg, while Bavarian ambassadors wanted to join Pope Julius III. have the bishop of Passau, Wolfgang Graf von Salm, appointed archbishop. However, the cathedral chapter invoked the free right to vote and on July 21, 1554, elected Michael von Kuenburg as the new archbishop. The Pope then confirmed the election and awarded the pallium .

Michael von Kuenburg as Archbishop

Michael, personally a morally strict and benevolent man towards the poor, turned out to be an opponent of the Protestants and was ready to fight the abuses in the Catholic clergy. Michael von Kuenburg was one of the most violent opponents of the Augsburg religious peace . The new archbishop consistently started reforming the clergy in the archbishopric. In a strict mandate, however, he also instructed the secular officials to oppose all “false doctrines”. An appointment by Jesuits to Salzburg failed because of the unbridgeable resistance of the cathedral chapter.

The struggle against Lutheranism , which had already bothered its two predecessors, was consequently continued by von Kuenburg, but ultimately without great success. His early death prevented further initiatives.

Archbishop Michael von Kuenburg was a passionate hunter. In the autumn of 1560 he visited Duke Albrecht V of Bavaria and went with him on a wild boar hunt. On the way back to Salzburg, the obese archbishop suffered a stroke and died hours later.

literature

predecessor Office successor
Ernst of Bavaria Archbishop of Salzburg
1554–1560 		Johann Jakob von Kuen-Belasy
personal data
SURNAME Kuenburg, Michael von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Archbishop of Salzburg
DATE OF BIRTH October 10, 1514
DATE OF DEATH November 17, 1560
Place of death Salzburg