Otto von Ziegenhain (Archbishop)

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Otto von Ziegenhain (* around 1380; † February 13, 1430 in Koblenz ) was Archbishop and Elector of Trier from 1419 until his death .

Origin and early career

Otto was a scion of the Hessian count family von Ziegenhain , son of Count Gottfried VIII von Ziegenhain and his wife Agnes von Braunschweig († 1416), and brother of the last ruling Count von Ziegenhain, Johann II. He was a nephew of the Archbishop of Trier Werner von Falkenstein .

Otto studied in Vienna and Heidelberg , was already starting in 1405 provost of St. Martin in Worms and pastor of St. Wendel , and was on November 9, 1406 at his uncle provost of Trier. From 1413 to 1417 he also held the office of provost of St. Florin in Koblenz . Before he was elected archbishop, he was already doing his uncle's most important duties and government affairs, which may have fostered his later election. Already at the Council of Pisa (1409) Archbishop Werner left the main burden of the Trier delegation to him. From 1414 to 1418 he was a member of the Council of Constance as head of the Trier delegation . It is believed that he had a decisive influence on the Bursfeld congregation of the Benedictines . On the other hand, he is likely to have cleared up his accumulation of offices before his election as archbishop, especially since his intensive preoccupation with Trier state affairs should have left him little time to administer his various benefices during his uncle's reign .

Archbishop of Trier

Otto's election as archbishop by the cathedral chapter of Trier took place ten days after the death of his uncle (October 4, 1418), after the cathedral chapter had greatly increased its own rights in an electoral surrender imposed on the candidate . After the election confirmed by Pope Martin V. Otto received on 12 March 1419 by the bishops of Verdun and Worms the episcopal ordination . As a staunch supporter of the Reform Order , he chose the Dominican Johannes de Monte from Aachen as auxiliary bishop .

Otto was considered exemplary in his religious and moral life. 1421 he made the reform-minded Carthusian prior Johannes Rode with papal dispensation to Abbot of the Benedictine Abbey of St. Matthias in Trier, and in 1423 he tried on a provincial synod in Trier, a reform of the way of life of the higher as the lower clergy to launch. His attempt to reform the Augustinian canons of Springiersbach Abbey and the pending aristocratic women's convents was thwarted by intrigues and a time-consuming appeals practice influenced by the nobility . In 1427 Otto traveled to Rome, accompanied by his secretary, the famous Nikolaus von Cues ; the archbishop thanked him with the dean's office St. Florin in Koblenz as benefice.

However, his exemplary piety and modesty did not prevent Otto from using every opportunity to strengthen his power and finances as the supreme lord of the Archbishopric. A certain nepotism, based on a pronounced family consciousness, caused the reform of the Trier cathedral chapter to fail. When the cathedral chapter did not comply with the archbishop's demands for increased presence in the choir service, and in 1428 threatened to leave Trier with all relics and the entire cathedral treasure , Otto was forced to give in. His participation in the campaigns to Bohemia during the Hussite Wars was also unhappy . In terms of imperial politics, in 1424 he was part of the opposition of the electors , who formed the Binger Kurverein against King Sigismund .

Deportation of Jews

The expulsion of all Jews from the area of ​​the Archbishopric of Trier on December 30, 1419 casts a heavy shadow on Otto's term of office. In Trier itself there were about 50 families. Some of them settled in villages outside the electoral sovereignty, others found a new home in Poland and other eastern areas. This is how Jewish communities arose in the area of ​​Trier monasteries: Aach bei Trier (rule of St. Irminen ), Butzweiler (rule of St. Marien Abbey ), Freudenburg (rule of St. Maximin Abbey ). As Jews continued to live in places in the Electorate of Trier such as Clüsserath , Leiwen , Schweich , Monzel , Filz , Cordel and others, there were either exceptions or the expulsion order was not implemented consistently.

death

According to his wish, Otto von Ziegenhain was buried in Trier Cathedral .

literature

  • Petrus Becker: Documents on the monastery reform of the Archbishop of Trier Otto von Ziegenhain (1418-1430) . Agreement and opposition between papal and episcopal reform, in: Revue Bénédictine 84 (1974) 126–166.
  • Erich Düsterwald: Small history of the archbishops and electors of Trier . academia Richarz, St. Augustin, 1980, ISBN 3-921255-18-X .
  • Rudolf Holbach : "Disz is dy address dy we dun wydder our here ..." - Remarks on the reign of Archbishop Otto von Ziegenhain (1418-1430) . In: Kurtrierisches Jahrbuch , Vol. 23, 1983.
  • Josef Hulley: The grave of the Trier Elector Otto von Ziegenhain . In: Pastor bonus 11 , 1989/99, pp. 186-189.
  • Johann Christian Lager; From the life of the Archbishop of Trier Otto von Ziegenhain (1418-1430) . In: Pastor bonus , 2, 1890, pp. 203-211, 253-265 and 348-362.
  • Kurt Löhnert: Personnel and official data of the Trier Archbishops of the 10th – 15th centuries Century . Greifswald, 1908.
  • Ferdinand Pauly : From the history of the Diocese of Trier . Volume III: The Bishops up to the End of the Middle Ages . Trier, 1969
  • Carl Stenz (Ed.): The Trier Electors . Trier 1937.
  • Emil Zenz (ed.): The deeds of the Trier. Gesta Treverorum , Volume 6, Trier 1962.
  • Max Bär :  Otto von Ziegenhain . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 24, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1887, p. 728 f.
  • Stephanie Haarländer :  Otto von Ziegenhain. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 19, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-428-00200-8 , p. 695 f. ( Digitized version ).
  • Martin Persch :  Otto von Ziegenhain (Archbishop). In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 6, Bautz, Herzberg 1993, ISBN 3-88309-044-1 , Sp. 1375-1377.  ( Article / beginning of article in Internet archive )

Web links

Notes and individual references

  1. ^ Sister of Duke Otto I of Braunschweig-Göttingen
predecessor Office successor
Werner von Falkenstein Archbishop Elector of Trier
1418–1430 		Raban from Helmstatt
personal data
SURNAME Ziegenhain, Otto von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Archbishop and Elector of Trier
DATE OF BIRTH around 1380
DATE OF DEATH February 13, 1430
Place of death Koblenz