Rudolf of Mecklenburg-Stargard

Rudolf von Mecklenburg-Stargard († 1415 ) was bishop of Skara from 1387 to 1389 and bishop in the diocese of Schwerin from 1391 to 1415 .

Life

Rudolf was the son of Duke Johann I of Mecklenburg-Stargard and his third wife Agnes, the widow of Prince Nicolaus IV von Werle-Goldberg , a daughter of Count Ulrich II von Lindow-Ruppin .

Rudolf is first documented in 1382 with his master's degree D. Bernhard von Grollen in Prague as a student enrolled there at the university. It was listed there in the original register of the Faculty of Law under the heading of registered listeners of spiritual law from Saxon nation as D. Rudolphus, dux Magnolensis .

Pope Urban VI. on March 20, 1387 raised Rudolf to the position of bishop of the now vacant Swedish diocese of Skara . His cousin, Albrecht III, had ruled there since 1364 . of Mecklenburg as King of Sweden . Both of them did not enjoy a good reputation due to strict and selfish administration. When Margaret of Denmark-Norway in the battle of Falköping in 1389 King Albrecht III. defeated and captured, Rudolf was also briefly imprisoned as Bishop of Skara. After his release, he no longer stayed in Sweden.

On August 11, 1390, a postulate was again named for the Schwerin bishopric. But it was not until January 11, 1391 that Rudolf III, Duke of Mecklenburg-Stargard, previously Bishop of Scara in Sweden, from Pope Boniface IX. was transferred to Schwerin and when episcopus et pastor the cura et administracio received this church in spiritualibuset temporalibus . The cathedral chapter of Schwerin, the clergy and the vassals of the diocese received appropriate bulls, as did the responsible archbishop Albert II of Braunschweig-Lüneburg and King Wenzel . Rudolf was then bishop of Schwerin until his death . The bishops Gerhard Holtorp von Ratzeburg and Eberhard I. Attendorn von Lübeck were commissioned on January 13, 1391 to take the oath of fidelity from the new Schwerin bishop in order to save him a trip to the papal court. Financial obligations that his two predecessors, Melchior von Braunschweig-Grubenhagen and Potho von Pothenstein, should have paid, now Rudolf had to take over. It is not known when, where and through whom Rudolf received episcopal ordination. In 1392 he was involved in the establishment of the state peace in Mecklenburg . On December 20, 1404 he personally consecrated the acolyte Gotfrid Nynohr in the collegiate church Bützow and confirmed it with his big seal.

At his new place of work, too, he encountered considerable financial difficulties in freeing his cousin, King Albrecht of Sweden, from captivity. In 1397 this resulted in open disputes and warlike entanglements between the brothers of the bishop and the Schwerin dukes with the Lords of Werle on the side of the cathedral chapter. On February 6, 1397, Bishop Rudolf sold the Schwerin bishop's mill to the Schwerin canon Johann Berchteheile, which he bequeathed to the cathedral chapter on March 17, 1397. As early as January 22, 1396, the castles of the Bützow and Warin monasteries were in his possession as pledges. In 1397 Johann Berchteheile played a key role in an uprising by the cathedral chapter against Bishop Rudolf because of his wasting of monastery property.

The bishop was ousted from power through no fault of his own and lived in his emergency residence in Stralsund . After the bishop gave in and the promise of a reorganization of the finances with the help of the cathedral chapter, a first reconciliation took place in 1399. The conflict lasted until 1401.

During these difficult times, Bishop Rudolf used the auxiliary bishops John of Laodicea, Jacobus of Constantia and Heinrich Wesenborch to exercise episcopal authority . As Provost von Rühn , the latter was also a negotiator in the difficulties with the city of Stralsund.

In 1407 Rudolf played a key role in the Papenbrand thom Sunde when he was supposed to speak the verdict on the Stralsund citizens. After their non-appearance, he announced the ban against the mayor, the city council and all Stralsund residents. All spiritual acts in Stralsund were prohibited by an interdict . Bishop Rudolf long litigated before the Curia until May 16, 1410 the papal chaplain Dr. Archangelus de Bonifatii de Aquila pronounced a surprising verdict. In a verbose document with the names of all Stralsund mayors and councilors, Bishop Rudolf was condemned to pay 160,000 gold florets and the city was released from the ban. Rudolf's successor used the payment of due taxes by imposing church fines in Schwerin Cathedral while working on the window front , where a red inscription could be read: " Dith hebben de Sundeschen mothen buwen, datt se de papenn had burned " (The Stralsunders built that must because they burned the priests).

One of the few spiritual and outstanding events of his tenure was the foundation of the Charterhouse of Marienehe near Rostock on March 7, 1396 . On December 20, 1408, Bishop Rudolf testified to a vicarie at the Dobbertiner monastery church under the patronage of the squire Nicolaus von Dessin . Of course, during his pontificate, indulgences, confirmations from church foundations, etc. were made, but these were not specifically mentioned.

The life of Bishop Rudolf III, Duke of Mecklenburg-Stargard, came to an end in 1415. Where he died is as unknown as the exact date of death. On July 28, 1415, Bishop Rudolf was still alive, on December 27, 1415 an administrator was already in office. As early as November 15, 1400, the deceased asked for his final resting place in the Doberan Minster with an indulgence ceremony. The burial is said to have taken place in the Doberaner Münster, as requested in the old princely grave chapel .

Bishop Rudolf did not receive a special memorial plaque or a tombstone.

seal

Bishop Rudolf kept several seals one after the other. A round seal on which a right-leaning shield with the Mecklenburg bull's head, over which a crowned helmet stands, protruding from the bull horns. On both sides of the helmet cover there are some cover-like decorations. The inscription is separated in a peculiar way and reads: + S rudolphi - et duc magnoplens - dei gra epi zwerine

The same seal as Bishop of Scara is in the Royal Archives of Stockholm.

Bishop Rudolf carried another large seal sigillum maius of elliptical shape. In the seal field, without further decorations, in the manner of the old seal, but without any particular taste in art, stands a bishop in full form with his right hand raised, holding the staff in his left hand . At his feet on the right is a shield with the Mecklenburg bull's head, on the left the shield with the episcopal Schwerin's coat of arms .

The inscription reads: + S 'RODOLPHI. DEI. GRA. EPI. ZWERINEN. ET. DUC '. MAGPOEN.

Between 1399 and 1400 he carried a smaller round seal on which a shield, helmet and crown are depicted between two pillars, as on his first seal. On the sides of the pillars are Gothic niches, in the right an angel, in the left a saint on horse (St. George). The inscription reads: S. RODOLPhI. DEI. EPI. ZWERINEN. DVCIS: MAGNOPO.

In the fourth seal as Bishop of Schwerin, in the upper half of the Gothic niche, there is an image of Mary with the Christ child on her arm. In the lower half a prayer prayer kneels, in front of him on the right on the right a large, four-fold shield with the episcopal Schwerin's coat of arms and the Mecklenburg bull's head.

The inscription reads: + RODOLPhI. DEI. GRA. EPI. ZWERIEN. ET. DVCIS. MAGNOPOL '.

From 1406 to 1415 the bishop kept a smaller round seal next to the fourth.

literature

• Alfred Rische: Directory of the bishops and canons of Schwerin with biographical remarks. Ludwigslust 1900.
• Konrad Eubel: Hierarchia catholica medii . Volume I. 1913, Monasterii (Unchanged reprint, Patavii / Italy 1960)
• Josef Traeger : The bishops of the medieval diocese of Schwerin. St. Benno Verlag Leipzig 1984.
• Josef Traeger: Bie bishops of the Diocese of Schwerin . In: The Stiftsland of the bishops around Bützow and Warin . St. Benno Verlag Leipzig 1984, p. 95.
• Margit Kaluza-Baumruker: The Schwerin Cathedral Chapter (1171–1400). Cologne, Vienna 1987 ISBN 3-412-05787-8 pp. 185-186.
• Oliver Auge:  Rudolf III .. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 22, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-428-11203-2 , p. 188 f. ( Digitized version ).

Web links

• Literature about Rudolf III. in the state bibliography MV

Individual evidence

1. ^ Manfred Hamann: Mecklenburg history. From the beginnings to the rural union of 1523. 1968 family tables.
2. ↑ Mecklenburgisches Jahrbuch MJB 14 (1849), Friedrich Wilhelm Kretschmer: The Duke Rudolf of Mecklenburg, later Bishop of Schwerin, at the University of Prague , pp. 106-107.
3. ↑ Andreas Olavi Rbyzelius: Episcopia Sviogothica , 3. Book: From Scara Bishop Sticht , 1752nd
4. ↑ Rostocker Weinbuch , 1908 No. 258.
5. ^ Mecklenburgisches Urkundenbuch MUB XXII. (1907) No. 12257.
6. ↑ MUB XXII. (1907) No. 12258.
7. ↑ MUB XXII. (1907) No. 12377.
8. ↑ MUB XXIII. (1911) No. 13062, 13083.
9. ↑ MUB XXIII. (1911) No. 12898, 12902.
10. ↑ MUB XXIII. (1911) No. 13181, 13183, 13207.
11. ^ Alfred Rische: Directory of the bishops and canons of Schwerin. 1900 p. 19.
12. ^ Bernhard Hederich: Directory of the Bishops of Schwerin , 1737 pp. 447–449.
13. ↑ MUB XXIII. (1911) No. 12933.
14. ↑ State Main Archive Schwerin , LHAS 1.5-4 / 3 Dobbertin Monastery, Documents , Regesten No. 95.
15. ↑ MUB No. 13705.
16. ↑ MJB 19 (1854) Friedrich Lisch: About the old princely burial chapel and the grave of the first Christian prince Pribislav in the Church of Doberan, sheets on the history of the Church of Doberan , pp. 357-360.
17. ^ MJB 50 (1885) Friedrich Wiggers: Family tables of the Grand Ducal House of Mecklenburg . P. 330.
18. ↑ MJB 8 (1843), Friedrich Lisch : History of the episcopal Schwerin coat of arms , pp. 22-23.

predecessor	Office	successor
Nils	Bishop of Skara 1386-1390	Torsten

predecessor	Office	successor
Johann III. Potho from Pothenstein	Bishop of Schwerin 1390–1415	Heinrich II of Nauen