Salentin of Isenburg

Salentin of Isenburg

Salentin von Isenburg (* 1532 at Isenburg Castle near Dierdorf ; † March 19, 1610 at Arenfels Castle ) was Archbishop and Elector of Cologne from 1567 to 1577 , from 1574 to 1577 also Prince-Bishop of Paderborn , and from 1577 to 1610 as Salentin VI. of Isenburg-Grenzau the penultimate graph of Grenzau line of the house Isenburg .

Early years

Salentin was the second of three sons of Count Heinrich von Isenburg-Grenzau (* around 1521, † 1553) and his wife Margarete von Wertheim († March 25, 1538). His brothers were Johann and Anton. One of his two sisters was the future abbess Margarete von St. Ursula in Cologne.

As is customary in noble families, when the property was not large enough for a later division of the estate, Johann and Salentin were prepared for a career in the clergy. At the age of 15, Salentin began studying theology in Cologne in 1547 . A year later, in 1548, he became canon in Mainz and ten years later canon in Cologne.

Salentin's younger brother Anton died very young (1548), so that his older brother Johann returned to secular status and married in 1563. This marriage remained childless and Johann died two years later. Salentin was the only male descendant, and the Nieder-Isenburg family in the Isenburg-Grenzau line threatened to die out.

Salentin became dean of St. Gereon in Cologne in 1565 . He was also a cathedral scholar at the Strasbourg cathedral and had benefices in Trier, Mainz and Cologne.

In the literature it is often called Salentin VII., VIII. Or IX. called. According to genealogical tables and other sources, he is the 6th of this name. Counting according to other sources includes secondary lines.

archbishop

Friedrich IV von Wied had been Archbishop and Elector of the Archdiocese of Cologne since 1562 , but the latter was not prepared to recognize the creed laid down in the Council of Trent , so Pope Pius V refused to confirm his election. Friedrich resigned on October 25, 1567. On December 23, 1567 elected by the chapter to the Archbishop and Elector of Cologne Salentin. He did not receive any priestly ordinations and already emphasized at his election that he would return to worldly life in due course to continue his household. His condition was accepted by the cathedral chapter and the emperor , but not by Pope Pius V, who then demanded the election of the Archbishop of Cologne. In the letter of the Pope of June 27, 1568 it said among other things: “We approve and praise this choice very much”, and “So that the Church can receive the hoped for and so necessary fruits as soon as possible, it is also desirable that he can be ordained a priest immediately so that he can be confirmed by us as soon as possible, receive the consecration gift and take office after receiving the papal pallium. ”Although Salentin did not allow himself to be ordained, Pope Gregory XIII confirmed . , the successor of Pius V, took him as Archbishop of Cologne in December 1573.

April 21 In 1574 he was the cathedral chapter of Paderborn and the Bishops elected by Paderborn. The Pope's confirmation came on December 4, after Salentin had promised to transfer the spiritual duties to an auxiliary bishop. He entered Paderborn on December 9, 1574 in knight armor, surrounded by an entourage that numbered a thousand horsemen. With a helmet and armor, he went to the high altar of Paderborn Cathedral to take his oath of allegiance. However, due to discrepancies within the cathedral chapter, Salentin could not appoint an auxiliary bishop.

In the ten years of his government in Cologne he tightened the administration and put the finances in order. He succeeded in largely repaying the debts on the archbishopric. So he redeemed Vest Recklinghausen , which had long been pledged to the Counts of Schaumburg , as well as pledges in Andernach, Neuss, Uerdingen and Brilon. He also redeemed a number of pledges in the Paderborn region. He ordered a reform of the administrative and judicial system and ordered an immediate visit to the parishes and monasteries. The school system was also redesigned.

Count of Isenburg-Grenzau

Salentin VI. but also used the advantages that the office of archbishop gave him consistently for his own county of Isenburg-Grenzau. So he managed to enforce imperial immediacy for his county.

On September 5, 1577 he resigned as Bishop of Paderborn and on September 13 as Archbishop of Cologne. He said goodbye to the assembled estates at Schloss Brühl and married Countess Antonia Wilhelmina von Arenberg (1557–1626) in Bonn on December 10, 1577. He met his successor, Gebhard I. von Waldburg, with great skepticism, as he knew of his relationships with influential Protestants .

At the request of the Cologne Cathedral Chapter, Salentin intervened in the Cologne War against the apostate Archbishop Gebhard I von Waldburg.

death

Count Salentin VI died on March 19, 1610. von Isenburg-Grenzau, and was buried in the Premonstratensian- Chorherrenstift Rommersdorf . His friend, Abbot John VI, had a tomb erected for him showing him in knight armor. After the dissolution of the monastery (1803) Prince Johann August Karl zu Wied (1779–1836) had the tomb transferred to the princely mausoleum in Dierdorf and the remains in the Protestant parish church in Neuwied - Niederbieber .

progeny

Salentin VI. was married to Antonia Wilhelmina von Arenberg daughter of Johann von Ligne . The couple had two sons, Salentin VII († 1619) and Ernst I († 1664, last count of the line). Both showed the same inclination to the craft of war as their father and pursued military careers. Ernst was married twice; his first wife was Caroline Ernestine von Arenberg (1606–1630), his second wife was Maria Anna von Hohenzollern-Hechingen (1614–1670), daughter of Johann Georg .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Johann S. Reck: History of the Counts and Princely Houses Isenburg, Runkel, Wied ... , 1825, Plate III. ( Online edition of the Isenburg family tree )
2. ^ Descendants of Salentin VI. von Isenburg: Salentin IX. (C1-D1-E2)

literature

• Franz Bosbach :  Salentin Count of Isenburg-Grenzau. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 22, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-428-11203-2 , p. 365 f. ( Digitized version ).
• Max Lossen :  Salentin . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 30, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1890, pp. 216-224.

Web links

Commons : Salentin von Isenburg  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• family tree

predecessor	Office	successor
Friedrich IV of Wied	Elector Archbishop of Cologne 1567–1577	Gebhard I. von Waldburg
Johann II of Hoya	Bishop of Paderborn 1574–1577	Heinrich IV of Saxe-Lauenburg
Johann	Count of Isenburg zu Grenzau 1577–1610	Ernst I.