New Year's Eve Stodewescher

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Silvester Stodewescher OT , also Sylvester Stodewescher or Silvester von Riga (* in Thorn ; † July 12, 1479 in Kokenhusen ) was Archbishop of Riga from 1448 until his death in 1479 .

Life

Born in Thorn, Prussia at the time , Silvester Stodewescher acquired the academic degree of a Magister artium . It is not known when he joined the Teutonic Order. In any case, he was chaplain and chancellor of Grand Master Konrad von Erlichshausen .

After the death of the Riga bishop Henning Scharpenberg in 1448, the Livonian branch of the Teutonic Order campaigned for a reoccupation with a member of the order, as it was anxious to bring the Archdiocese of Riga back under its control. Due to his work for Grand Master Konrad von Erlichshausen, the Order Chancellor Silvester Stodewescher seemed to be the suitable candidate. That is why Konrad von Erlichshausen supported Pope Nicholas V for the appointment of Stodewescher. In order to emphasize the matter, the Grand Master is said to have donated large sums of money to Rome. Although the Riga Cathedral Chapter had elected Bishop Nikolaus II. Sachau from Lübeck to succeed Scharpenberg, it gave up its initial resistance and, after the previous privileges had been confirmed, recognized Silvester Stodewescher as Archbishop. Since the canons wanted to be free from the Teutonic Order, the privileges also included the assurance that the cathedral chapter should not be forced to wear the costume of the Teutonic Order. In contradiction to this, a short time later the newly appointed Archbishop Silvester Stodewescher committed himself never to take off the vestments and to oblige the cathedral chapter to do so.

As early as 1451 the archbishop approved the contract of Wolmar , with which the costume and the rules of the order became compulsory for the archbishopric . However, the order should have no jurisdiction or visitation rights and no influence on the appointment of the future archbishop and the canons. Nevertheless, the ongoing question of rule over the city of Riga soon broke out into disputes between the order and the archbishop. They were settled in 1452 with the Treaty of Kirchholm , with which both parties undertook to jointly exercise rulership over the city of Riga. However, after the Order later resumed its political efforts to obtain sole ownership, the Archbishop vehemently opposed it. In the now open battle he fought with all means against the order, but failed to bring the knighthood of the archbishopric and the city of Riga as allies on his side. Since he had deceived the city of Riga several times, it refused to support him. Finally he allied himself with Sweden, to whom he promised a part of the archbishopric for support. Thereupon the knighthood refused to have their entourage, who had felt obliged to him by the privileges granted. Since the archbishop was only supported by Swedish auxiliaries, the order gained supreme power over the archbishopric. The archbishop's castles were captured and the archbishop captured in Kokenhusen . He died there shortly after his release on July 12, 1479. His body was buried in the choir of the Riga Cathedral .

literature

predecessor Office successor
Henning Scharpenberg Archbishop of Riga
1448–1479
Stephan Grube