Thomas Grote

Bishop's coat of arms Thomas Grotes, from the Rehbein Chronicle

Thomas Grote (* around 1425 in Lübeck ; † August 27, 1501 Marienwolde ) was a German bishop of Lübeck .

Life

Grote was a middle-class son. People with this surname can already be identified in Lübeck at the end of the 14th century. They appear primarily as merchants who apparently also carried out transactions to England and Denmark. A Johann Grote, who was involved in the pension conversion of the new council with a significant sum, had applied for an independent seal to the council of Lübeck on February 22nd, 1411. Thomas is likely to have grown up in a middle-class environment in a family that had a handsome income.

In the Middle Ages it was common in influential middle-class families for firstborn sons to receive their father's name and then follow in his father's footsteps. Children who were born afterwards were usually housed elsewhere. For example, girls were married to influential middle-class families in order to forge family and economic ties. Sometimes they were also sent to monasteries as nuns in order to secure their livelihood. For this, however, high payments were necessary, so that the monastery superiors were well-disposed towards those payments. On the other hand, sons entitled to inheritance were often given a certain sum so that they could develop themselves and thus be of use to the family. It is therefore not far from the fact that Thomas did not have the opportunity to receive this support at that time. So we find him enrolled on June 8, 1445 at the University of Rostock for 2 marks.

At that time studying was relatively expensive. One had to pay for food, accommodation and the instructors. In addition, depending on the Burse belonging to it, there were also taxes that only a wealthy family could finance financially. After two years, Grote had acquired the lowest academic degree of a Baccalaurus in the artistic arts in the winter semester of 1547/48 . The importance of the degree should not be underestimated at the time. It only lost its importance at the end of the 16th century. Equipped with that degree, many paths in public life were open to you. Yes, he could have taught at a university. He opted for the church service, which was then highly valued.

As early as September 10, 1455, Thomas Grote was recorded as vicar to St. Johannis in Lübeck. At that time he took care of the inheritance he was entitled to from his deceased brother Johann in Reval . From that position he rose to the position of canon at Lübeck Cathedral before 1472 . After Albert II. Krummendiek died, the representatives of the Lübeck chapter looked for a successor who would revive the old bishop's financially misguided policy. The Grote, who had meanwhile risen to the position of canon in Lübeck, applied for this office. Contrary to the expectations of the chapter, however, Grote sought to keep the church at peace and to unite the forces of the church. However, since the chapter knew that Grote was not badly sponsored financially, and that he possibly made concessions to the chapter for financial consolidation, the representatives of the electoral commission gave priority to his application and Grote was elected Bishop of Lübeck in November 1489.

After Pope Innocent VIII had confirmed him in Rome on February 7, 1490 and allowed him to maintain his benefice for the good of the diocese, Grote withdrew from the public after his election. Apparently Grote had overestimated his possibilities. Because when the Lübeck chapter demanded the redemption of Eutin and Grote refused to accept the request (because he apparently did not have the necessary financial means) by withdrawing from the public of Lübeck, a dispute began between the parties. The population of Lübeck was also involved in these disputes, so that he soon received the popular name Hütewinkel (Hutewinckel = guard the Winckel). Since the bishop was no longer fulfilling his actual duties as the highest representative of the Lübeck Church, it was suggested that he should renounce this office. After two years, Grote gave up his ambitions. On February 27, 1492 he resigned his office, had previously campaigned for his successor Dietrich Arends at the Roman Curia and retired to monastery life in Marienwohlde Monastery , where his body was buried.

literature

• Jacob von Melle : Thorough message from the Kaiserl. freyen and the HR Reichs Stadt Lübeck ..., Georg Christian Green, Lübeck, 1787, p. 141 ( online )
• Friedrich W. Ebeling: The German bishops until the end of the sixteenth century. Verlag Otto Wigand, Leipzig 1858 p. 587 ( online )

Web links

• Entry on catholic-hierarchy.org

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Hans Nicolai Andreas Jensen, Andreas Ludwig Jakob Michelsen: The Archbishops and Bishops. In: Schleswig-Holstein Church History: after handwriting left behind. Ernst Homann Verlag, Kiel, 1874, Vol. 2, p. 6
2. ↑ C. Wehrmann : Seal of the Middle Ages from the archives of the city of Lübeck, Volume 10, Verlag Rohden'sche Buchhandlung, Lübeck, 1856, 1st issue, p. 34; Seal round, in an oval frame that extends through the edge of the writing, there is a shield below, on which two bird's feet are placed crosswise with the claws pointing upwards and outwards. Above the shield there is a mark on a gridded ground: two bars are placed diagonally crossed on top of each other so that the lower legs are the longer ones, above the latter are two cross bars, of which the lower one in the middle sends a short vertical branch upwards. Inscription on the outside surrounded by a notched circle: S IohÄN Crote (see also Lübeck Citizen Seal 5, Citizen Seal 3, No. 40)
3. ↑ Adolph Hofmeister: The matriculation of the University of Rostock I. Mich. 1419 - me. 1499, Stillerische Hof- und Universitätsbuchhandlung, Rostock, 1889 ( online ); see also: Matriculation of Thomas Grote in the Rostock matriculation portal
4. ↑ Ibid p. 83 ( online ); see also: PhD thesis on Thomas Grote's bachelor's degree in the Rostock matriculation portal
5. ↑ Friedrich Georg von Bunge: Liv-, Est- and Kurländisches Urkundenbuch: Besides Regesten, Volume 1, Part 11
6. ↑ Erwin Gatz , Clemens Brodkorb: The Bishops of the Holy Roman Empire, 1448 to 1648: a biographical lexicon, Volume 2 Duncker & Humblot, 1996 3428084225, 9783428084227 page 246

predecessor	Office	successor
Albert II. Krummendiek	Bishop of Lübeck 1489 - 1492	Dietrich II. Arndes