Lucas Watzenrode the Younger
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Lucas Watzenrode the Younger (sometimes also Watzelrode), (b. 30 October 1447 in Thorun (Toruń) – d. 29 March 1512 in Thorun) was bishop of the Prince-Bishopric Warmia (Ermland) and uncle of the astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus.
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[edit] Life
Watzenrode was the son of the trader Lucas Watzenrode the Elder (1400-1462) in the city of Toruń (Thorun). He studied at the universities of Cracow, Cologne and Bologna.
When both his sister Barbara Koppernigk and her husband Nicolaus had died around 1483, Lucas took care of their four children, Katharina, Barbara, Andreas and Nicolaus, who would become known as Nicolaus Copernicus, the astronomer.
[edit] Historic background
In the second Peace of Toruń in 1466, the bishopric had come under the protection of the Polish king, after it had been part of the Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights. Based on this treaty, the Polish king claimed to have the right of naming the bishop, as he did in his kingdom, but neither the chapter nor their newly elected bishop Nicolaus von Tüngen (1467-89) accepted this right. Poland disagreed with this election which led to the War of the Priests (German: Pfaffenkrieg) (1467-79) and the first Treaty of Piotrków Trybunalski (1479) in which the chapter was obliged to look for consensus with the Polish king in the election.
[edit] Bishop
This agreement was somehow vague, as shown in the election of the next bishop in 1489, Lucas Watzenrode, who was mitred by Pope Innocent VIII against the explicit wishes of Polish king Casimir IV (1447–1492) who preferred one of his sons, Frederic. Watzenrode resisted, and when Casimir died in 1492 and was succeed by Jan I Olbracht, Watzenrode could finally establish the exemption of the bishopric which had been suffragan of the metropolitan see of Riga, at that time led by Michael Hildebrand as Archbishop of Riga.
The Holy See considered the bishopric as exempt until 1992 (when it was made an Archbishopric which is exempt anyway), although the later bishops accepted a limited influence of the Polish king in the elections (second Treaty of Piotrków Trybunalski, 1512).
Bishop Watzenrode was a successful organisator of the internal affairs of his territory and resided in Heilsberg (Lidzbark Warmiński). He reorganised the school of the cathedral and planned the foundation of a university at Elbing (Elbląg). He argued that the Teutonic Order had done its mission in the Baltic region which was completely converted to Christianity at that time, and proposed to send the order to more heathen regions. The Ottoman empire was an ongoing thread and had overtaken large parts of Europe, and the Bishop suggested to 'fight the Turks'.
The bishopric was exposed to repeated armed attacks from the Teutonic Order, which tried to get the territory back. But also the Polish kingdom tried to cut the autonomy of the de facto prince-bishoperic and had plans to force it by means of weapons to give up his prerogatives to the Polish kingdom. In this area of conflict, Watzenrode guarded the interests of Warmia and kept friendly relations with both the Teutonic Order and the Polish kingdom.
[edit] Family
As bishop, Watzenrode also could provide better care of his two nephews and two nieces. Katharina married the businessman and city councillor Barthel Gertner, while Barbara became a Benedictine nun. He sent the brothers Nicolaus (Copernicus) and Andreas to the Cracow Academy and for further studies to Italy (Bologna, Padua, Ferrara). After his studies, Nicolaus helped his uncle in administration affairs and was his closest advisor. It was speculated that he had arranged for Nicolaus to become his successor in the see. Nicolaus Copernicus also acted as personal physician of his uncle.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Bücherei Danzig, J. Kretzmer, Liber de episcopatu et episcopi Varmiensis ex vetusto Chronico Bibliotheca Heilsbergensis, 1593
- Christoph Hartknoch, Preußische Kirchen-Historia, Frankfurt a.M., 1668
- M.G. Centner, Geehrte und Gelehrte Thorner, Thorn 1763
- A. Semrau, "Katalog der Geschlechter der Schöffenbank und des Ratsstuhles in der Altstadt Thorn 1233-1602", in: Mitteilungen des Copernicus-Vereins für Wissenschaft und Kunst zu Thorn 46 (1938)
- Wojciech Iwanczak, "Lucas Watzenrode", in Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon, Bautz Verlag
- Poczet biskupów warmińskich, Olsztyn 1998
- Jürgen Hamel: Nicolaus Copernicus. - Spektrum Verlag: Heidelberg, 1994.
