Ernest of Bavaria
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Ernest of Bavaria (December 17, 1554 - February 17, 1612) was Prince-elector archbishop of the Archbishopric of Cologne (Germany) from 1583 to 1612 as successor of the expelled Gebhard Truchsess von Waldburg. He was also bishop of Münster, Hildesheim, Freising and Liège.
[edit] Biography
Ernest was born in Munich, the son of Albert V, Duke of Bavaria.
He was educated and trained by the Jesuits. He was elected the Bishop of Freising in 1566 at age 12 and the Bishop of Hildesheim in 1573 at age 19. In 1577 he was not elected the Archbishop of Cologne, with Gebhard of Truchsess Waldburg defeating him 12 votes to 10. In 1581 he was elected the Bishop of Liège.
When Archbishop Gebhard of Truchsess Waldburg converted to Protestantism in 1583, Ernest was elected the Archbishop of Cologne on 22 May 1583. With Spanish and Bavarian troops he quickly drove Gebhard into Werl in the Cologne War. In 1584 he was elected the Bishop of Münster, and also in that year the Papacy nuntiator was published. The Archbishopric of Cologne was important because it was one of the seven Imperial Electors of Holy Roman Empire, and as three of them were already protestant, if Cologne was ruled by a protestant a protestant Emperor could be elected.
By now he was the Archbishop of Cologne and the Bishop of Liège, Münster, Freising and Hildesheim, and he was called the protector of Roman Catholicism in northwestern Germany. He was an ardent supporter of the Counter-Reformation, and assisted the Catholics in Jülich-Cleves-Berg and Baden. In 1595 he selected his nephew Ferdinand of Bavaria to be the coadjutor of the bishoprics and retired from most secular affairs.
Ernest died in 1612 in Arnsberg, Westphalia, and was buried in the Cologne Cathedral. He was succeeded by Ferdinand of Bavaria.
[edit] References
This page uses content from HistoryWiki. The original article was at Ernest of Bavaria, Archbishop of Cologne. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Wikipedia, the text of HistoryWiki is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
| Preceded by Gebhard Truchsess von Waldburg |
Archbishop of Cologne 1583–1612 |
Succeeded by Ferdinand of Bavaria |
