Georg von Blumenthal (1490, Horst, administratively now part of Heiligengrabe - 1550, Lebus) was a German Prince-Bishop of Ratzeburg and Prince-Bishop of Lebus. He also served as a Privy Councillor of the Margraviate of Brandenburg and Chancellor of the University of Frankfurt (Oder), commonly called the Viadrina.
Bishop von Blumenthal negotiated the second marriage of Joachim II Hector, Elector of Brandenburg, to the Catholic Hedwig of Poland. Known in his lifetime as the "Pillar of Catholicism", he used his position as Chancellor of the Viadrina to combat the Reformation. He was twice besieged in his palaces by Protestant brigands; once at Fürstenwalde by the robber-baron Nickel von Minkwitz, an event which drew Martin Luther into the controversy, and once at Ratzeburg. He was the last Catholic sovereign ruler in northern Germany, and the only Bishop in Brandenburg during the Protestant Reformation to die a Catholic. He was buried in the Cathedral of St. Mary's in Fürstenwalde.
Georg von Blumenthal
Born: 1490 in Horst in the Prignitz Died: 24 or 25 September 1550 in Lebus |
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Preceded by Dietrich von Bülow |
Bishop of Lebus 1524-1550 |
Succeeded by John VIII Horneburg as Lutheran bishop |
Preceded by Henry III Bergmeier |
Prince-Bishop of Ratzeburg 1525-1550 |
Succeeded by Christopher I von der Schulenburg as Lutheran bishop |