Bruno von Porstendorf otherwise Bruno II of Meissen or Bruno II von Porstendorf (died 4 December 1228) was
Bishop of Meissen
The Bishop of Dresden-Meissen is the Ordinary (Catholic Church), ordinary of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Dresden-Meissen in the Archdiocese of Berlin.
The diocese covers an area of and was erected as the Diocese of Meissen on 24 June 1921. Th ...
from 1209 to 1228.
In older lists of the bishops of Meissen he is numbered as Bruno III because of the inclusion of an earlier Bruno II, who was a clerical error.
Life
Along with the
Přemyslid Kings of Bohemia
The Duchy of Bohemia was established in 870 and raised to the Kingdom of Bohemia in 1198. Several Bohemian monarchs ruled as non-hereditary kings beforehand, first gaining the title in 1085. From 1004 to 1806, Bohemia was part of the Holy Roman ...
Bruno was one of the most active participants in the
German settlement of
Upper Lusatia
Upper Lusatia (german: Oberlausitz ; hsb, Hornja Łužica ; dsb, Górna Łužyca; szl, Gōrnŏ Łużyca; pl, Łużyce Górne or ''Milsko''; cz, Horní Lužice) is a historical region in Germany and Poland. Along with Lower Lusatia to the ...
. For one thing, this was the location of the majority of the estates of the bishops of Meissen; for another, Bruno was keen in this way to secure his power in Upper Lusatia against the inroads of the Bohemians.
In 1228 he was removed from his office by
Pope Gregory IX
Pope Gregory IX ( la, Gregorius IX; born Ugolino di Conti; c. 1145 or before 1170 – 22 August 1241) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 19 March 1227 until his death in 1241. He is known for issuing the '' Decre ...
, presumably because of his reckless behaviour, and died on 4 December in the same year. His body was buried in the crypt of the
collegiate church In Christianity, a collegiate church is a church where the daily office of worship is maintained by a college of canons: a non-monastic or "secular" community of clergy, organised as a self-governing corporate body, which may be presided over by a ...
in
Bautzen
Bautzen () or Budyšin () is a hill-top town in eastern Saxony, Germany, and the administrative centre of the district of Bautzen. It is located on the Spree river. In 2018 the town's population was 39,087. Until 1868, its German name was ''Budis ...
, which he had founded himself between 1213 and 1218.
In 1225 Bruno dedicated the Chapel of St. George in the Matthias Gate
[later rebuilt as the Matthias Tower] in Ortenburg, Bautzen.
Notes and references
Sources
* Enno Bünz: ''Der Meißner Bischof Bruno von Porstendorf (1209/10–1228). Herkunft – Aufstieg – Rücktritt – Pensionierung''. In: ''Neues Archiv für sächsische Geschichte''. 77 (2006), pp. 1–36
* Thomas Ludwig, 2008: ''Die Urkunden der Bischöfe von Meissen: diplomatische Untersuchungen zum 10.-13. Jahrhundert''. Volume 10 of Archiv für Diplomatik: Beiheft. Böhlau Verlag Köln Weimar
Roman Catholic bishops of Meissen
Year of birth unknown
1228 deaths
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