Erhard of Queis (, in

Storkow, Brandenburg Storkow (Mark) is a town in Oder-Spree district, in Brandenburg, Germany. Geography Storkow is situated in the western part of Oder-Spree district, about southwest of Fürstenwalde. The municipal area comprises several lakes of the Dahme-Heidese ...

– 10 September 1529, in

Preußisch Holland Preußisch is the German language adjective for "Prussian". Preußisch may refer to: ;Places in Germany *Preußisch Oldendorf, town in North Rhine-Westphalia ;Places outside of Germany *Preußisch Eylau, now Bagrationovsk, Russia *Preußisch F ...

) was

Bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

Pomesania Pomesanians were a Prussian clan. They lived in Pomesania ( pl, Pomezania; lt, Pamedė; german: Pomesanien), a historical region in modern northern Poland, located between the Nogat and Vistula Rivers to the west and the Elbląg River to the e ...

. He is considered one of the pioneers of the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...

Life

Details of Queis's youth are not available. He enrolled at the university of

Frankfurt (Oder) Frankfurt (Oder), also known as Frankfurt an der Oder (), is a city in the German state of Brandenburg. It has around 57,000 inhabitants, is one of the easternmost cities in Germany, the fourth-largest city in Brandenburg, and the largest German ...

in 1506. In 1515, he went to

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...

to read law. It is not clear whether he acquired the degree of

Doctor Doctor or The Doctor may refer to: Personal titles * Doctor (title), the holder of an accredited academic degree * A medical practitioner, including: ** Physician ** Surgeon ** Dentist ** Veterinary physician ** Optometrist *Other roles ** ...

during either of these studies. By 1523, he was Chancellor of the

Duchy of Legnica The Duchy of Legnica ( pl, Księstwo Legnickie, cs, Lehnické knížectví) or Duchy of Liegnitz (german: Herzogtum Liegnitz) was one of the Duchies of Silesia. Its capital was Legnica (''Liegnitz'') in Lower Silesia. Legnica Castle had become ...

, serving Duke Frederick II. In this position, he met Grand Master

Albert Albert may refer to: Companies * Albert (supermarket), a supermarket chain in the Czech Republic * Albert Heijn, a supermarket chain in the Netherlands * Albert Market, a street market in The Gambia * Albert Productions, a record label * Alber ...

, who persuaded him to join the Teutonic Order and take over the vacant second Prussian

Bishopric of Pomesania The Bishopric of Pomesania (german: Bistum Pomesanien; pl, Diecezja pomezańska) was a Catholic diocese in the Prussian regions of Pomesania and Pogesania, in modern northern Poland until the 16th century, then shortly a Lutheran diocese, and b ...

. Queis was elected bishop by the Pomesanian

cathedral chapter According to both Catholic and Anglican canon law, a cathedral chapter is a college of clerics ( chapter) formed to advise a bishop and, in the case of a vacancy of the episcopal see in some countries, to govern the diocese during the vacancy. In ...

Marienwerder Kwidzyn (pronounced ; german: Marienwerder; Latin: ''Quedin''; Old Prussian: ''Kwēdina'') is a town in northern Poland on the Liwa River, with 38,553 inhabitants (2018). It is the capital of Kwidzyn County in the Pomeranian Voivodeship. Geogra ...

on 10 September 1523. His election was never confirmed by the Pope, since Queis professed to evangelic Lutheran Reformation. He took up residence in Riesenburg Castle anyway. Grand Master Albert had great confidence in Queis' legal and administrative expertise. He sent Erhard to negotiations in Pressburg (

Bratislava Bratislava (, also ; ; german: Preßburg/Pressburg ; hu, Pozsony) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Slovakia. Officially, the population of the city is about 475,000; however, it is estimated to be more than 660,000 — approxim ...

) and

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...

about the secularisation of the

Teutonic State of Prussia The State of the Teutonic Order (german: Staat des Deutschen Ordens, ; la, Civitas Ordinis Theutonici; lt, Vokiečių ordino valstybė; pl, Państwo zakonu krzyżackiego), also called () or (), was a medieval Crusader state, located in Centr ...

on the Baltic coast. Queis paid homage to the King of Poland, as protector/patron on Albert's behalf. He carried out similar missions later. When he accompanied the Duke to Danzig in 1526, he was already wearing secular clothing. Queis also travelled to

Kiel Kiel () is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021). Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the J ...

, to conclude a marriage contract for Duke Albert, who coveted the hand of the Danish king's daughter

Dorothea Dorothea (also spelled Dorothée, Dorotea or other variants) is a female given name from Greek (Dōrothéa) meaning "God's Gift". It may refer to: People * Dorothea Binz (1920–1947), German concentration camp officer executed for war cri ...

. This kind of diplomatic services for the young Duchy kept him from fulfilling his ecclesiastical duties for a long time. Queis sided wholly with the Reformation, just like his predecessor, bishop

George of Polentz George of Polentz (born: ; died: 1550 in Balga) was bishop of Samland and Pomesania and a lawyer. He was the first Lutheran bishop and also a Protestant reformer. Polentz was a member of an old Saxon noble family. He studied law in Bologna and ...

. At the end of 1524, Queis published his reform program . In this program he posits out that Christ instituted only two sacraments, and that laws of mortals in the Church should be abolished. He demanded that church services should be in German and forbade the worship of the Eucharist and the Corpus Christi procession. His 19th thesis was: "The daily Mass is an abomination to God: therefore it shall henceforth not be held in any church nor anywhere else". He allowed priest and members of religious orders to marry. The

Duchy of Prussia The Duchy of Prussia (german: Herzogtum Preußen, pl, Księstwo Pruskie, lt, Prūsijos kunigaikštystė) or Ducal Prussia (german: Herzogliches Preußen, link=no; pl, Prusy Książęce, link=no) was a duchy in the Prussia (region), region of P ...

adopted in 1525 a new Church Order written by the two bishops Polentz and Queis, who had turned

Lutherans Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched ...

. Queis and Polentz had ceded temporal power over their bishoprics to the Duke, and only retained the Lordships of Marienwerder und Schönberg. Queis married Duchess Apollonia, a daughter of Victor of Poděbrady, Duke of Münsterberg and Opava, who had been a

nun A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 599. The term is o ...

in the

Poor Clares The Poor Clares, officially the Order of Saint Clare ( la, Ordo sanctae Clarae) – originally referred to as the Order of Poor Ladies, and later the Clarisses, the Minoresses, the Franciscan Clarist Order, and the Second Order of Saint Francis ...

monastery at

Strzelin Strzelin (german: Strehlen, cz, Střelín) is a town in Lower Silesian Voivodeship in south-western Poland. It is located on the Oława river, a tributary of the Oder, about south of the region's capital Wrocław. It is part of the Wrocław met ...

. Erhard of Queis died in 1529, on his return from a convention of the

Prussian Landtag The Landtag of Prussia (german: Preußischer Landtag) was the representative assembly of the Kingdom of Prussia implemented in 1849, a bicameral legislature consisting of the upper House of Lords (''Herrenhaus'') and the lower House of Represent ...

Königsberg Königsberg (, ) was the historic Prussian city that is now Kaliningrad, Russia. Königsberg was founded in 1255 on the site of the ancient Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teutonic Knights during the Northern Crusades, and was named ...

. His widow died in 1534.

References and sources

Paul Tschackert Paul Tschackert (10 January 1848 – 7 July 1911) was a German Protestant theologian and church historian born in Freystadt, Silesia. He is largely remembered for studies involving the history of the Protestant Reformation. Tschackert studied histo ...

: ''Urkundenbuch zur Reformationsgeschichte des Herzogthums Preußen'', vol. 1, Leipzig, 1890, p. 39 * Robert Stupperich: ''Die Reformation im Ordensland Preußen'', Ulm, 1966 * W. Hubatsch: ''Geschichte der evangelischen Kirche in Ostpreußen'', vo1, Göttingen, 1968, passim {{DEFAULTSORT:Erhard of Queis 1490 births 1529 deaths People from Oder-Spree Converts to Lutheranism from Roman Catholicism 16th-century Lutheran bishops in Prussia Lutheran bishops of Pomesania