Godebold of Meissen (also noted as Godebald, Godewald, Gottwald, Goswald, Gotthold, Gotthard, Gerhold and Gorhold; died 31 August 1140), 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 1119 to 1140.
Life
Godebold, of whose earlier life nothing is known, was enthroned by the then
Archbishop of Magdeburg
The Archbishopric of Magdeburg was a Roman Catholic archdiocese (969–1552) and Prince-Archbishopric (1180–1680) of the Holy Roman Empire centered on the city of Magdeburg on the Elbe River.
Planned since 955 and established in 968, the Roman ...
,
Rudgar of Veltheim, and was on friendly terms with Rudgar's successor, Saint
Norbert of Xanten
Norbert of Xanten, O. Praem (c. 1075 – 6 June 1134) (Xanten-Magdeburg), also known as Norbert Gennep, was a bishop of the Catholic Church, founder of the Premonstratensian order of canons regular, and is venerated as a saint. Norbert was can ...
, supporting him loyally during an uprising and through his persecution in Magdeburg.
At a diocesan synod in 1130 hosted by Godebold, the Margrave
Conrad I of Meissen
Conrad I ( – 5 February 1157), called the Great (german: Konrad der Große), a member of the House of Wettin, was Margrave of Meissen from 1123 and Margrave of Lusatia from 1136 until his retirement in 1156. Initially a Saxon count, he became ...
was present with his sons
Otto (later Otto II of Meissen),
Dietrich (later Margrave of Lusatia),
Henry (later Henry I of Wettin),
Dedi (later Dedi III of Lusatia), and
Frederick (later Frederick I of Brehna).
In 1130 Godebold rebuilt the old
Meissen Cathedral
Meissen Cathedral or the Church of St John and St Donatus (german: Meißner Dom) is a Gothic church in Meissen in Saxony. It is situated on the castle hill of Meissen, adjacent to the Albrechtsburg castle and forms a critical centrepiece of the ic ...
, which was the converted castle chapel, as a
Romanesque basilica
In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building gave its name ...
with four towers (entirely replaced by the present
Gothic
Gothic or Gothics may refer to:
People and languages
*Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes
**Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths
**Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
cathedral 100 years later).
Der Dom zu Meissen
/ref> During his episcopate several monasteries were founded.Herwig Herwig is both a masculine German given name and a surname. Notable people with the name include:
Given name:
*Herwig Ahrendsen (born 1948), German handball player
*Herwig Dirnböck (born 1935), Austrian sprint canoeist
* Herwig Drechsel (born 1973 ...
and Godebold, but there is no documentary evidence to support this. Machatschek therefore follows Gersdorf in regarding Godebold as the immediate successor of Herwig.[Eduard Machatschek: ''Geschichte der Bischöfe des Hochstiftes Meissen in chronologischer Reihenfolge (...)'' (pp. 103–111). Dresden 1884]
In addition, other old lists include a Bishop Grambert between Herwig and Godebold, but this is a chronological and transcription error for Godebold's successor, Bishop Reinward.
References
Roman Catholic bishops of Meissen
1140 deaths
Year of birth unknown
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