Henry of Wierzbna ( pl, Henryk z Wierzbnej, german: Heinrich von Würben; probably before 1270 – 23 September 1319) was a
Bishop of Wrocław
Bishops of the (Breslau )Wrocław Bishopric, Prince-Bishopric (1290–1918), and Archdiocese (since 1930; see Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Wrocław for details).
Bishops
* 1000–? – John (Johannes)
* 1051–1062 – Hieronymus
* 1063–1072 ...
in
Poland in 1302–1319.
Life
He was born into the Wierzbna
noble family of
Würben toward the end of the 1260s and was the third and youngest son of John, the
Castellan
A castellan is the title used in Medieval Europe for an appointed official, a governor of a castle and its surrounding territory referred to as the castellany. The title of ''governor'' is retained in the English prison system, as a remnant o ...
of Ryczyna in
Silesia.
He was made a
Canon of
Wrocław on 31 August 1290 and supported King
Wenceslaus II of Bohemia and his relative
Jan Muskata,
Bishop of Kraków in the dynastic struggles of the day.
He was made
Bishop in 1302 by
Pope Boniface VIII
Pope Boniface VIII ( la, Bonifatius PP. VIII; born Benedetto Caetani, c. 1230 – 11 October 1303) was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 24 December 1294 to his death in 1303. The Caetani, Caetani family was of b ...
and he was the first of the Bishops of
Wroclaw to take the
princely title.
His time in office was notable for his organization of a Court of the
Inquisition in 1315, the result of which included
burning at the stake more than 50 people convicted of
heresy in the towns of
Wroclaw,
Swidnica and
Nysa. His inquisition was particularly against
Beguines and Beghards.
He died on 23 September 1319.
Bishops of Wroclaw
at GCatholic.org. and was buried in the Wrocław Cathedral. Due to competing claims a replacement Bishop was not appointed for seven years following his death and the diocese was administered by his canon Nicholas of Banz.
Further reading
* Colmar Grünhagen : Henry I (of Würben) In:. General German Biography (ADB). Volume 11, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig, 1880, pp. 507–509.
* Constantin von Wurzbach:Henry the Younger in:. Biographical Dictionary of the Austrian Empire tape 58.(In German) Verlag L. C. Zamarski, Wien 1889, S. 178. Publisher L. C. Zamarski, Vienna, 1889, p. 178
* Kurt Engelbert: Heinrich I. v. Würben in the New German Biography (NDB). Volume 8, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin, 1969, , p 354 ( digitized )(IN German).
* Jan Kopiec, in: Erwin Gatz (Ed.): The bishops of the Holy Roman Empire From 1198 to 1448. Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2001, page 110.
References
Prince-Bishops of Breslau
13th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Poland
13th-century births
1319 deaths
People from Żarów
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