Hermann Wesel (died June 1563) was a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

ecclesiastic in

Livonia Livonia ( liv, Līvõmō, et, Liivimaa, fi, Liivinmaa, German and Scandinavian languages: ', archaic German: ''Liefland'', nl, Lijfland, Latvian and lt, Livonija, pl, Inflanty, archaic English: ''Livland'', ''Liwlandia''; russian: Ли ...

, and the last

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

Bishop of Dorpat The Bishopric of Dorpat ( et, Tartu piiskopkond; nds, Bisdom Dorpat; la, Ecclesia Tarbatensis) was a medieval prince-bishopric, i.e. both a diocese of the Roman Catholic Church and a temporal principality ruled by the bishop of the diocese. It ...

(

Tartu Tartu is the second largest city in Estonia after the Northern European country's political and financial capital, Tallinn. Tartu has a population of 91,407 (as of 2021). It is southeast of Tallinn and 245 kilometres (152 miles) northeast of ...

Life

Hermann Wesel is presumed to have originated from

Wesel Wesel () is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the capital of the Wesel district. Geography Wesel is situated at the confluence of the Lippe River and the Rhine. Division of the city Suburbs of Wesel include Lackhausen, Obrighove ...

on the

Lower Rhine The Lower Rhine (german: Niederrhein; kilometres 660 to 1,033 of the river Rhine) flows from Bonn, Germany, to the North Sea at Hook of Holland, Netherlands (including the Nederrijn or "Nether Rhine" within the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta); al ...

. His father is supposed to have been a shoemaker. In 1544 he was elected abbot of the

Cistercian The Cistercians, () officially the Order of Cistercians ( la, (Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint ...

Kärkna Abbey Kärkna Abbey ( et, Kärkna klooster; german: Kloster Falkenau or ''Valkenau''), now ruined, was a former Cistercian monastery in Estonia. Situation The monastery was sited about 8 km north of Tartu (formerly Dorpat) in the village of ...

, then known as Falkenau Abbey, in Livonia (now

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

). On 17 October 1552 the

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 ...

of the

Bishopric of Dorpat The Bishopric of Dorpat ( et, Tartu piiskopkond; nds, Bisdom Dorpat; la, Ecclesia Tarbatensis) was a medieval prince-bishopric, i.e. both a diocese of the Roman Catholic Church and a temporal principality ruled by the bishop of the diocese. It ...

elected him Prince-Bishop of Dorpat, as Hermann II. On 25 June 1554 the appointment was confirmed by the Pope. Wesel remained simultaneously abbot of Kärkna. In 1558 the

Livonian War The Livonian War (1558–1583) was the Russian invasion of Old Livonia, and the prolonged series of military conflicts that followed, in which Tsar Ivan the Terrible of Russia (Muscovy) unsuccessfully fought for control of the region (pre ...

broke out, and the region was overrun. The Bishopric of Dorpat was almost entirely destroyed by the Russians right at the beginning of the war, as were the small states of Livonia shortly afterwards. Dorpat capitulated on 18 July 1558. The new Russian rulers spared Bishop Hermann's life and he was at first allowed to retire to his monastery at Kärkna. However, on 23 August 1558 Russian troops deported him into the interior of Russia where he died in 1563, the last Roman Catholic bishop of Dorpat.

Sources

* ''Rechtfertigungsschrift vom 15. Juni 1559''. In: Stefan Hartmann (Hrsg.): ''Herzog Albrecht von Preussen und Livland (1557–1560): Regesten aus dem Herzoglichen Briefarchiv und den Ostpreussischen Folianten''. Böhlau Verlag, Köln / Weimar 2006, ISBN 978-3-41-201606-7, Nr. 2466, page 344 f. History of Tartu German abbots Baltic-German people 16th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Lithuania German Cistercians 1563 deaths Prince-bishops in Livonia Year of birth unknown {{RC-clergy-stub