Hildebold of Wunstorf (? - 1273), also Hildbold , was the

Prince-Archbishop of Bremen This list records the bishops of the Roman Catholic diocese of Bremen (german: link=no, Bistum Bremen), supposedly a suffragan of the Archbishopric of Cologne, then of the bishops of Bremen, who were in personal union archbishops of Hamburg (si ...

from 1258 until his death.

Life

He was a son of Hildebold II, and Hedwig of Oldenburg, daughter of

Maurice I Maurice ( la, Mauricius or ''Mauritius''; ; 539 – 27 November 602) was Eastern Roman emperor from 582 to 602 and the last member of the Justinian dynasty. A successful general, Maurice was chosen as heir and son-in-law by his predecessor Ti ...

. He was appointed as '' Domherr'' of Bremen in 1241 and, from 1250, as

archdeacon An archdeacon is a senior clergy position in the Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church, Syriac Orthodox Church, Anglican Communion, St Thomas Christians, Eastern Orthodox churches and some other Christian denominations, above that o ...

Rüstringen Rüstringen or Rustringen was an old Frisian gau, which lies between the modern district Friesland and the Weser river in modern Lower Saxony. Nowadays, only a small part of the original territory remains, namely the Butjadingen peninsula. The lar ...

Bremen
Diocesan In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...
Feud

Hildebold was elected following an ambivalent vote. The Bremen

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 ...

at St. Peter's Cathedral in Bremen were overwhelmingly on his side, but the Hamburg Cathedral Chapter and several Bremen canons had voted for the

dean Dean may refer to: People * Dean (given name) * Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin * Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk * Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean Titles * ...

(''Dom propst''), Gerhard von der Lippe, a great nephew of the deceased prince-archbishop, Gerhard II of Lippe. Gerhard had the support of his uncle, the Paderborn prince-bishop, , who as

coadjutor The term coadjutor (or coadiutor, literally "co-assister" in Latin) is a title qualifier indicating that the holder shares the office with another person, with powers equal to the other in all but formal order of precedence. These include: * Coadj ...

of Gebhard II had the castles of

Langwedel Langwedel is a municipality in the district of Verden, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the right bank of the Weser, approx. 7 km northwest of Verden, and 30 km southeast of Bremen. Langwedel belonged to the Prince-Bishopr ...

and Vörde in his possession. Hildebold was able, however, with the aid of the ''

ministeriales The ''ministeriales'' (singular: ''ministerialis'') were a class of people raised up from serfdom and placed in positions of power and responsibility in the High Middle Ages in the Holy Roman Empire. The word and its German translations, ''Minis ...

'' and for a payment of 800 marks, to gain ownership of both castles. Simon, with the help of the troops from Stedingen, advanced against Hildebold until he suffered a heavy defeat at the Battle of Munderloh against Hildebold who was militarily supported by his cousin

John I, Count of Oldenburg John I, Count of Oldenburg ( – ) was a ruling Count of Oldenburg from 1233 until his death. Life His father, Christian II, had ruled jointly with his uncle, Otto I. After Christian II died in 1233, Otto I acted as guardian for the underage ...

. After Hildebold had succeeded in gaining the prince-archbishopric and the

archdiocesan In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

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, he immediately travelled to Rome where he was able to successfully prevail against his opposition. On 17 April 1259 he was ordained by

Pope Alexander IV Pope Alexander IV (1199 or 1185 – 25 May 1261) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 12 December 1254 to his death in 1261. Early career He was born as Rinaldo di Jenne in Jenne (now in the Province of Rome), he ...

and given the

Pallium The pallium (derived from the Roman ''pallium'' or ''palla'', a woolen cloak; : ''pallia'') is an ecclesiastical vestment in the Catholic Church, originally peculiar to the pope, but for many centuries bestowed by the Holy See upon metropolit ...

Political activity

He became involved in a dispute with the city of Bremen over the construction of Versfleth Castle. The Bremen citizens accused him of wanting to use the castle to threaten the free movement of shipping on the Weser. The castle was captured by Bremen in 1262 and

slighted Slighting is the deliberate damage of high-status buildings to reduce their value as military, administrative or social structures. This destruction of property sometimes extended to the contents of buildings and the surrounding landscape. It is ...

. In a treaty on 14 August 1262, Hildebold had to guarantee Bremen that he would not have any more castles built between Bremen and the mouth of the Weser. He also came into conflict with Hamburg after he awarded the town of

Stade Stade (), officially the Hanseatic City of Stade (german: Hansestadt Stade, nds, Hansestadt Stood) is a city in Lower Saxony in northern Germany. First mentioned in records in 934, it is the seat of the district () which bears its name. It is l ...

the right to charge tolls and

staple right The staple right, also translated stacking right or storage right, both from the Dutch ''stapelrecht'', was a medieval right accorded to certain ports, the staple ports. It required merchant barges or ships to unload their goods at the port and to ...

s. The dispute was decided in favour of Hamburg when a privilege was confirmed by Emperor

Frederick I Frederick I may refer to: * Frederick of Utrecht or Frederick I (815/16–834/38), Bishop of Utrecht. * Frederick I, Duke of Upper Lorraine (942–978) * Frederick I, Duke of Swabia (1050–1105) * Frederick I, Count of Zoller ...

, that Hamburg's shipping could use the

River Elbe The Elbe (; cs, Labe ; nds, Ilv or ''Elv''; Upper and dsb, Łobjo) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Repu ...

without being charged tolls. Even his attempt to end the independence of Hamburg's cathedral chapter failed. Pope Clemens IV issued several decrees which confirmed the independence of the Hamburg cathedral chapter. After the Wildeshausen line of the House of Oldenburg died out in 1270 Hildebold inherited the County of

Wildeshausen Wildeshausen (Low Saxon: ''Wilshusen'') is a town and the capital of the Oldenburg district in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated by the river Hunte. History In 1648, Wildeshausen and the surrounding district was ceded to Sweden, in the Peace ...

, which, from then on, remained in the hands of

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state consis ...

Death

Hildebold died on 11 October 1273 in Bremen and was buried in Bremen Cathedral. He was followed in office by , a cousin on his mother's side.

Literature

* *

References