Leonhard von Eck (1480-1550) was a Bavarian nobleman who served as chancellor of

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

for thirty years. He was Chancellor to William IV and a powerful opponent 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 ...

. Leonhard von Eck was born in 1480 in

Kelheim Kelheim () is a town and municipality in Bavaria, Germany. It is the capital of the district Kelheim and is situated at the confluence of the rivers Altmühl and Danube. Kelheim has a population of around 16,750 (2020). History Kelheim is t ...

, a town on the

River Danube The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , pa ...

. Von Eck attended the universities of

Ingolstadt Ingolstadt (, Austro-Bavarian: ) is an independent city on the Danube in Upper Bavaria with 139,553 inhabitants (as of June 30, 2022). Around half a million people live in the metropolitan area. Ingolstadt is the second largest city in Upper Bav ...

and

Siena Siena ( , ; lat, Sena Iulia) is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena. The city is historically linked to commercial and banking activities, having been a major banking center until the 13th and 14th centuri ...

where he obtained an MA degree and a doctorate of laws. He returned to Germany and was appointed tutor to William IV, the duke of Bavaria . In 1519 became the

chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

of Bavaria, a position he held for the next 30 years. In 1520 he married Felicitas von Freyberg, the widow of Dietrich von Plieningen, whose library he inherited. Leonhard died in Munich on 17 March 1550 and was buried in his hometown of Kelheim.{{Cite web , title=Leonhard von Eck {{! Special Collections {{! Library {{! University of Leeds , url=https://library.leeds.ac.uk/special-collections/research-spotlight/1157/leonhard_von_eck , access-date=2023-02-02 , website=library.leeds.ac.uk

References

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