Otto Truchsess von Waldburg (25 February 1514 – 2 April 1573) was Prince-Bishop of

Augsburg Augsburg (; bar , Augschburg , links=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swabian_German , label=Swabian German, , ) is a city in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany, around west of Bavarian capital Munich. It is a university town and regional seat of the ...

from 1543 until his death and a Cardinal of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

Childhood and Education

Otto was born at Scheer Castle to the Swabian noble

House of Waldburg The House of Waldburg is a princely family of Upper Swabia, founded some time previous to the 12th century; some cadet lineages are comital families. Eberhard von Tanne-Waldburg (? - 1234) was the steward, or '' seneschal'', and adviser of the ...

, which, for their support in the German Peasants' War was vested with the title of a hereditary Imperial Seneschal (''Truchsess'') by Emperor

Charles V Charles V may refer to: * Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (1500–1558) * Charles V of Naples (1661–1700), better known as Charles II of Spain * Charles V of France (1338–1380), called the Wise * Charles V, Duke of Lorraine (1643–1690) * Infa ...

in 1526. Designated for an ecclesiastical career, he studied at the Universities of

Tübingen Tübingen (, , Swabian: ''Dibenga'') is a traditional university city in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, and developed on both sides of the Neckar and Ammer rivers. about one in three ...

Dole Dole may refer to: Places * Dole, Ceredigion, Wales * Dole, Idrija, Slovenia * Dole, Jura, France ** Arrondissement of Dole * Dole (Kladanj), a village at the entity line of Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina-Republika Srpska * Dole, Ljubušk ...

Padua Padua ( ; it, Padova ; vec, Pàdova) is a city and ''comune'' in Veneto, northern Italy. Padua is on the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice. It is the capital of the province of Padua. It is also the economic and communications hub of the ...

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...

, where he received his degree of Doctor of Theology in 1534, and

Pavia Pavia (, , , ; la, Ticinum; Medieval Latin: ) is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy in northern Italy, south of Milan on the lower Ticino river near its confluence with the Po. It has a population of c. 73,086. The city was the cap ...

. He was a fellow student of

Cristoforo Madruzzo 200px, '' Portrait of Cristoforo Madruzzo'' by Titian (1552). Museu de Arte de São Paulo, São Paulo">Museu_de_Arte_de_São_Paulo.html" ;"title="Titian (1552). Museu de Arte de São Paulo">Titian (1552). Museu de Arte de São Paulo, São Paulo. ...

Stanislaus Hosius Stanislaus Hosius ( pl, Stanisław Hozjusz; 5 May 1504 – 5 August 1579) was a Polish Roman Catholic cardinal. From 1551 he was the Prince-Bishop of the Bishopric of Warmia in Royal Prussia and from 1558 he served as the papal legate to the H ...

and Viglius van Zwichem. At an early age he had received

canonries Canon ( el, κανονικός, translit=kanonikós) is a Christian title usually used to refer to a member of certain bodies in subject to an canon law, ecclesiastical rule. Originally, a canon was a cleric living with others in a clergy house o ...

Trent Trent may refer to: Places Italy * Trento in northern Italy, site of the Council of Trent United Kingdom * Trent, Dorset, England, United Kingdom Germany * Trent, Germany, a municipality on the island of Rügen United States * Trent, California, ...

Speyer Speyer (, older spelling ''Speier'', French: ''Spire,'' historical English: ''Spires''; pfl, Schbaija) is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany with approximately 50,000 inhabitants. Located on the left bank of the river Rhine, Speyer li ...

, and Augsburg. In 1541 he was appointed Imperial councillor and acted as a strong advocate of the Catholic faith against the

Protestant 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 ...

at the 1542 Reichstag of

. Thereafter, while on an embassy to Rome, was made a

papal chamberlain A Papal Gentleman, also called a Gentleman of His Holiness, is a lay attendant of the pope and his papal household in Vatican City. Papal gentlemen serve in the Apostolic Palace near St. Peter's Basilica in ceremonial positions, such as escorting d ...

and nuncio for the scheduled

Council of Trent The Council of Trent ( la, Concilium Tridentinum), held between 1545 and 1563 in Trent (or Trento), now in northern Italy, was the 19th ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. Prompted by the Protestant Reformation, it has been described a ...

Career

On 10 May 1543, the skilled and ambitious man backed by Emperor Charles V was elected Prince-Bishop of Augsburg; in 1544 he was appointed Cardinal of the '' titulus'' of

Santa Balbina Santa Balbina is a Roman Catholic basilica church in located in the Aventine rione, adjacent to the Baths of Caracalla in Rome. History A church at the site initially was built in the 4th century over the house of consul Lucius Fabius Cilo. ...

by Pope Paul III for settling the dispute with the Emperor upon the concessions he had made to several Lutheran princes of the

Schmalkaldic League The Schmalkaldic League (; ; or ) was a military alliance of Lutheran princes within the Holy Roman Empire during the mid-16th century. Although created for religious motives soon after the start of the Reformation, its members later came to ...

at the Fourth Diet of Speyer. Otto however urged on a military expedition against the revolting nobles, which the Emperor prepared by forging an alliance with the (Lutheran) Duke

Maurice of Saxony Maurice (21 March 1521 – 9 July 1553) was Duke (1541–47) and later Elector (1547–53) of Saxony. His clever manipulation of alliances and disputes gained the Albertine branch of the Wettin dynasty extensive lands and the electoral dignity. ...

, when the Protestants in 1546 sparked the

Schmalkaldic War The Schmalkaldic War (german: link=no, Schmalkaldischer Krieg) was the short period of violence from 1546 until 1547 between the forces of Emperor Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire (simultaneously King Charles I of Spain), commanded by the Duk ...

by a preventive strike against the town of

Füssen Füssen is a town in Bavaria, Germany, in the district of Ostallgäu, situated one kilometre from the Austrian border. The town is known for violin manufacturing and as the closest transportation hub for the Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau ca ...

, a possession of the Augsburg bishop. He remained a loyal supporter of victorious Emperor Charles V, though he was dissatisfied with the terms of the

Augsburg Interim The Augsburg Interim (full formal title: ''Declaration of His Roman Imperial Majesty on the Observance of Religion Within the Holy Empire Until the Decision of the General Council'') was an imperial decree ordered on 15 May 1548 at the 1548 Diet ...

and especially had further on to deal with the unruly population of the

Imperial City In the Holy Roman Empire, the collective term free and imperial cities (german: Freie und Reichsstädte), briefly worded free imperial city (', la, urbs imperialis libera), was used from the fifteenth century to denote a self-ruling city that ...

. The conditions in his diocese were dreadful: the clergy were ignorant and depraved, and

Protestantism Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

was widespread. He sought to mend matters and to revitalize Catholicism through education, diocesan synods, visitations, edicts and improved religious instruction.. At his residence, he founded the

University of Dillingen The University of Dillingen, at Dillingen an der Donau in southern Germany, existed from 1551 to 1803. It was located in Swabia, then a district of Bavaria. Foundation Its founder was Cardinal Otto Truchsess von Waldburg, Prince-Bishop of Augsbur ...

under Pedro de Soto, now a

lyceum The lyceum is a category of educational institution defined within the education system of many countries, mainly in Europe. The definition varies among countries; usually it is a type of secondary school. Generally in that type of school the t ...

, and the ecclesiastical seminary at Dillingen (1549–55). In 1564 he transferred the management of these institutions to the

Jesuits , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders = ...

. In 1549–50 and again in 1555 he took part in the papal elections at Rome. The situation of the bishopric worsened in 1552, when it was devastated by the troops of the former ally Maurice, meanwhile Saxon Elector. The emperor's younger brother King Ferdinand I, now in charge and prepared to compromise, concluded the

Peace of Passau Holy Roman Emperor Charles V had won a victory against Protestant forces in the Schmalkaldic War of 1547. Many Protestant princes were unhappy with the religious terms of the Augsburg Interim imposed after this victory. In January 1552, led by Maur ...

with Maurice, which led to the 1555 Peace of Augsburg with the Lutheran princes. Otto's advice was no longer in demand and with the abdication of Charles V the next year, his powerful position finally was lost. He once more went to Rome in 1559 and was there made the head of the

Inquisition The Inquisition was a group of institutions within the Catholic Church whose aim was to combat heresy, conducting trials of suspected heretics. Studies of the records have found that the overwhelming majority of sentences consisted of penances, ...

and, in 1562,

Cardinal-Bishop of Albano The Diocese of Albano ( la, Albanensis) is a suburbicarian see of the Roman Catholic Church in a diocese in Italy, comprising seven towns in the Province of Rome. Albano Laziale is situated some 15 kilometers from Rome, on the Appian Way. Under ...

. In 1567 he held a diocesan synod at Dillingen. From 1568 he lived full-time at Rome, where he died. He was a moral, religious man, with great force of character, to whom half measures and shiftiness were foreign. He incurred the hatred of the Protestants for his protest against the Religious Peace of Augsburg.

Cultural references

A fictional version of him is seen in the third series of

Showtime Showtime or Show Time may refer to: Film * ''Showtime'' (film), a 2002 American action/comedy film * ''Showtime'' (video), a 1995 live concert video by Blur Television Networks and channels * Showtime Networks, a division of Paramount Global w ...

's Emmy Award–winning show ''

The Tudors ''The Tudors'' is a historical fiction television series set primarily in 16th-century England, created and written by Michael Hirst and produced for the American premium cable television channel Showtime. The series was a collaboration among ...

''. He is played by Swedish actor

Max von Sydow Max von Sydow ( , ; born Carl Adolf von Sydow; 10 April 1929 – 8 March 2020) was a Swedish-French actor. He had a 70-year career in European and American cinema, television, and theatre, appearing in more than 150 films and several television ...

References

* Braun, ''Gesch. der Bischofe von Augsburg'', III (Augsburg, 1814) * * DuhrQue, ''llen zu einer Biogr. des Kard. Otto Truchsess von Waldburg'' in Hist. Jahrbuch, VII (Munich, 1886), 177–209, and XX (Munich, 1899), 71–4. * Janssen, ''History of the German People'', tr. Christie, VI–IX (London, 1905–8), passim * Truchsess, ''Literae ad Hosium'', ed. Weber (Ratisbon, 1892) * Weber, ''Card. Otto Truchsess'' in Hist.-pol. Blatter, CX (Munich, 1892)., 781–96 * Oxford University Press, Cardinal Otto Truchsess Von Waldburg And His Role As Art Dealer For Albrecht V OF Bavaria (1568–73)By Noes M. Overbeeke (http://jhc.oxfordjournals.org/content/6/2/173.full.pdf+html) {{DEFAULTSORT:Waldburg, Otto von 1514 births 1573 deaths People from Sigmaringen (district) 16th-century German cardinals Cardinal-bishops of Albano Cardinal-bishops of Palestrina Cardinal-bishops of Sabina University of Bologna alumni University of Padua alumni University of Dole alumni

Otto Otto is a masculine German given name and a surname. It originates as an Old High German short form (variants ''Audo'', '' Odo'', ''Udo'') of Germanic names beginning in ''aud-'', an element meaning "wealth, prosperity". The name is recorded f ...

Prince-bishops in the Holy Roman Empire History of Augsburg