Reinhold von Buxhoevedeni vapp Koluvere linnuselt

Reinhold von Buxhoeveden (died 1557) was bishop of the Bishopric of Saare-Lääne or Ösel–Wiek ( et, Saare-Lääne piiskopkond; german: Bistum Ösel–Wiek;

Low German : : : : : (70,000) (30,000) (8,000) , familycolor = Indo-European , fam2 = Germanic , fam3 = West Germanic , fam4 = North Sea Germanic , ancestor = Old Saxon , ancestor2 = Middle L ...

: ''Bisdom Ösel–Wiek''; contemporary la, Ecclesia Osiliensis), a semi-independent

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 ...

prince-bishopric in what is now Saare,

Hiiu Hiiu is a subdistrict ( et, asum) in the district of Nõmme, Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. It covers an area of and has a population of 3,986 (), population density is . Hiiu has a station on the Elron western route. The first narrow gauge ...

and Lääne counties of

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 ...

, from 1532 to 1541. He was the second member of the

Buxhoeveden family The House of Buxhoeveden was a Baltic German noble family of Lower Saxon origin in Estonia and Russian Empire, with roots tracing to Bexhövede. In Sweden, the family is considered part of the unintroduced nobility. Notable family members ...

to serve as bishop of Saare-Lääne. Buxhoeveden is believed to have been born in the early 1480s and matriculated into

Rostock University The University of Rostock (german: link=no, Universität Rostock) is a public university located in Rostock, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. Founded in 1419, it is the third-oldest university in Germany. It is the oldest university in contin ...

in 1501.graduation of Reinhold von Buxhoeveden
/ref> In 1506 he was awarded a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

(''magister artiumi'') degree with canonical rights. He proceeded to prepare for a career in the religious ministry, and had the fortune of being accepted as a ministerial candidate in Rome. It is not known how long he was in Rome, but upon his departure he was named canon of

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 ...

and Saare-Lääne dioceses, and no later than 1519 he returned to

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 ...

. There he was named bishop of Tartu and became a close assistant to Johannes Blankenfeld, the future

archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...

. On 13 November 1519 he was named archdeacon of the Saare-Lääne bishopric. In the following years he spent little time in Livonia, but rather became Blankenfeld’s ambassador to

Pope Leo X Pope Leo X ( it, Leone X; born Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici, 11 December 14751 December 1521) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 9 March 1513 to his death in December 1521. Born into the prominent political an ...

. From 1520 on, he returned occasionally to

Saaremaa Saaremaa is the largest island in Estonia, measuring . The main island of Saare County, it is located in the Baltic Sea, south of Hiiumaa island and west of Muhu island, and belongs to the West Estonian Archipelago. The capital of the island i ...

and Tartu. In 1527, upon the death of Saare-Lääne bishop Johannes IV Kievel, Buxhoeveden should have gained enough influence to be named his successor. This however did not come to fruition, as he was tied politically to Blankenfeld who was suspected of wanting to cede Livonia to the Russians. Thus, Buxhoeveden remained archdeacon for three more years. On 18 October 1530 he was elected bishop by the Saare-Lääne chapter and knights, despite two votes against him by the Läänemaa vassalage.

Emperor Charles V Charles V, french: Charles Quint, it, Carlo V, nl, Karel V, ca, Carles V, la, Carolus V (24 February 1500 – 21 September 1558) was Holy Roman Emperor and Archduke of Austria from 1519 to 1556, King of Spain ( Castile and Aragon) ...

confirmed him as bishop in December 1531, and the Pope did so on 3 August 1532. However, before word of his confirmation reached Livonia, civil broke out in Saare-Lääne. During the Saare-Lääne civil war (1532–1536), Buxhoeveden had to compete with Wilhelm von Hohenzollern, the coadjutant of the archbishop of Riga, who had moved to the Läänemaa region. Buxhoeveden won out in the end, but at great financial cost, and commitments to the influential families in the Läänemaa vassalage. These factors led to many conflicts in the Saare-Lääne bishopric in the early 1540s. Buxhoeveden resigned from his position sometime before 13 July 1541. By this time, he had gained strong influence with the

Livonian Order The Livonian Order was an autonomous branch of the Teutonic Order, formed in 1237. From 1435 to 1561 it was a member of the Livonian Confederation. History The order was formed from the remnants of the Livonian Brothers of the Sword after the ...

. With this influence he was able to get the bishop of Kuramaa, Johann von Münchhausen, appointed as his successor. Buxhoeveden died some time before 7 May 1557 at the bishop’s residence at Koluvere castle.

References

* Leonid Arbusow sr., ''Livlands Geistlichkeit vom Ende des 12. bis ins 16. Jahrhundert''. Mitau (Jelgava), 1900. (in German) * Jüri Kivimäe, Piiskop ja Hansakaupmees: "Reinhold von Buxhövdeni ja Johann Selhorsti kaubasuhetest 1530. aastate algul." In: ''Sõnadesse püütud minevik: in honorem Enn Tarvel''. Tallinn: Argo, 2009, pages 138-158 (in Estonian) {{DEFAULTSORT:Buxhoeveden, Reinhold von Prince-bishops in Livonia 16th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Lithuania

Reinhold Reinhold is a German male given name. This German name is originally from "Reinold", composed of two elements. The first is from ''ragin'', meaning "the (Germanic) Gods" and ''wald'' meaning "powerful". This name was popularised by the ancient Ge ...

1557 deaths Year of birth unknown