Wilbrand of Oldenburg (before 1180 -

Zwolle Zwolle () is a city and municipality in the Northeastern Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of Overijssel and the province's second-largest municipality after Enschede with a population of 130,592 as of 1 December 2021. Zwolle is o ...

, 26 July 1233) was a bishop of

Paderborn Paderborn (; Westphalian: ''Patterbuorn'', also ''Paterboärn'') is a city in eastern North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, capital of the Paderborn district. The name of the city derives from the river Pader and ''Born'', an old German term for t ...

and of

Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city and a List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, pro ...

Family

Wilbrand was the son of Henry II, Count of Oldenburg-Wildeshausen, and Beatrix of Hallermund, daughter of

Wilbrand I, Count of Loccum-Hallermund Julius Bernhard Friedrich Adolph Wilbrand (22 August 1839 – 22 June 1906)''Familienarchiv Familie Wilbrand'' O13, Nr. 139, Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt. was a German chemist. Born in Gießen to Franz Joseph Julius Wilbrand and Albertine Knap ...

. His uncle Gerhard of Oldenburg was bishop of

Osnabrück Osnabrück (; wep, Ossenbrügge; archaic ''Osnaburg'') is a city in the German state of Lower Saxony. It is situated on the river Hase in a valley penned between the Wiehen Hills and the northern tip of the Teutoburg Forest. With a population ...

from 1192 to 1216 and archbishop 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 ...

from 1216 to 1219. Wilbrand was also related to the count of

Holland Holland is a geographical regionG. Geerts & H. Heestermans, 1981, ''Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal. Deel I'', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, p 1105 and former province on the western coast of the Netherlands. From the 10th to the 16th c ...

and

Guelders The Duchy of Guelders ( nl, Gelre, french: Gueldre, german: Geldern) is a historical duchy, previously county, of the Holy Roman Empire, located in the Low Countries. Geography The duchy was named after the town of Geldern (''Gelder'') in pr ...

. Wilbrand's older brothers Burchard of Wildenbrug and Henry III, Count of Oldenburg were killed in a crusade against the Stedingers. His other brother Engelmar was provost at Munster.

Life

From 1211 to 1212 Wilbrand was Canon of

Hildesheim Hildesheim (; nds, Hilmessen, Hilmssen; la, Hildesia) is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany with 101,693 inhabitants. It is in the district of Hildesheim, about southeast of Hanover on the banks of the Innerste River, a small tributary of the Lei ...

, where he was ordered by

Otto IV, Holy Roman Emperor Otto IV (1175 – 19 May 1218) was the Holy Roman Emperor from 1209 until his death in 1218. Otto spent most of his early life in England and France. He was a follower of his uncle Richard the Lionheart, who made him Count of Poitou in 1196 ...

to prepare the

Fifth Crusade The Fifth Crusade (1217–1221) was a campaign in a series of Crusades by Western Europeans to reacquire Jerusalem and the rest of the Holy Land by first conquering Egypt, ruled by the powerful Ayyubid sultanate, led by al-Adil, brother of Sala ...

to the

Holy Land The Holy Land; Arabic: or is an area roughly located between the Mediterranean Sea and the Eastern Bank of the Jordan River, traditionally synonymous both with the biblical Land of Israel and with the region of Palestine. The term "Holy ...

. He reported about this in his ''Itinerary of the Holy Land'' ( la, Itinerarium Terrae Sanctae), an important historical source on the crusades and crusader castles. He was supported in this task by the grandmaster of the

Teutonic Knights The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem, commonly known as the Teutonic Order, is a Catholic religious institution founded as a military society in Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem. It was formed to aid Christians on ...

Hermann von Salza Hermann von Salza (or Herman of Salza; c. 1165 – 20 March 1239) was the fourth Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights, serving from 1210 to 1239. A skilled diplomat with ties to the Holy Roman Emperor and the Pope, Hermann oversaw the expansio ...

. Afterwards Wilbrand was made provost in Hildesheim and of the St. Nicholas church in

Magdeburg Magdeburg (; nds, label=Low Saxon, Meideborg ) is the capital and second-largest city of the German state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is situated at the Elbe river. Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archdiocese of Magdebur ...

. The next years Wilbrand spent a lot of time in Italy as envoy of

Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II (German language, German: ''Friedrich''; Italian language, Italian: ''Federico''; Latin: ''Federicus''; 26 December 1194 – 13 December 1250) was King of Sicily from 1198, King of Germany from 1212, King of Italy and Holy Roman Em ...

. In 1225 Wilbrand was consecrated as bishop of Paderborn, where he successfully pacified the rebellious nobility. In 1226 he was temporarily given governance of the bishoprics of

Münster Münster (; nds, Mönster) is an independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a state distr ...

and

, after their bishops had been deposed as a result of their complicity in the murder of

Engelbert II of Berg Count Engelbert II of Berg, also known as Saint Engelbert, Engelbert of Cologne, Engelbert I, Archbishop of Cologne or Engelbert I of Berg, Archbishop of Cologne (1185 or 1186, Schloss Burg – 7 November 1225, Gevelsberg) was archbishop of C ...

, Archbishop of Cologne. In 1227 Wilbrand was moved by pope

Gregory IX Pope Gregory IX ( la, Gregorius IX; born Ugolino di Conti; c. 1145 or before 1170 – 22 August 1241) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 19 March 1227 until his death in 1241. He is known for issuing the '' Decre ...

to the

Bishopric of Utrecht The Bishopric of Utrecht ( nl, Sticht Utrecht) was an ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire in the Low Countries, in the present-day Netherlands. From 1024 to 1528, as one of the prince-bishoprics of the Holy Roman Empire, it w ...

because of his military experience, in order to replace bishop Otto van Lippe, who had died at the

Battle of Ane The Battle of Ane (Dutch Low Saxon:''Slag bi'j Aone'', Dutch:''Slag bij Ane''), was fought in 1227 between Otto II of Lippe, Bishop of Utrecht, and Rudolf II van Coevorden with his army of Drenths. The account of the battle comes from '' Quedam ...

. After a failed attempt to gain control of

Coevorden Coevorden (; nds-nl, Koevern) is a city and municipality in the province of Drenthe, Netherlands. During the 1998 municipal reorganisation in the province, Coevorden merged with Dalen, Sleen, Oosterhesselen and Zweeloo, retaining its name. In Augu ...

with support from the

Frisians The Frisians are a Germanic ethnic group native to the coastal regions of the Netherlands and northwestern Germany. They inhabit an area known as Frisia and are concentrated in the Dutch provinces of Friesland and Groningen and, in Germany, ...

in the Frisian-Drenths War, Wilbrand defeated the Drenths at

Peize Peize is a village in the Netherlands, Dutch province of Drenthe. Located in the northern part of Drenthe approximately 10 kilometers south of the city of Groningen (city), Groningen. It is part of the municipality of Noordenveld, located between ...

. Wilbrand invited the Drenth commander

Rudolph II van Coevorden Rudolph van Coevorden (died 25 July 1230) was a feudal lord of the Drenthe who led a rebellion against Otto II, Bishop of Utrecht. He defeated and killed Otto at the Battle of Ane in 1228. Otto's successor, Wilbrand, initiated a crusade against t ...

to castle

Hardenberg Hardenberg (; nds-nl, Haddenbarreg or '' 'n Arnbarg'') is a city and municipality in the province of Overijssel, Eastern Netherlands. The municipality of Hardenberg has a population of about 60,000, with about 19,000 living in the city. It recei ...

for negotiations. But upon Rudolph's arrival he was taken prisoner, and subsequently executed by means of the

breaking wheel The breaking wheel or execution wheel, also known as the Wheel of Catherine or simply the Wheel, was a torture method used for public execution primarily in Europe from antiquity through the Middle Ages into the early modern period by breakin ...

. Afterwards his body was impaled on a stake and shown to the crowd. Wilbrand had built the castle of

himself to replace the vulnerable town of Nijenstede to serve as protection against the Drenths. In 1230 the bishop gave

city rights Town privileges or borough rights were important features of European towns during most of the second millennium. The city law customary in Central Europe probably dates back to Italian models, which in turn were oriented towards the tradition ...

as a reward for their support in strengthening the castle. Wilbrand was interred in the St. Servaas-abbey in Utrecht. {{DEFAULTSORT:Oldenburg, Wilbrand Van 1233 deaths Prince-Bishops of Utrecht 13th-century Roman Catholic bishops in the Holy Roman Empire Christians of the Fifth Crusade Year of birth unknown Year of birth uncertain