Wolfger of Erla
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Wolfger von Erla, known in Italian as Volchero (c. 1140 – 23 January 1218), was the
Bishop of Passau The Diocese of Passau is a Roman Catholic diocese in Germany that is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising.Patriarch of Aquileia The highest-ranking bishops in Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Catholic Church (above major archbishop and primate), the Hussite Church, Church of the East, and some Independent Catholic Churches are termed patriarchs (and in certain ...
thereafter until his death. He was renowned in his own time as a diplomat and peacemaker. He participated in the highest levels of the politics of the
Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a political entity in Western, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars. From the accession of Otto I in 962 ...
, traveling frequently between
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
and
Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
, where he served as imperial legate. He took part in the
Crusade of 1197 The Crusade of 1197, also known as the Crusade of Henry VI (german: Kreuzzug Heinrichs VI.) or the German Crusade (''Deutscher Kreuzzug''), was a crusade launched by the Hohenstaufen emperor Henry VI in response to the aborted attempt of his fa ...
and played a role in founding 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 o ...
. Wolfger's courts at Passau and Aquileia attracted scholars and writers. His possible patronage of the ''
Nibelungenlied The ( gmh, Der Nibelunge liet or ), translated as ''The Song of the Nibelungs'', is an epic poem written around 1200 in Middle High German. Its anonymous poet was likely from the region of Passau. The is based on an oral tradition of Germani ...
'' has assured him a central place in the
history of German literature German literature () comprises those literary texts written in the German language. This includes literature written in Germany, Austria, the German parts of Switzerland and Belgium, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, South Tyrol in Italy and to a less ...
.


Early life

Wolfger was born to a noble family from
Erla Erla is a municipality located in the province of Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain. According to the 2004 census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This ...
on the river Enns. Early documents show him as a married layman and with a least one son named Ottokar. He probably entered
minor orders Minor orders are ranks of church ministry. In the Catholic Church, the predominating Latin Church formerly distinguished between the major orders —priest (including bishop), deacon and subdeacon—and four minor orders—acolyte, exorcist, lec ...
as a widower. In 1183, he became the provost of Pfaffmünster near Straubing and in 1184 of
Zell am See Zell am See is the administrative capital of the Zell am See District in the Austrian state of Salzburg. Located in the Kitzbühel Alps, the town is an important tourist destination due to its ski resorts and shoreline on Lake Zell. While Zell a ...
. He became a canon of the
cathedral of Passau St. Stephen's Cathedral (german: Dom St. Stephan) is a baroque church from 1688 in Passau, Germany, dedicated to Saint Stephen. It is the seat of the Catholic Bishop of Passau and the main church of his diocese. Since 730, there have been many c ...
before he was elected bishop on 11 March 1190. He was ordained to the priesthood only after his election. His son, who appears often in his episcopal expense account, regularly travelled with him while he was bishop.


Bishop of Passau

As bishop, he expanded the holdings of his diocese and was a consistent ally of the Staufers and Babenbergs. In 1195, he was involved in negotiating the release of
Richard the Lionheart Richard I (8 September 1157 – 6 April 1199) was King of England from 1189 until his death in 1199. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy, Aquitaine and Gascony, Lord of Cyprus, and Count of Poitiers, Anjou, Maine, and Nantes, and was overl ...
, then imprisoned in
Dürnstein Dürnstein is a small town on the Danube river in the Krems-Land district, in the Austrian state of Lower Austria. It is one of the most-visited tourist destinations in the Wachau region and also a well-known wine growing area. The municipality ...
under the care of Hadmar II of Kuenring. He attended the imperial diet held in Bari in April 1195. The
Emperor Henry VI Henry VI (German: ''Heinrich VI.''; November 1165 – 28 September 1197), a member of the Hohenstaufen dynasty, was King of Germany (King of the Romans) from 1169 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1191 until his death. From 1194 he was also King of Sic ...
selected him to negotiate with Pope Celestine III over the succession to the Kingdom of Sicily. At a diet in
Worms Worms may refer to: *Worm, an invertebrate animal with a tube-like body and no limbs Places *Worms, Germany Worms () is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, situated on the Upper Rhine about south-southwest of Frankfurt am Main. It had ...
in December 1195, Wolfger took the cross. He traveled with Duke Frederick I of Austria on the
Crusade of 1197 The Crusade of 1197, also known as the Crusade of Henry VI (german: Kreuzzug Heinrichs VI.) or the German Crusade (''Deutscher Kreuzzug''), was a crusade launched by the Hohenstaufen emperor Henry VI in response to the aborted attempt of his fa ...
. He was part of the group of German princes who elevated the fraternity of the Hospital of Saint Mary of the Germans at Acre into an order of knighthood, the
Teutonic Order 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 ...
. On his return, he successfully petitioned
Pope Innocent III Pope Innocent III ( la, Innocentius III; 1160 or 1161 – 16 July 1216), born Lotario dei Conti di Segni (anglicized as Lothar of Segni), was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 8 January 1198 to his death in 16 ...
to grant the order a papal charter in 1199. During the
German throne dispute The German throne dispute or German throne controversy (german: Deutscher Thronstreit) was a political conflict in the Holy Roman Empire from 1198 to 1215. This dispute between the House of Hohenstaufen and House of Welf was over the successor to E ...
that followed Henry VI's death in 1197, Wolfger remained loyal to the Staufer candidate, Philip of Swabia. When the pope took the side of Otto of Brunswick, Wolfger was excommunicated. Wolfger's episcopal travel accounts provide the only contemporary reference to the famous ''
Minnesänger (; "love song") was a tradition of lyric- and song-writing in Germany and Austria that flourished in the Middle High German period. This period of medieval German literature began in the 12th century and continued into the 14th. People who wr ...
''
Walther von der Vogelweide Walther von der Vogelweide (c. 1170c. 1230) was a Minnesänger who composed and performed love-songs and political songs (" Sprüche") in Middle High German. Walther has been described as the greatest German lyrical poet before Goethe; his hundr ...
outside of the ''Minnesang'' itself. He may also have been the patron of the author of the
Middle High German Middle High German (MHG; german: Mittelhochdeutsch (Mhd.)) is the term for the form of German spoken in the High Middle Ages. It is conventionally dated between 1050 and 1350, developing from Old High German and into Early New High German. Hig ...
''
Nibelungenlied The ( gmh, Der Nibelunge liet or ), translated as ''The Song of the Nibelungs'', is an epic poem written around 1200 in Middle High German. Its anonymous poet was likely from the region of Passau. The is based on an oral tradition of Germani ...
'', since a fictional bishop of Passau plays a prominent role in it.Michael Resler, "Wolfger von Erla", in Francis G. Gentry, Werner Wunderlich, Winder McConnell and Ulrich Mueller (eds.), ''The Nibelungen Tradition: An Encyclopedia'' (Routledge, 2002), p. 138. The poet
Albrecht von Johansdorf Albrecht von Johansdorf (c. 1180 – c. 1209) was a Minnesänger and a minor noble in the service of Wolfger of Erla. Documents indicate that his life included the years 1185 to 1209. He may have known Walther von der Vogelweide and is belie ...
was also associated with his court. The jurist Eilbert of Bremen dedicated his ''Ordo iudiciarius'' to Wolfger. In 1204, Wolfger built the castle of
Obernburg Obernburg am Main (officially ''Obernburg a.Main'', short version: ''Obernburg,'' ) is a town in the Miltenberg district in the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Lower Franconia (''Unterfranken'') in Bavaria, Germany. It has a population of around 8,500. ...
because of a feud with the Count of Ortenburg.Georg Juritsch (1894), ''Geschichte der Babenberger und ihrer Länder'' (Innsbruck), p. 378. He urged the creation of another diocese out of the territory of the diocese of Passau, but this never came to fruition before he began vigorously seeking election to the patriarchate of Aquileia.


Patriarch of Aquileia

Innocent III did not prevent Wolfger's election as patriarch, even though the latter was excommunicated. In 1206, Innocent ordered him to go to Germany to negotiate with Philip. The result was a letter from Philip to the pope that opened negotiations to end the throne dispute. On 11 June 1206 in
Nuremberg Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...
, Philip enfeoffed Wolfger with the
Duchy of Friuli The Duchy of Friuli was a Lombard duchy in present-day Friuli, the first to be established after the conquest of the Italian peninsula in 568. It was one of the largest domains in ''Langobardia Major'' and an important buffer between the Lombard ...
, the secular territory of the patriarchate. The patriarch was a driving force in bringing about the agreements between Philip, Otto and Innocent. Philip appointed him ''Reichslegaten'' (imperial legate) in the
Kingdom of Italy The Kingdom of Italy ( it, Regno d'Italia) was a state that existed from 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia was proclaimed King of Italy, until 1946, when civil discontent led to an institutional referendum to abandon the monarchy and f ...
and in return for his services granted him the imperial castle of
Monselice Monselice (; vec, Monséłexe ) is a town and municipality (comune) located in northeastern Italy, in the Veneto region, in the province of Padua about southwest of the city of Padua, at the southern edge of the Euganean Hills (''Colli Euganei ...
. Having secured Innocent's recognition of Philip as imperial candidate, Wolfger was returning from Rome when Philip was assassinated (1208). Accused of involvement in the assassination of Philip, Margrave Henry II of Carniola and Istria was deprived of his fiefs by a diet at
Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...
. Wolfger claimed the
March of Carniola The March (or Margraviate) of Carniola ( sl, Kranjska krajina; german: Mark Krain) was a southeastern state of the Holy Roman Empire in the High Middle Ages, the predecessor of the Duchy of Carniola. It corresponded roughly to the central Carniolan ...
as an
escheat Escheat is a common law doctrine that transfers the real property of a person who has died without heirs to the crown or state. It serves to ensure that property is not left in "limbo" without recognized ownership. It originally applied to a ...
ed fief of the patriarchate, but the
March of Istria The March of Istria (or Margraviate of Istria ) was originally a Carolingian frontier march covering the Istrian peninsula and surrounding territory conquered by Charlemagne's son Pepin of Italy in 789. After 1364, it was the name of the Istrian ...
was considered escheated to the crown and the new undisputed king, Otto IV, granted it to Duke Louis of Bavaria. This was disputed by Wolfger, who cited the Emperor Henry IV's grant of 1077.Peter Štih, "The Patriarchs of Aquileia as Margraves of Carniola", in ''The Middle Ages between the Eastern Alps and the Northern Adriatic'' (Brill, 2010), pp. 262–263, 267. In January 1209, Wolfger attended a diet in
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 ...
held by Otto. The king confirmed his possession of the Duchy of Friuli and, on 8 May 1210, also enfeoffed him with Istria. From this point on, he used the title "margrave of Istria and Carniola" (Latin ''Istrie et Carniole marchio'') in addition to his ecclesiastical titles. Although he governed Istria energetically, he does not seem to have exercised any actual power in Carniola, where Henry II remained in effective control. Otto also confirmed Wolfger as ''Reichslegaten'' with responsibility for reasserting imperial rights and regaining imperial properties in Italy. He was so successful he even recouped lands Otto had secretly given over to the papacy. He was also tasked with preparing Italy for Otto's impending expedition to Rome for his imperial coronation. When, however, Otto laid claim to Sicily, which was Staufer by hereditary right, Wolfger left his service. In 1211, Otto was excommunicated and the Staufer Frederick II elected to replace him. To prevent an outbreak of civil war, Wolfger advised Otto to marry Philip's daughter, the 13-year-old Beatrice, to whom he had been betrothed following Philip's death. Otto did so, but Beatrice died three weeks later (1212). In February 1214, Wolfger attended a diet of Frederick II in Augsburg to have the new king confirm Aquileia's privileges and fiefs and to have the castle of Monselice, which Otto had reclaimed, returned. In 1215, Wolfger attended the
Fourth Lateran Council The Fourth Council of the Lateran or Lateran IV was convoked by Pope Innocent III in April 1213 and opened at the Lateran Palace in Rome on 11 November 1215. Due to the great length of time between the Council's convocation and meeting, many bi ...
and withdrew from imperial politics thereafter. His last act of diplomacy was to arranged peace treaties to end the
War of the Castle of Love The War of the Castle of Love was a conflict in 1215–1216 between Padua and Treviso on one side and Venice on the other. It began with an exchange of insults at a festival, escalated to raiding and finally to open warfare. The decisive engagement ...
between
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 ...
,
Treviso Treviso ( , ; vec, Trevixo) is a city and '' comune'' in the Veneto region of northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Treviso and the municipality has 84,669 inhabitants (as of September 2017). Some 3,000 live within the Ven ...
and
Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...
in April 1216. At his death, he was revered as a man of moderation and patron of arts. His patronage had continued at Aquileia, where he hosted the poets
Thomasin von Zirclaere Thomasin von Zirclaere, also called Thomasîn von Zerclaere or Tommasino Di Cerclaria (c. 1186 – c. 1235) was an Italian Middle High German lyric poet. The epic poem ''Der Wälsche Gast'' (original: ''Der welhische gast'', "The Romance stranger" ...
and Boncompagno da Signa among others.


Notes


References


Further reading

*Helmut Birkhan. ''Der achthundertjährige Pelzrock: Walther von der Vogelweide—Wolfger von Erla—Zeiselmauer''. Proceedings of the Walther-Symposion der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 24–27 September 2003, in Zeiselmauer. Vienna: 2005. *Egon Boshof. ''Link Wolfger von Erla – Bischof von Passau, Patriarch von Aquileja''. Ostbairische Lebensbilder. Passau: 2004, 1, pp. 22–39. *Egon Boshof. ''Wolfger von Erla : Bischof von Passau (1191–1204) und Patriarch von Aquileja (1204–1218) als Kirchenfürst und Literaturmäzen''. Heidelberg: 1994. *Hedwig Heger. ''Das Lebenszeugnis Walthers von der Vogelweide: die Reiserechnungen des Passauer Bischofs Wolfger von Erla''. Vienna: 1970. *Franz von Krones. "Wolfger von Ellenbrechtskirchen". ''Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie'', 44. Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot, 1898, pp. 124f. *Pio Paschini. "Il patriarcato di Wolfger di Ellenbrechtskirchen". ''Memorie Storiche Forogiuliesi'', 9 (1915), pp. 20–39. *Anette Zurstraßen. "Wolfger von Erla". ''Lexikon des Mittelalters'', 9, p. 308. * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wolfger Von Erla 1140 births Year of birth uncertain 1218 deaths Medieval nobility of the Holy Roman Empire 12th-century Austrian people 13th-century Austrian people Roman Catholic bishops of Passau Patriarchs of Aquileia Christians of the Crusade of 1197 Nibelung tradition People temporarily excommunicated by the Catholic Church 12th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Bavaria 13th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Bavaria