Bruno of Würzburg (c. 1005 – 27 May 1045), also known as Bruno of Carinthia, was imperial chancellor of Italy from 1027 to 1034 for

Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor Conrad II (, – 4 June 1039), also known as and , was the Holy Roman Emperor, emperor of the Holy Roman Empire from 1027 until his death in 1039. The first of a succession of four Salian dynasty, Salian emperors, who reigned for one century ...

, to whom he was related, and from 1034 until his death

prince-bishop of Würzburg A prince-bishop is a bishop who is also the civil ruler of some secular principality and sovereignty, as opposed to ''Prince of the Church'' itself, a title associated with cardinals. Since 1951, the sole extant prince-bishop has been the Bis ...

Origin and Imperial politics

Bruno was the son of

Conrad I, Duke of Carinthia Conrad may refer to: People * Conrad (name) * Saint Conrad (disambiguation) Places United States * Conrad, Illinois, an unincorporated community * Conrad, Iowa, a city * Conrad, Montana, a city * Conrad Glacier, Washington Elsewhe ...

, and

Matilda of Swabia Matilda or Mathilda may refer to: Animals * Matilda (chicken) (1990–2006), World's Oldest Living Chicken record holder * ''Mathilda'' (gastropod), a genus of gastropods in the family Mathildidae * Matilda (horse) (1824–1846), British Thorou ...

, and thus a cousin of the

Salian The Salian dynasty or Salic dynasty () was a dynasty in the High Middle Ages. The dynasty provided four kings of Germany (1024–1125), all of whom went on to be crowned Holy Roman emperors (1027–1125). After the death of the last Ottonian ...

Emperor The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/grand empress dowager), or a woman who rules ...

Conrad II. He courted

Agnes of Poitou Agnes of Poitou ( – 14 December 1077) was the queen of Germany from 1043 and empress of the Holy Roman Empire from 1046 until 1056 as the wife of Emperor Henry III. From 1056 to 1061, she ruled the Holy Roman Empire as regent during the ...

on behalf of Conrad's son and successor

Emperor Henry III Henry III (, 28 October 1016 – 5 October 1056), called the Black () or the Pious, was Holy Roman Emperor from 1046 until his death in 1056. A member of the Salian dynasty, he was the eldest son of Conrad II and Gisela of Swabia. Henry was rais ...

. Bruno laid the cornerstone of

Würzburg Cathedral Würzburg Cathedral () is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Würzburg in Bavaria, Germany, dedicated to Saint Kilian. It is the seat of the Bishop of Würzburg and has served as the burial place for the Prince-Bishops of Würzburg for hundreds of ye ...

, and in 1042 dedicated the Abbey of St. Burchard, rebuilt by Abbot Willemund. He also accompanied Henry on his second Hungarian Campaign, during which Bruno died in an accident at Persenbeug on the

Danube The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...

in the present

Lower Austria Lower Austria ( , , abbreviated LA or NÖ) is one of the nine states of Austria, located in the northeastern corner of the country. Major cities are Amstetten, Lower Austria, Amstetten, Krems an der Donau, Wiener Neustadt and Sankt Pölten, which ...

Death

The retinue of Henry III had stopped at the residence of Countess Richlinde of Ebersberg, who was faced with the task of distributing the estate of her recently deceased husband Count Adalbero II of Ebersberg. During a great banquet given by the countess, a load-bearing pillar supporting the banqueting hall broke, causing the entire floor to collapse. The king was only slightly hurt but the countess, Bishop Bruno and Abbot Altmann of Ebersberg Abbey were so badly injured that they did not survive more than a few days. The Annals of

Niederaltaich Niederaltaich Abbey (Abtei or Kloster Niederaltaich) is a house of the Benedictine Order founded in 741, situated in the village of Niederalteich on the Danube in Bavaria. Foundation and early history After its foundation in 741 by Duke Odilo of ...

add a legend to the story: before the feast, at the '' Strudengau'' on the Danube near Grein, the devil was supposed to have appeared to the bishop and threatened him already, but the bishop was able to repel him. Bruno's body was returned to his residence in Würzburg. He was succeeded by his nephew,

Adalbero of Würzburg Adalbero of Würzburg (or Saint Adalbero; 1010 – 6 October 1090) was Bishop of Würzburg and Count of Lambach-Wels. Life Born around 1010 in Lambach, Adalbero was the youngest son of Count Arnold II of in Upper Austria (of the family of th ...

Burial and cultus

Many cathedrals were built in that period, and from 1040 Bruno began the construction of

. The consecration of the

crypt A crypt (from Greek κρύπτη (kryptē) ''wikt:crypta#Latin, crypta'' "Burial vault (tomb), vault") is a stone chamber beneath the floor of a church or other building. It typically contains coffins, Sarcophagus, sarcophagi, or Relic, religiou ...

on 16 June 1045 was combined with his burial. Bruno was not formally

canonized Canonization is the declaration of a deceased person as an officially recognized saint, specifically, the official act of a Christian communion declaring a person worthy of public veneration and entering their name in the canon catalogue of sa ...

by the Roman Catholic Church, but is nevertheless

revered Deference (also called submission or passivity) is the condition of submitting to the espoused, legitimate influence of one's superior or superiors. Deference implies a yielding or submitting to the judgment of a recognized superior, out of re ...

as a

saint In Christianity, Christian belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of sanctification in Christianity, holiness, imitation of God, likeness, or closeness to God in Christianity, God. However, the use of the ...

. His

feast day The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context does n ...

is May 17 (not the 27th, see Roman Martyrology). Bruno wrote a well-known commentary on the

Psalms The Book of Psalms ( , ; ; ; ; , in Islam also called Zabur, ), also known as the Psalter, is the first book of the third section of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) called ('Writings'), and a book of the Old Testament. The book is an anthology of B ...

, to which he appended an analysis of ten Biblical hymns, consisting of extracts from the writings of the

Church Fathers The Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers, Christian Fathers, or Fathers of the Church were ancient and influential Christian theologians and writers who established the intellectual and doctrinal foundations of Christianity. The historical peri ...

References

Sources

* Peter Kolb and Ernst-Günther Krenig (eds.), 1989: ''Unterfränkische Geschichte'', pp. 229–232. Würzburg

External links

* *
''Psalterium beati Brunonis episcopi herbipolensis'' (Nürnberg 1497 and Lipsiae 1533)
digitised by www.digitale-sammlungen.de
Inkunabel ''Psalterium beati Brunonis episcopi herbipolensis'' (Anton Koberger, Nürnberg 1497)
digitised by the Universidad de los Andes * http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/54850 * *

digitalised by the University of the Andes {{DEFAULTSORT:Bruno of Wurzburg Roman Catholic bishops of Würzburg Salian dynasty German Roman Catholic saints 11th-century German bishops 1045 deaths 11th-century Christian saints Year of birth unknown