Jan Philopon Dambrovský (1540 – 1586/1587), also known as Joannes Philopon Dambrowski, was a 16th-century

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

priest and

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of the

Olomouc Olomouc (; ) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 103,000 inhabitants, making it the Statutory city (Czech Republic), sixth largest city in the country. It is the administrative centre of the Olomouc Region. Located on the Morava (rive ...

chapter, responsible for the poisoning of four

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Accusations

At the end of 1585, Bishop Stanislav Pavlovský accused Dambrovský of poisoning several of his predecessors and some candidates for the episcopal see. While the church was investigating these claims, he was imprisoned at Hukvaldy Castle after he refused to proclaim his innocence. At one point, he unsuccessfully tried to escape. The court documents themselves have either not been preserved or are kept in the

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, however, it is clear that Dambrovský confessed to poisoning four bishops during interrogations, starting with

Vilém Prusinovský z Víckova Vilém Prusinovský z Víckova (in German: William Prusinowsky von Wiczkov) (1534 – June 16, 1572) was a bishop of Olomouc in 1565–1572. He started his office in the times of Catholic-Protestant controversy and followed the policy of the Cou ...

and ending with Jan Mezoun z Telče. On February 3, 1586, he was found guilty of the murders by an Olomouc ecclesiastical court and deprived of his priesthood, honours and benefits. Stanislav Pavlovský apparently hesitated for a long time before deciding how to deal with the disgraced former priest, who used his time to write various defences. In the end, Pavlovský decided to hand him over for execution. On 20 July 1586, he sent two

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to Hukvaldy to interrogate Dambrovský. The exact date of his execution is unknown, however, in the Olomouc Book of Půhon, a "Priest Philopon" is recorded.

Bibliography

* Jiří Fiala: ''Olomoucký pitaval'', DANAL 1994, (in Czech) * Breitenbacher Antonín: ''Candidature of Cardinal Ondřej of Austria for the Olomouc Diocese'', ČMM 32 (1908) 43–64. (in Czech) * Breitenbacher Antonín: ''A Contribution to the History of the Reformation of the Moravian Clergy under Bishop Stanislav Pavlovsky. The Philipon Affair. ''ČMM 31 (1907) 152–176, 444–445. (in Czech) * Švábenský Mojmír: ''Paleographic problem. Edition of the will of the Dean of Olomouc Jan Dambrowský, bishop, from 1581, biskupotravce, z r. 1581'', in: 140 let SOAB, Praha 1979, 157–172. (in Czech) {{DEFAULTSORT:Dambrovský, Jan Philopon 1540 births 16th-century Roman Catholic priests from Bohemia 16th-century murderers Catholic priests convicted of murder Executed Roman Catholic priests Executed Czech serial killers Male murderers People executed in the Holy Roman Empire by decapitation People from Zgierz County Poisoners Year of death unknown

Accusations

See also

Bibliography