Everything about Ernest Of Bavaria totally explained
Ernest of Bavaria (
December 17 1554 -
February 17 1612) was
Prince-elector archbishop of the
Archbishopric of Cologne (Germany) from
1583 to
1612 as successor of the expelled
Gebhard Truchsess von Waldburg. He was also
bishop of
Münster,
Hildesheim,
Freising and
Liège.
Biography
Ernest was born in
Munich, the son of
Albert V, Duke of Bavaria and
Anna of Austria (1528-1590).
Duke Albert had destined his third son, Ernest, for the clerical vocation. He was educated and trained by the
Jesuits. In
1565 he became a
canon at
Salzburg, and soon afterward at
Cologne,
Treves, and
Würzburg as well; in the autumn of
1565, at the age of twelve, he likewise was elected
bishop of Freising. Albert's wishes no doubt centered upon the neighboring
archdiocese of Salzburg; but in
1569, when Elector
Salentin VII of Isenburg-Grenzau incurred difficulties with the curia for non-recognition of the
Council of Trent and was contemplating resignation, Ernest was proposed by his father, who had the support of the Spanish government at Brussels, as Salentin's successor. At the imperial
diet of Speyer, in 1570, the negotiations with Salentin were so far advanced that Ernest went to Cologne in November, and served his first residence there as canon till May,
1571, such being the preliminary condition in the line of election.
Salentin's resignation, however, was deferred, and in
1573 he actually submitted to the Council of Trent, and was thereupon confirmed by the curia as archbishop, foregoing the priestly consecration. That year instead saw Ernest elected, at the age of 19, as bishop of the small see of
Hildesheim. In
1577, after the Bavarian court had failed in an attempt to secure
Münster for Ernest, efforts looking to Cologne were resumed and prosecuted more zealously than before. Moreover, the support of the curia now heightened the hope of some practical result. Duke Ernest, who for a time, in 1572, had well-nigh thwarted all his father's plans by a suddenly outcropping disinclination to ward the spiritual vocation, was sent to
Rome in the spring of 1574, for a sojourn of nearly two years, by way of reward for submitting to his father's will. At Rome he won the particular good-will of the pope, so that
Gregory XIII resolved to support, with all his might, Ernest's installation as coadjutor to Salentin; in fact, the advancement of Bavarian family interests appeared to be the only possible way of recovering a more secure standing for the Roman Catholic Church in Lower Germany. The status which had been gained by the election of Ernest to Hildesheim couldn't as yet, by itself alone, afford a very trustworthy base of support.
But against the common plans of Salentin, the curia, and the Bavarian court, opposition manifested itself on the side of the chapter at Cologne; when, in
1577, Salentin resigned, Ernest was defeated at the new election by twelve votes to ten by
Gebhard Truchsess von Waldburg, who was elected by the Protestants and the lukewarm Catholics of the chapter. Duke Albert, as well as the papal nuncio Portia, protested against the election; but as both the emperor and the electors espoused Gehbard's cause, and as he passed for a good Catholic, receiving priestly consecration in March, 1578, and swearing to the Council of Trent, the curia disregarded the Bavarian protest and in March, 1580, confirmed the election.
In 1581 Ernest was elected the
Bishop of Liège. When Archbishop Gebhard of Truchsess Waldburg converted to Protestantism in 1583, Ernest was elected the Archbishop of Cologne on 22 May 1583. With
Spanish and
Bavarian troops he quickly drove Gebhard into
Werl in the
Cologne War. In 1584 he was elected the Bishop of
Münster, and also in that year the
Papacy nuntiator was published. The Archbishopric of Cologne was important because it was one of the seven
Imperial Electors of
Holy Roman Empire, and as three of them were already protestant, if Cologne was ruled by a protestant a protestant Emperor could be elected.
By now he was the Archbishop of Cologne and the Bishop of Liège, Münster, Freising and Hildesheim, and he was called the protector of
Roman Catholicism in northwestern Germany. He was an ardent supporter of the
Counter-Reformation, and assisted the Catholics in
Jülich-Cleves-Berg and
Baden. In 1595 he selected his nephew
Ferdinand of Bavaria to be the coadjutor of the bishoprics and retired from most secular affairs.
Ernest died in 1612 in
Arnsberg,
Westphalia, and was buried in the
Cologne Cathedral. He was succeeded by
Ferdinand of Bavaria.
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