Reinbern

Reinbern (-1013/15) was the only bishop of the short-lived Diocese of Kołobrzeg (Kolberg) (1000-~1007).

Reinbern was born in the Hassegau area of the medieval Duchy of Saxony. When Holy Roman Emperor Otto III met with his friend, the Polan duke Boleslaw I in the Congress of Gniezno (Gnesen), the Archbishopric of Gniezno was founded. One of Gniezno's subordinated bishoprics was the diocese of Kołobrzeg, thought to Christianize the pagan Pomeranians that just before had been subdued by the Polanes. Reinbern was made bishop. It is documented that he "baptized" the Baltic Sea by spilling Holy Oil and Holy Water into the sea. Yet, after his bishopric was overthrown in a pagan uprising, he returned to Boleslaw's court. He acompanied Boleslaw to an arranged marriage in Kiev, where an internal Kievian crisis involving Boleslaw's bride led to the arrest of Reinbern in 1013. Soon afterwards, he died imprisoned between 1013 and 1015.