- Ferdinand of Bavaria
Ferdinand of Bavaria (
October 6 1577 -September 13 1650 ) wasPrince-elector archbishop of theArchbishopric of Cologne (Germany) from 1612 to 1650 as successor ofErnest of Bavaria . He was alsobishop of Hildesheim, Freising, Liège, Münster, and Paderborn.Biography
Ferdinand was born in
Munich , one of the sons ofWilliam V, Duke of Bavaria .His parents decided early that he would have church life, and they sent him to the Jesuit school at
Ingolstadt for education in early 1587. He quickly became a canon in:Mainz ,Cologne ,Würzburg ,Trier ,Salzburg , andPassau . In 1595 he became the Provost ofBerchtesgaden and the coadjutor of his uncle Ernest of Bavaria. His uncle retired from most duties associated with his office leaving Ferdinand to run the many lands he ruled. When Ernest died in 1612, Ferdinand was elected the Archbishop of Cologne and the Bishops ofLiège ,Hildesheim ,Münster , and from 1618Paderborn . Ferdinand never received priest or bishop consecration in his lifetime though. Ferdinand is responsible for numerous executions due to fanaticWitch-hunt in his dioceses.Ferdinand worked hard throughout his reign to promote Catholicism in his lands through reforms and adoption of the
Council of Trent 's objectives, and improve the position of theWittelsbach s inGermany . In 1612 he attempted to get his brother Duke Maximilian I of Bavaria elected the Holy Roman Emperor, although Maximilian rejected the crown.In 1618 the
Thirty Years' War broke out. Ferdinand had initial success in supporting the Catholic leaders and keeping his dioceses safe from war with Spanish aid, although afterSweden entered the war the lands were devastated. By the end of the war, Swedish, Spanish, French and Imperial armies had all fought in and raided the bishoprics. In 1642 he appointed his nephew Maximilian Henry coadjutor and he retired from most of the temporal affairs of the dioceses.Ferdinand died in 1650 in
Arnsberg and was buried inCologne Cathedral . He was succeeded byMaximilian Henry of Bavaria .References
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