Leopold III of Bebenburg

Leopold III of Bebenburg (died 1363), also called Lupold, was a Bishop of Bamberg, best known for his writings on ecclesiastico-political subjects.

He came of a knightly Frankish family, and studied canon law at Bologna. From 1338 to 1352 he was a member of the chapters of Würzburg and Mainz and dean of St. Severus at Erfurt. In 1353 he was made bishop of Bamberg, and remained there till his death.

In the struggle between Louis the Bavarian and Popes John XXII, Benedict XII, and Clement VI, he was among the jurists who took the emperor's side. His treatise "De juribus regni et imperii Romanorum" (ed. J. Wimpfeling, Strasburg, 1508; S. Schard, in "De jurisdictione, auctoritate, et præeminentia imperiali ac potestate ecclesiastica variis auctoribus scripta", Basel, 1566, and often), dedicated to Louis' supporter, the elector Baldwin of Treves, deals less with abstract ideas and Aristotelian politics than with historical considerations.

Two minor works of his have also been preserved, one in praise of the devotion of the old German princes to the Church (in Schard, ut sup.), the other a lament over the condition of the Holy Roman Empire.

External links

* [http://www.bautz.de/bbkl/b/bebenburg_l.shtml BBK page (German language)]
* [http://www.uni-mannheim.de/mateo/camenahist/autoren/lupoldus_hist.html Online texts]