Salentin VII of Isenburg-Grenzau

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Salentin VII of Isenburg-Grenzau (German: "Salentin VII. von Isenburg-Grenzau"; c. 1532 - 1610) was the Archbishop of Cologne from 1567 until 1577, the Bishop of Paderborn from 1574 until 1577, and the Count of Isenburg-Grenzau from 1577 to 1610.

Biography

Early life

Salentin VII was the second son of Count Henry of Isenburg-Grenzau. As his parents did not have the money to educate all three of their sons, the elder two, John and Salentin, were chosen and sent to the cathedral of Mainz in 1548. In 1558 he became a member of the cathedral of Cologne. When his younger brother Anthony died in 1563, his elder brother John left the church and returned to Isenburg-Grenzau. In 1565 he obtained office in St. Gereon in Cologne, and also in that year John died.

Archbishop of Cologne and Bishop of Paderborn

On 23 December 1567 he was elected the Archbishop of Cologne. He did not have priestly consecrations as he intended to leave the church and take up rulership of the County of Isenburg-Grenzau in the foreseeable future, a condition which had the support of the cathedral chapter and the Holy Roman Emperor but not Pope Pius V who demanded a new election was to take place. However Pius V soon died and Pope Gregory VIII confirmed the election in 1573.

As the archbishop of Cologne, Salentin used the resources of it to improve the conditions in Isenburg-Grenzau, and succeeded in obtaining for it Imperial immediacy in the Bench of Counts of the Wetterau. On 21 April 1574 he was also elected the Bishop of Paderborn and received papal confirmation. On 9 December he arrived in Paderborn in splendour surrounded by thousands of attendants. During his reign he tightly organised the administration and the finances of the dioceses. He retired from the Bishopric of Paderborn on 5 September 1577 and the Archbishopric of Cologne on the 13th.

Later life

Salentin succeeded Count Arnold in Isenburg-Grenzau. On 10 December 1577 he married Antonia Wilhelmina of Aremberg. He met his successor in Cologne Gebhard II Truchsess von Waldburg with great skepticism as he knew of his close relationship with protestants. Salentin VII was a successful military leader, and he participated in the Cologne War at the request of the Cathedral chapter to depose Gebhard II after he converted to protestantism and attempted to secularise the archbishopric. He had two sons, Salentin and Ernest and both like their father had successful military careers.

Salentin died in the March 1610 and was buried in the praemonestrian Rommersdorf.

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