- Albert of Mainz
Cardinal Albert of Hohenzollern (German: "Audio|Albrecht_von_Hohenzollern.ogg|Albrecht von Hohenzollern";
June 28 ,1490 –September 24 ,1545 ) was Elector andArchbishop of Mainz from 1514 to 1545, andArchbishop of Magdeburg from 1513 to 1545.Biography
Born in
Cölln , Albert was the younger son ofJohn Cicero, Elector of Brandenburg .After their father's death, Albert and his older brother
Joachim I Nestor became margraves of Brandenburg in 1499, but only his older brother held the title of anelector of Brandenburg . Having studied at the university ofFrankfurt (Oder) , Albert entered the ecclesiastical profession, and in 1513 becamearchbishop of [Archbishopric of Magdeburg|Magdeburg] at the age of 23 and administrator of theDiocese of Halberstadt .In 1514 he obtained the
Electorate of Mainz , and in 1518 was made a cardinal at the age of 28. Meanwhile to pay for thepallium of the see of Mainz and to discharge the other expenses of his elevation, Albert had borrowed 21,000ducat s fromJacob Fugger , and had obtained permission fromPope Leo X to conduct the sale ofindulgences in his diocese to obtain funds to repay this loan, as long as half the collection was forwarded to the Papacy. An agent of the Fuggers subsequently traveled in the Cardinal's retinue in charge of the cashbox. For this work he procured the services ofJohn Tetzel , and so indirectly exercised a potent influence on the course of the Reformation.It was as a disgusted response to Tetzel's activities selling indulgences that
Martin Luther wrote his famous95 Theses , which he sent to Albert on 31 October 1517 and traditionally nailed to the door of Castle Church inWittenberg . Albert forwarded the theses to Rome, suspecting them of heresy.When the imperial election of 1519 drew near, the elector's vote was eagerly solicited by the partisans of Charles (afterwards the emperor Charles V) and by those of Francis I, King of France, and he appears to have received a large amount of money for the vote, which he cast eventually for Charles.
in July 1525. His hostility towards the reformers, however, was not so extreme as that of his brother Joachim I, Elector of Brandenburg; and he appears to have exerted himself in the interests of peace, although he was a member of the
League of Nuremberg , which was formed in 1538 as a counterpoise to theLeague of Schmalkalden .The new doctrines nevertheless made considerable progress in his dominions, and he was compelled to grant religious liberty to the inhabitants of Magdeburg in return for 500,000 florins. During his latter years indeed he showed more intolerance towards the Protestants, and favoured the teaching of the Jesuits in his dominions.
Albert adorned the
collegiate church ("Stiftskirche") atHalle (Saale) and the cathedral at Mainz in sumptuous fashion, and took as his motto the words "Domine, dilexi decorem domus tuae" (Latin for: "Lord, I admired the adornment of your house."). A generous patron of art and learning, he countedErasmus among his friends.He died at
Aschaffenburg in 1545.References
*1911
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