Gebhard I von Mansfeld-Vorderort

Count Johann Gebhard von Mansfeld (* 1524, † November 2, 1562 in Brühl) was from 1558 to 1562 Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Cologne.

Life

Johann Gebhard was born the 16th child of Count Ernst II von Mansfeld to Vorderort and his second wife Dorothea of Solms- Lich.

Already in 1538 he was a canon of Cologne. Thereafter, he practiced the Office of the Provost of the Gereon in Cologne - pin and pin - on Servatius in Maastricht. On July 26, 1558 he became archbishop of Cologne. His choice was not at all clergy of the Diocese of benevolence, so tried the prestigious John Gropper, provost at Bonn to intervene with Pope Paul IV against the election.

Already living in concubinage as canon, the cathedral chapter elected him on July 26, 1558 to the Archbishop, as which he received the papal confirmation on January 31, 1560. Even as Archbishop he took his mistress with him and made ​​an effort to supply his children, which he acquired including property owned within the city of Cologne. Even before the ascent of Cologne Erzstuhls was Mansfeld, who never received the ordinations in debt. Around 1560, he lost his influence over the suffragan of Utrecht, which was in the course of a reorganization of the dioceses of the Archdiocese.

Johann Gebhard died on November 2, 1562 in Brühl, shortly before the election of Maximilian II to the Roman- German king, where he had as one of the electors in Frankfurt must participate. Since the establishment, he also in Aachen coronation should have carried out in accordance with the Golden Bull, was waived on the long journey to Aachen and Maximilian, crowned on November 24 in Frankfurt by the local archbishop, ie the Archbishop of Mainz. By Gebhard's sudden death, the tradition was founded to perform emperors were crowned in Frankfurt, whereby the Palatine Chapel in Aachen, this privilege was lost.