John Thurzo
Johann (es) V. T (h ) urzo (Hungarian: Thurzó, also T (h ) urzo of Bethlenfalva; born April 16, 1466 Krakow; † August 2, 1520 in Neisse ) was Prince-Bishop of Breslau from 1506 to 1520.
Background and Career
John came from the Hungarian- German -Slovak patrician family Thurzos. He was the firstborn son of the mining and metallurgical entrepreneur John Thurzos from Leutschau in the Zips, who had moved his residence to Krakow in 1462, where he was awarded the citizenship two years later. John studied from 1478 at the person-centered University of Krakow, where he in 1484 the Bachelor's and a Master's degree earned in 1487. He then lectured at the Krakow seminary Collegium majus. In preparation for his spiritual career, he went in 1490 to study canon law to Italy, where he temporarily resided also at the papal court. As a Doctor of Laws (doctor decretorum ), he returned to Krakow and 1498 held the office of President of the University. About this time also began to rise in his spiritual offices: he was Scholastikus in Gniezno and Poznan, Canon in Krakow and soon afterwards canon and dean of the cathedral chapter Breslauer.
1501 he took over with the support of the Fugger the office of papal collector in the Kingdom of Poland and in the ecclesiastical province of Gniezno. The Polish King John Albrecht asked him several times with diplomatic missions.
Bishop of Breslau
Against the resistance of the Breslau chapter and the Silesian princes, John received with use of money and family relationships, the site of a Coadjutor in Wroclaw. At the same time, the successor in the See, he was assured, the 1503 also confirmed by the Pope. Although the so-called " Kolowratsche contract " from February 3, 1504 decreed that in future only native Silesians, Moravians, Bohemia or Lusatian may be elected to the Wrocław bishop's throne, was John Thurzos as a country stranger after the death of Bishop John IV Roth on 2 February 1506, his successor. The episcopal ordination was carried out by John 's younger brother Stanislaus Thurzos, Bishop of Olomouc.
As Bishop of Breslau 1507-1509 John stood as chief governor at the top of the Silesian princes. Together with his brother Stanislaus, he took over the collection intended for the construction of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome drain funds in Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia.
His administration was marked by the difficult relationship with the cathedral chapter, which accused him of negligence, mismanagement and costly court life, and of the church and clergy hostile mood of the Wroclaw citizenship and Silesian princes. He did not succeed, the church difficult policy issues that emerged from the early Reformation to solve. Although he convened several synods and 1512 diocesan statutes had printed, he could not promote and renew vital religious life.
As an enlightened humanist, he encouraged young theologians and humanists such as Caspar Ursinus Velius, George of Logau and Johann Hess, the future leader of the Reformation in Wroclaw. 1515 he appointed Valentin Krautwald to his secretary. The Goldberger school was supported by him.
Thurzos possessed a considerable library and numerous works of art, including those by Albrecht Dürer and Lucas Cranach. Due to its construction boom, he promoted the visual arts. During his tenure, the bishop's summer residence castle Johannesberg at Jauernig was rebuilt into a Renaissance chateau, and the Wrocław Cathedral received a precious reliquary and a copper roof. By 1517 he erected portal Domsakristei with the " Beheading of John the Baptist", held the Renaissance art collection in the city. During his lifetime he built St John's Chapel, where he found his final resting place. The grave monument of white marble was donated in 1537 by his brothers, Stanislaus and Hans.