Osnabrück

Who holds it

Name

Gerhard of Oldenburg-Wildeshausen

Title

Bishop of Osnabrück

Since

1191-1192

Confidence

high

Second son of Count Henry I of Oldenburg of the Wildeshausen line (died 1167). The German encyclopedia article calls him a partisan of the Staufen, which brought him into conflict during the struggle between Philip and Otto, and says he was careless with the property of his church. He will be elected archbishop of Bremen on 30 October 1210 and hold Bremen from 1210 (with Osnabrück until 1216), dying at Frankfurt on 13 August 1219.

What it holds

• Osnabrück: the bishop's city around the cathedral
• Iburg: the bishops' castle and the Benedictine abbey founded there by Bishop Benno II in the 11th century
• Wiedenbrück: the bishop's market place on the Ems, an Osnabrück enclave far to the south
• Manors and tithes across the diocese (the old tithe dispute cost Corvey its tithes here)

How it was acquired

Royal immunities and gifts from the Carolingian and Ottonian kings; the Landesherrschaft is built only later, with the Gogerichte (1225), the high advocacy bought from Tecklenburg (1236) and border castles.

How things stand that morning

Gerhard holds his city and manors under the shadow of the Tecklenburg advocate. If the German encyclopedia is right, he is a Staufen man in a Welf-leaning corner of the Empire.

Wealth

The bishop's manors and tithes; the market at Wiedenbrück; Osnabrück's market and linen country.

Threats

• The counts of Tecklenburg
• A Welf neighbourhood hostile to a Staufen bishop
• Alienation of church property under a careless bishop

Advocates and rivals

The counts of Tecklenburg, high advocates of the church and the strongest lay power around it; the counts of Ravensberg; the archbishop of Cologne as duke; the abbeys of Corvey and Herford, old rivals over tithes.

Places of note

• Tecklenburg: Seat of the counts who hold the church's high advocacy

Where the sources disagree

• The campaign notes group Osnabrück with the north-western sees as Welf-leaning or wavering [thin]. The German encyclopedia article on Gerhard of Oldenburg-Wildeshausen says he was a Staufen partisan whose stance brought him into conflict in the Philip-Otto struggle. Source: https://dewiki.de/Lexikon/Gerhard_I._von_Oldenburg-Wildeshausen

Evidence: The bishop is well attested; the shape of his lordship in 1200 is thin in the sources consulted, which describe the territory as built in the 13th and 14th centuries. Iburg and Wiedenbrück are drawn from general knowledge of the see's old holdings.

On the map: A minimal drawing: the bishop's manors and rights across the diocese are not mapped, and the Tecklenburg advocacy overlay is not shown.