Conrad of Scharfenberg (german: Konrad von Scharfenberg; c. 1165 – 24 March 1224) was a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

cleric who became

bishop of Speyer The Bishop of Speyer is the Ordinary of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Speyer, which is a suffragan see of the Archdiocese of Bamberg.

(1200–24, as Conrad III) and later, simultaneously,

bishop of Metz Metz ( , , lat, Divodurum Mediomatricorum, then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers. Metz is the prefecture of the Moselle department and the seat of the parliament of the Grand Est r ...

(1212–24). He came from a family of knights who served the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a political entity in Western, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars. From the accession of Otto I in 962 ...

from the area around Trifels Castle. His family castle was Scharfenburg (today Burg Münz).

Early life

Conrad was raised and educated at the cathedral school in

Speyer Speyer (, older spelling ''Speier'', French: ''Spire,'' historical English: ''Spires''; pfl, Schbaija) is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany with approximately 50,000 inhabitants. Located on the left bank of the river Rhine, Speyer li ...

. In 1187 he entered royal service during the reign of

Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa (December 1122 – 10 June 1190), also known as Frederick I (german: link=no, Friedrich I, it, Federico I), was the Holy Roman Emperor from 1155 until his death 35 years later. He was elected King of Germany in Frankfurt ...

. Altogether, he served four emperors and kings in the imperial chancellery, where he made his career in both the worldly and the spiritual. First he was the provost of Saint Germain in Speyer. In 1198 he became ''Dekan'' of the chapter there. He became a follower of the Staufer

Philip of Swabia Philip of Swabia (February/March 1177 – 21 June 1208) was a member of the House of Hohenstaufen and King of Germany from 1198 until his assassination. The death of his older brother Emperor Henry VI in 1197 meant that the Hohenstaufen rule ( ...

during the struggle for the throne between the House Hohenstaufen and the

House of Welf The House of Welf (also Guelf or Guelph) is a European dynasty that has included many German and British monarchs from the 11th to 20th century and Emperor Ivan VI of Russia in the 18th century. The originally Franconia, Franconian family from ...

, which broke out after the death of

Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI ( German: ''Heinrich VI.''; November 1165 – 28 September 1197), a member of the Hohenstaufen dynasty, was King of Germany ( King of the Romans) from 1169 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1191 until his death. From 1194 he was also King ...

Bishop of Speyer

In 1200, Conrad was named

Bishop of Speyer The Bishop of Speyer is the Ordinary of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Speyer, which is a suffragan see of the Archdiocese of Bamberg.

and master of the imperial cathedral. In 1208 he was named chancellor, although this office was normally filled by the

archbishop of Mainz The Elector of Mainz was one of the seven Prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire. As both the Archbishop of Mainz and the ruling prince of the Electorate of Mainz, the Elector of Mainz held a powerful position during the Middle Ages. The Archb ...

in the Holy Roman Empire. After the murder of King Philip (which had nothing to do with the struggle for the throne) in 1208, Conrad managed the imperial insignia. When the Welf king Otto IV was generally recognized, Conrad served him and accompanied him to

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

for his crowning by

Pope Innocent III Pope Innocent III ( la, Innocentius III; 1160 or 1161 – 16 July 1216), born Lotario dei Conti di Segni (anglicized as Lothar of Segni), was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 8 January 1198 to his death in 16 ...

Bishop of Metz

In 1212, Conrad was elected

despite the competition from the

bishop of Langres The Roman Catholic Diocese of Langres (Latin: ''Dioecesis Lingonensis''; French: ''Diocèse de Langres'') is a Roman Catholic diocese comprising the ''département'' of Haute-Marne in France. The diocese is now a suffragan in ecclesiastical p ...

Guillaume de Joinville William of Joinville (French ''Guillaume de Joinville''; died 1226) was a French ecclesiastic. A younger son of Geoffrey IV of Joinville and Helvide of Dampierre, he joined the chapter of Châlons Cathedral, become archdeacon by 1191. He then became ...

, who was the candidate of the

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

king

Philip Augustus Philip II (21 August 1165 – 14 July 1223), byname Philip Augustus (french: Philippe Auguste), was King of France from 1180 to 1223. His predecessors had been known as kings of the Franks, but from 1190 onward, Philip became the first French m ...

. In 1220 he accompanied the Staufer king Frederick II to Rome for his crowning by pope Honorius III. On his journey he learned of the new

religious order A religious order is a lineage of communities and organizations of people who live in some way set apart from society in accordance with their specific religious devotion, usually characterized by the principles of its founder's religious pract ...

s, the

Dominican Order The Order of Preachers ( la, Ordo Praedicatorum) abbreviated OP, also known as the Dominicans, is a Catholic mendicant order of Pontifical Right for men founded in Toulouse, France, by the Spanish priest, saint and mystic Dominic of C ...

and the

Franciscan , image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans , abbreviation = OFM , predecessor = , ...

Order. This opened the way into Germany for these orders.

Final years

In the last years of his life, Conrad dedicated himself exclusively to his two

Diocese In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associat ...

, and foremost to the bishopric of Speyer and his cathedral. There he laid the legs of Philip of Swabia to rest. He also arranged for the reconstruction of the

Metz Cathedral Metz Cathedral, otherwise the Cathedral of Saint Stephen, Metz (french: Cathédrale Saint Étienne de Metz), is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Metz, capital of Lorraine, France. It is dedicated to Saint Stephen. First begun in the early 14th centu ...

. Conrad died on 24 March 1224 and his final resting place is next to King Philip in the

Speyer Cathedral , native_name_lang = German , image = Speyer_dom_11.jpg , imagesize = 280px , imagelink = , imagealt = , landscape = , caption = , pushpin ma ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Conrad 03 of Scharfenberg 1160s births 1224 deaths Year of birth uncertain 13th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Bavaria Bishops of Metz Burials at Speyer Cathedral