Godfrey of Spitzenberg (1132 – July 8, 1190 in

Antioch Antioch on the Orontes (; , ) "Antioch on Daphne"; or "Antioch the Great"; ; ; ; ; ; ; . was a Hellenistic Greek city founded by Seleucus I Nicator in 300 BC. One of the most important Greek cities of the Hellenistic period, it served as ...

) was a close confidant of Emperor

Frederick I Frederick I or Friedrich I may refer to: * Frederick of Utrecht or Frederick I (815/16–834/38), Bishop of Utrecht. * Frederick I, Duke of Upper Lorraine (942–978) * Frederick I, Duke of Swabia (1050–1105) * Frederick I ...

and bishop of

Regensburg Regensburg (historically known in English as Ratisbon) is a city in eastern Bavaria, at the confluence of the rivers Danube, Naab and Regen (river), Regen, Danube's northernmost point. It is the capital of the Upper Palatinate subregion of the ...

and

Würzburg Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is, after Nuremberg and Fürth, the Franconia#Towns and cities, third-largest city in Franconia located in the north of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Lower Franconia. It sp ...

. Godfrey was the son of Rudolf I of Sigmaringen and his wife Adelheid. He belonged to the Sigmaringen-Spitzenberg family which was formed by the marriage of Richinza, daughter of

Berthold II, Duke of Carinthia Berthold II, Duke of Carinthia (c. 1000 – 6 November 1078), also known as Berthold I of Zähringen, was a progenitor of the Swabian House of Zähringen. From 1061 until 1077, he was the Duchy of Carinthia, Duke of Carinthia and March of Verona, ...

, and Louis of

Sigmaringen Sigmaringen ( Swabian: ''Semmerenga'') is a town in southern Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg. Situated on the upper Danube, it is the capital of the Sigmaringen district. Sigmaringen is renowned for its castle, Schloss Sigmaringen, ...

, progenitor of the

House of Helfenstein The House of Helfenstein was a Germans, German noble family during the High Middle Ages, High and Late Middle Ages. The family was named after the family castle, Ruine Helfenstein, Castle Helfenstein, located above Geislingen an der Steige in th ...

. He studied law in

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

and theology in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. In 1172, he became capitular in Würzburg and imperial court chancellor for Frederick I. In the following years, he took part in the Italian campaigns against the

Lombard League The Lombard League (; ) was an alliance of cities formed in 1167, and supported by the popes, to counter the attempts by the Hohenstaufen Holy Roman emperors to establish direct royal administrative control over the cities of the Kingdom of It ...

, and was instrumental in the conclusion of the

Treaty of Venice The Treaty or Peace of Venice, 1177, was a peace treaty between the papacy and its allies, the north Italian city-states of the Lombard League, and Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor. The Norman Kingdom of Sicily also took part in negotiations and ...

in 1177. In 1184–85, Godfrey held the office of general legate in Italy in addition to the office of chancellor. On June 18, 1185, he was elected bishop of Regensburg. In 1186, Bishop Reginhard von Abenberg died in Würzburg, and Godfrey was elected successor and thus retired from the imperial service. In 1187, the Muslim Sultan

Saladin Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub ( – 4 March 1193), commonly known as Saladin, was the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty. Hailing from a Kurdish family, he was the first sultan of both Egypt and Syria. An important figure of the Third Crusade, h ...

succeeded in defeating the Christian army of the

crusader states The Crusader states, or Outremer, were four Catholic polities established in the Levant region and southeastern Anatolia from 1098 to 1291. Following the principles of feudalism, the foundation for these polities was laid by the First Crusade ...

in the

Battle of Hattin The Battle of Hattin took place on 4 July 1187, between the Crusader states of the Levant and the forces of the Ayyubid sultan Saladin. It is also known as the Battle of the Horns of Hattin, due to the shape of the nearby extinct volcano of ...

. At the Diet in

Strasbourg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...

, papal envoys reported on the loss of Jerusalem, and demanded that the Holy Places be recaptured. On 27 March 1188, at the Diet of Mainz, Godfrey preached a crusade sermon and Frederick asked the assembly whether he should take the cross. It was decided to gather a crusade army in

the following year in order to reconquer the Holy Land. The army, which Godfrey also joined, had marched across the Balkans and crossed

Asia Minor Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

against fierce resistance, until Emperor Frederick I drowned in the Saleph River in 1190. Subsequently, in

, many of the crusaders contracted disease; Godfrey also died from it on July 8, 1190. Before his death, Godfrey had determined that his right hand should be brought to Würzburg. The hand was severed from the corpse and sent on a journey to Würzburg. The messengers were probably attacked by robbers who suspected valuable items in the cassette they were carrying. In any case, the hand got lost on the way and so today only the grave slab of Bishop Godfrey is in the

Würzburg Cathedral Würzburg Cathedral () is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Würzburg in Bavaria, Germany, dedicated to Saint Kilian. It is the seat of the Bishop of Würzburg and has served as the burial place for the Prince-Bishops of Würzburg for hundreds of ye ...

. Godfrey may have been the author of the anonymous ''

Letter on the Death of the Emperor Frederick The ''Letter on the Death of the Emperor Frederick'' () is an anonymous Latin newsletter about the sudden death of the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa on 10 June 1190 during the Third Crusade. The letter was written by an eyewitness before the crusa ...

''.

References

Bibliography

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Godfrey of Spitzenberg 1132 births 1190 deaths Roman Catholic bishops of Regensburg Roman Catholic bishops of Würzburg 12th-century German Roman Catholic bishops Christians of the Third Crusade