Hermann Wesel (died June 1563) was a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

ecclesiastic in

Livonia Livonia, known in earlier records as Livland, is a historical region on the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea. It is named after the Livonians, who lived on the shores of present-day Latvia. By the end of the 13th century, the name was extende ...

, and the last

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

Bishop of Dorpat (

Tartu Tartu is the second largest city in Estonia after Tallinn. Tartu has a population of 97,759 (as of 2024). It is southeast of Tallinn and 245 kilometres (152 miles) northeast of Riga, Latvia. Tartu lies on the Emajõgi river, which connects the ...

Life

Hermann Wesel is presumed to have originated from

Wesel Wesel () is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, in western Germany. It is the capital of the Wesel (district), Wesel district. Geography Wesel is situated at the confluence of the Lippe River and the Rhine. Division of the city Suburbs of Wesel i ...

on the

Lower Rhine Lower Rhine (, ; kilometres 660 to 1,033 of the Rhine) is the section of the Rhine between Bonn in Germany and the North Sea at Hook of Holland in the Netherlands, including the '' Nederrijn'' () within the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta; alternat ...

. His father is supposed to have been a shoemaker. In 1544, he was elected abbot of the

Cistercian The Cistercians (), officially the Order of Cistercians (, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint Benedict, as well as the contri ...

Kärkna Abbey, then known as Falkenau Abbey, in Livonia (now

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

). On 17 October 1552 the

cathedral chapter According to both Catholic and Anglican canon law, a cathedral chapter is a college of clerics ( chapter) formed to advise a bishop and, in the case of a vacancy of the episcopal see in some countries, to govern the diocese during the vacancy. In ...

of the

Bishopric of Dorpat The Bishopric of Dorpat was a medieval prince-bishopric, i.e. both a diocese of the Roman Catholic Church and a temporal principality ruled by the bishop of the diocese. It existed from 1211 until 1558, generally encompassing the area that now co ...

elected him Prince-Bishop of Dorpat, as Hermann II. On 25 June 1554, the appointment was confirmed by the Pope. Wesel remained simultaneously abbot of Kärkna. In 1558, the

Livonian War The Livonian War (1558–1583) concerned control of Terra Mariana, Old Livonia (in the territory of present-day Estonia and Latvia). The Tsardom of Russia faced a varying coalition of the Denmark–Norway, Dano-Norwegian Realm, the Kingdom ...

broke out, and the region was overrun. The Bishopric of Dorpat was almost entirely destroyed by the Russians right at the beginning of the war, as were the small states of Livonia shortly afterwards. Dorpat capitulated on 18 July 1558. The new Russian rulers spared Bishop Hermann's life and he was at first allowed to retire to his monastery at Kärkna. However, on 23 August 1558, Russian troops deported him into the interior of Russia where he died in 1563, the last Roman Catholic bishop of Dorpat.

Sources

* ''Rechtfertigungsschrift vom 15. Juni 1559''. In: Stefan Hartmann (Hrsg.): ''Herzog Albrecht von Preussen und Livland (1557–1560): Regesten aus dem Herzoglichen Briefarchiv und den Ostpreussischen Folianten''. Böhlau Verlag, Köln / Weimar 2006, ISBN 978-3-41-201606-7, Nr. 2466, page 344 f. History of Tartu German abbots Baltic-German people 16th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Lithuania German Cistercians 1563 deaths Prince-bishops in Livonia Year of birth unknown {{Europe-RC-bishop-stub