Siegfried II of Querfurt (mid 13th century – 5 May 1310) was the
Prince-Bishop of Hildesheim from 1279 to 1310.
Biography
Siegfried was born to a noble family from the city
Querfurt (which now belongs to
Saxony-Anhalt
Saxony-Anhalt ( ; ) is a States of Germany, state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of
and has a population of 2.17 million inhabitants, making it the List of German states ...
).
He was head of the chapter at the
Cathedral of Magdeburg before he was appointed as bishop on 18 July 1279.
He founded the
medieval commune
Medieval communes in the European Middle Ages had sworn allegiances of mutual defense (both physical defense and of traditional freedoms) among the citizens of a town or city. These took many forms and varied widely in organization and makeup.
C ...
of
Gronau. This was one part of his defense strategy of the
Prince-Bishopric of Hildesheim that he was head of in his role as prince-bishop. Two other parts of this strategy were that he ordered to build a castle in
Liebenburg and another one in Ruthe (which now belongs to the municipality of
Sarstedt
Sarstedt () is a town in the Hildesheim (district), district of Hildesheim, Lower Saxony, Germany. It has approximately 18,500 inhabitants. Sarstedt is situated 20 km south of Hanover and 10 km north of Hildesheim. Sarstedt station is o ...
). Both castles were destroyed in the centuries thereafter. In 1302 he bought a castle in Westerhof (which now belongs to the municipality of
Kalefeld). In 1310 he bought the
County of Dassel in order to enlarge his prince-bishopric.
The dukes of
Brunswick and Lunenburg were his major opponents. Additionally, the citizens of
Hildesheim
Hildesheim (; or ; ) is a city in Lower Saxony, in north-central Germany with 101,693 inhabitants. It is in the district of Hildesheim (district), Hildesheim, about southeast of Hanover on the banks of the Innerste River, a small tributary of t ...
attempted to gain independence while he was prince-bishop.
References
*Friedrich Wilhelm Ebeling: Die deutschen Bischöfe bis zum Ende des sechzehnten Jahrhunderts. Leipzig 1858, Erster Band, S. 510–512
{{DEFAULTSORT:Siegfried 02 Of Querfurt
13th-century German Roman Catholic bishops
14th-century German Roman Catholic bishops
Prince-bishops of Hildesheim
13th-century births
1310 deaths