Withego von Furra or de Wuor (also Witigo, Witticho), otherwise Withego I of Meissen or Withego I von Furra (died 6 March 1293) was Bishop of Meissen from 1266 to his death.

Name and origin

Withego belonged to a family of

Thuringia Thuringia (; officially the Free State of Thuringia, ) is one of Germany, Germany's 16 States of Germany, states. With 2.1 million people, it is 12th-largest by population, and with 16,171 square kilometers, it is 11th-largest in area. Er ...

ministeriales The ''ministeriales'' (singular: ''ministerialis'') were a legally unfree but socially elite class of knights, administrators, and officials in the High Middle Ages in the Holy Roman Empire, drawn from a mix of servile origins, free commoners, and ...

who took their name from Burg Furra (or ''Wuor'') located between

Nordhausen Nordhausen may refer to: *Nordhausen (district), a district in Thuringia, Germany ** Nordhausen, Thuringia, a city in the district ** Nordhausen station, the railway station in the city *Nordhouse, a commune in Alsace (German: Nordhausen) * Narost, ...

and

Sondershausen Sondershausen () is a town in Thuringia, central Germany, capital of the Kyffhäuserkreis district, situated about 50 km (30 mi) north of Erfurt. On 1 December 2007, the former municipality Schernberg was merged with Sondershausen. Until 1918 i ...

. Until the mid-19th century it was presumed that, like his successor Bernhard von Kamenz, he was a member of the Von Kamenz family, since they frequently used the name Withego: this was subsequently shown to be incorrect by, among others, Hermann Knothe. A

Canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the material accepted as officially written by an author or an ascribed author * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western canon, th ...

Withego is mentioned in 1250 for the first time in the ''Marienstift'', the religious community at

Erfurt Cathedral Erfurt Cathedral (, officially ''Hohe Domkirche St. Marien zu Erfurt'', English: Cathedral Church of St Mary at Erfurt), also known as St Mary's Cathedral, is the largest and oldest church building in the Thuringian city of Erfurt, ...

. On 26 September 1274 Withego endowed two

vicariate A vicar (; Latin: ''vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pre ...

s in the cathedral, where he was presumably educated as a '' domicellar'' before becoming a canon of the ''Stift''. In 1255 Withego was appointed ''cantor et prepositus'' at the collegiate church of

, the Nordhäuser Dom. In 1263 he entered, as

protonotary A prothonotary is the "principal clerk of a court," from L.L. ''prothonotarius'' ( c. 400), from Greek ''protonotarios'' "first scribe," originally the chief of the college of recorders of the court of the Byzantine Empire, from Greek ' ''protos ...

, the service of Margrave

Henry III, Margrave of Meissen Henry III, called Henry the Illustrious (''Heinrich der Erlauchte'') (c. 1215 – 15 February 1288) from the House of Wettin was Margrave of Meissen and last Margrave of Lusatia (as Henry IV) from 1221 until his death; from 1242 also Landgrav ...

, to whom he possibly owed his elevation as bishop in 1266.

Withego as bishop

At his election as bishop he left the service of the margrave. During almost three decades in his episcopal office he was successful in securing and extending the bishopric's possessions in the face of the Margraves of Meissen and the

Ascanian The House of Ascania () was a dynasty of German rulers. It is also known as the House of Anhalt, which refers to its longest-held possession, Anhalt. The Ascanians are named after Ascania (or Ascaria) Castle, known as ''Schloss Askanien'' in ...

Margraves of

Upper Lusatia Upper Lusatia (, ; , ; ; or ''Milsko''; ) is a historical region in Germany and Poland. Along with Lower Lusatia to the north, it makes up the region of Lusatia, named after the Polabian Slavs, Slavic ''Lusici'' tribe. Both parts of Lusatia a ...

as well as lesser lords, using among other means judicially placed

interdict In Catholic canon law, an interdict () is an ecclesiastical censure, or ban that prohibits certain persons or groups from participating in particular rites, or that the rites and services of the church are prohibited in certain territories for ...

s and

excommunication Excommunication is an institutional act of religious censure used to deprive, suspend, or limit membership in a religious community or to restrict certain rights within it, in particular those of being in Koinonia, communion with other members o ...

s to put pressure on secular rulers. He promoted the veneration of Saint

Benno of Meissen Benno ( – 16 June 1106) was named Bishop of Dresden-Meissen, Bishop of Meissen in 1066. Venerated since the 13th century, he was Canonization, canonized in 1523. Benno did much for his diocese, both by ecclesiastical reforms on thHildebrandine ...

. In 1274 Withego took part in the

Second Council of Lyon The Second Council of Lyon was the fourteenth ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church, convoked on 31 March 1272 and convened in Lyon, Kingdom of Arles (in modern France), in 1274. Pope Gregory X presided over the council, called to ...

, by which he was excommunicated between 1277 and 1281, since he refused to pay the

tithe A tithe (; from Old English: ''teogoþa'' "tenth") is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Modern tithes are normally voluntary and paid in money, cash, cheques or v ...

the Council decided to levy for a new

crusade The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding t ...

Monument

His gravestone, a worn-down sandstone tablet with a legible Latin inscription, still exists. As is shown by an illustration of the burial places in Meissen Cathedral of 1593, his grave was once in front of the Heiligkreuz altar. In 1919 the gravestone, with a carved image of a bishop and an inscription, was discovered in the north aisle of the cathedral.Wäß 2006, Abb. 575

Name and origin

Withego as bishop

Monument

References

Further reading