Engelbert II of Berg - Archbishop of Cologne and After

Archbishop of Cologne and After

Engelbert was elected Archbishop of Cologne as Engelbert I on 29 February 1216 and was consecrated on 24 September 1217, in which office he remained until his violent death.

Engelbert came to enjoy the trust of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II, becoming imperial administrator (Reichsprovisor) in 1220 and guardian of the Emperor's son Henry (Henry (VII) of Germany), whom he crowned in Aachen in 1222 as King of the Romans at the age of twelve. The archbishop remained the king's tutor and guardian until his death.

It is not clear to what extent Engelbert was personally involved with the important treaty Confoederatio cum principibus ecclesiasticis ("Treaty with the ecclesiastical princes"), which Frederick signed on 26 April 1220, although as Administrator of the German Kingdom (Gubernator Regni Teutonici) he must have had at least some input. Clearly, however, in the increased powers it gave to all ecclesiastical princes it was of benefit also to the archbishops of Cologne, and the establishment and development of the new powers was part of Engelbert's archiepiscopal strategy.

When Engelbert succeeded, the rights and territories of the archdiocese were in bad order, following a long period of civil unrest in Germany. He engaged himself at once in a series of campaigns and strategies to win them back and safeguard them, principally against the Dukes of Limburg and their allies the Dukes of Cleves. Engelbert in turn set up alliances with Brabant and Namur.

He had also to defend his personal inheritance against the Limburgers. In 1218 his brother Count Adolf VI of Berg died without male issue. Duke Walram III of Limburg considered himself entitled to inherit the County of Berg, as his son Heinrich (later Duke Henry IV of Limburg) was married to Irmgard of Berg, Count Adolf's only daughter. According to the Salic law, however, Engelbert was the heir of his brother and father. He won the dispute in two feuds. In 1220 a peace was concluded and Limburg's claim settled by the payment of a year's revenues.

Engelbert granted municipal rights to many places, including Wipperfürth, Attendorn, Brilon, Siegen, Werl and Herford, Vianden, Hamm, Neuerburg and Manderscheid.

During the whole of his career as archbishop, Engelbert continued to fight for the re-establishment and security of the Archdiocese of Cologne both as an ecclesiastical authority and also as a secular territory. (It was said of him that despite his personal piety he was more of a monarch than a churchman). Not only did he constantly battle, by all means necessary, for the secular well-being of the lands of the archdiocese, of which he may be counted the de facto founder as a significant state; he also took energetic measures for the effective regulation of the City of Cologne itself; and he was a zealous champion of the religious throughout his archdiocese.