Tiedemann Giese
Encyclopedia
Heilsberg
Heilsberg:* German name of Lidzbark Warmiński* Battle of Heilsberg* Transmitter Heilsberg- See also :* Lidzbark* Lidzbark * Lidzbarski...
(Lidzbark), was a member of the patrician Giese
Giese
Giese is a German surname.Notable people with the surname Giese include:* Albrecht Giese - a councilman and diplomat from Danzig* Dan Giese - American baseball player* Erich Giese - German naval officer...
family of Danzig (Gdańsk). The brother of the Hanseatic League
Hanseatic League
The Hanseatic League was an economic alliance of trading cities and their merchant guilds that dominated trade along the coast of Northern Europe...
merchant Georg Giese
Georg Giese
Georg Giese Georg Giese (Gisze according to the title of the Holbein painting) Georg Giese (Gisze according to the title of the Holbein painting) (2 April 1497 in Danzig (now Gdańsk) - died on 3 February 1562 in Danzig, was a Hanse merchant....
and relative of Albrecht Giese he became Bishop of Culm (Chełmno) first canon, later Prince-Bishop
Prince-Bishop
A Prince-Bishop is a bishop who is a territorial Prince of the Church on account of one or more secular principalities, usually pre-existent titles of nobility held concurrently with their inherent clerical office...
of Warmia
Warmia
Warmia or Ermland is a region between Pomerelia and Masuria in northeastern Poland. Together with Masuria, it forms the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship....
(Ermeland).
At age 24, Giese (and Mauritius Ferber
Mauritius Ferber
Mauritius Ferber Mauritius Ferber Mauritius Ferber (1471 – 1 July 1537 in Heilsberg was a member of the patrician Ferber family of Danzig (Gdańsk). As Roman Catholic Prince-Bishop of Warmia (Ermeland), he prevented most towns in his diocese from converting to Protestantism while the surrounding...
) became a priest
Priest
A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...
at the Catholic Church of St. Peter
Saint Peter
Saint Peter or Simon Peter was an early Christian leader, who is featured prominently in the New Testament Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. The son of John or of Jonah and from the village of Bethsaida in the province of Galilee, his brother Andrew was also an apostle...
and St. Paul
Paul of Tarsus
Paul the Apostle , also known as Saul of Tarsus, is described in the Christian New Testament as one of the most influential early Christian missionaries, with the writings ascribed to him by the church forming a considerable portion of the New Testament...
, decades before Danzig and the church became Protestant
Protestantism
Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
when the State of the Teutonic Order was transformed into the Duchy of Prussia in 1525. Giese was supported by Chancellor Lucas David
Lucas David
Lucas David was a Prussian historian, who from ca. 1550 on compiled extensive volumes on Prussian history....
.
Bishop Giese was a close friend of a the later famous astronomer
Astronomer
An astronomer is a scientist who studies celestial bodies such as planets, stars and galaxies.Historically, astronomy was more concerned with the classification and description of phenomena in the sky, while astrophysics attempted to explain these phenomena and the differences between them using...
and proponent of heliocentrism
Heliocentrism
Heliocentrism, or heliocentricism, is the astronomical model in which the Earth and planets revolve around a stationary Sun at the center of the universe. The word comes from the Greek . Historically, heliocentrism was opposed to geocentrism, which placed the Earth at the center...
Nicolaus Copernicus
Nicolaus Copernicus
Nicolaus Copernicus was a Renaissance astronomer and the first person to formulate a comprehensive heliocentric cosmology which displaced the Earth from the center of the universe....
. In 1516, he was the co-author, together with Copernicus, of a letter to the Polish King Sigismund I the Old
Sigismund I the Old
Sigismund I of Poland , of the Jagiellon dynasty, reigned as King of Poland and also as the Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1506 until 1548...
asking for the King's protection of Prussia against the Teutonic Knights
Teutonic Knights
The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem , commonly the Teutonic Order , is a German medieval military order, in modern times a purely religious Catholic order...
and generally supported the interests of the Polish Crown against that of the Teutonic Order. He also worked on updating the Kulm law while a canon at Warmia. On July 1, 1536, he was designated by King of Poland, Sigismund I
Sigismund I
Sigismund I may refer to:*Sigismund of Burgundy , King of the Burgundians*Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor *Sigismund, Archduke of Austria *Sigismund of Bavaria , Duke of Bavaria...
, who considered him a very valuable diplomat, as Bishop of Culm, which was later confirmed by the Pope. After Moritz Ferber's death Giese became prince-bishop
Prince-Bishop
A Prince-Bishop is a bishop who is a territorial Prince of the Church on account of one or more secular principalities, usually pre-existent titles of nobility held concurrently with their inherent clerical office...
.
The Giese and the Koppernigk family were related. Copernicus willed his writings to Giese and left his library to the church administration of the prince-bishop
Prince-Bishop
A Prince-Bishop is a bishop who is a territorial Prince of the Church on account of one or more secular principalities, usually pre-existent titles of nobility held concurrently with their inherent clerical office...
ric of Warmia.
He carried out active correspondence with Erasmus of Rotterdam and Philipp Melanchthon
Philipp Melanchthon
Philipp Melanchthon , born Philipp Schwartzerdt, was a German reformer, collaborator with Martin Luther, the first systematic theologian of the Protestant Reformation, intellectual leader of the Lutheran Reformation, and an influential designer of educational systems...
. Among his known publications is Centrum et decem assertionum, quas autor earum Flosculos appelavit de homine interiore et exteriore, a polemic with the proponent of Luther, Johann Briesmann. Most of his other works have been lost (including a work on Aristotle
Aristotle
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...
and one called De Regno Christi).