Wichmann von Seeburg was the Bishop of Naumburg (Zeitz

Zeitz

Zeitz is a town in the Burgenlandkreis district, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is situated on the river Weiße Elster, in the middle of the triangle of the federal states Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia and Saxony.-History:...

) from 1150 until 1154 and Archbishop of Magdeburg from 1152 until his death. He was the son of Gero, Count of Seeburg

Seeburg

Seeburg may refer to the following places:*Seeburg, Brandenburg, part of the municipality of Dallgow-Döberitz, Brandenburg, Germany*Seeburg, Lower Saxony, in the district of Göttingen, Lower Saxony, Germany...

. During his long career, he was an unflappable supporter of Frederick Barbarossa against Pope Alexander III

Pope Alexander III

Pope Alexander III , born Rolando of Siena, was Pope from 1159 to 1181. He is noted in history for laying the foundation stone for the Notre Dame de Paris.-Church career:...

 and an implacable military leader against the emperor's foes in the northeast, especially Henry the Lion

Henry the Lion

Henry the Lion was a member of the Welf dynasty and Duke of Saxony, as Henry III, from 1142, and Duke of Bavaria, as Henry XII, from 1156, which duchies he held until 1180....

.
Wichmann studied theology at the University of Paris

University of Paris

The University of Paris was a university located in Paris, France and one of the earliest to be established in Europe. It was founded in the mid 12th century, and officially recognized as a university probably between 1160 and 1250...

 before becoming a canon in Halberstadt

Halberstadt

Halberstadt is a town in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt and the capital of the district of Harz. It is located on the German Half-Timbered House Road and the Magdeburg–Thale railway....

. He was made Bishop of Zeitz-Naumburg in 1150 and was quickly appointed to the archdiocese of Magdeburg by the newly-crowned Frederick Barbarossa in 1152. He immediately endeavoured to extend his diocese and its economy; he actively promoted trade within the cities. In 1157, he teamed with Albert the Bear to Germanise

Germanisation

Germanisation is both the spread of the German language, people and culture either by force or assimilation, and the adaptation of a foreign word to the German language in linguistics, much like the Romanisation of many languages which do not use the Latin alphabet...

 the cities of Brandenburg

Brandenburg

Brandenburg is one of the sixteen federal-states of Germany. It lies in the east of the country and is one of the new federal states that were re-created in 1990 upon the reunification of the former West Germany and East Germany. The capital is Potsdam...

 and Jüterbog

Jüterbog

Jüterbog is a historic town in north-eastern Germany, located in the Teltow-Fläming district of Brandenburg. It is located on the Nuthe river at the northern slope of the Fläming hill range, about southwest of Berlin.-History:...

, whose vicinity he conquered and granted to the Cistercian monastery of Zinna

Zinna

Zinna is a municipality in the district Nordsachsen, in Saxony, Germany....

 in 1180.

In 1164, he undertook a pilgrimage to Palestine

Palestine

Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....

 and fell for a time into Turkish hands. In 1166, he joined the other princes in war with Henry the Lion, but he succeeded only in seeing his lands devastated. In 1175, he supplied auxiliaries to the emperor for his Italian campaign. He was in Venice

Venice

Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...

 negotiating the peace treaty

Treaty of Venice

The Treaty or Peace of Venice, 1177, was an important peace treaty between the papacy and its allies, the north Italian city-states of the Lombard League, and Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor...

 in 1177. In 1178, he was back in Saxony for the war against Henry the Lion. He strongly worked for Henry's removal (1181) and greatly profited from its actualisation, becoming the principal secular authority in Saxony after. He remained deeply predisposed against the Welfs, however.

In 1180, he gave a part of his extensive possessions to Seitenstetten Abbey

Seitenstetten Abbey

Seitenstetten Abbey is a Benedictine monastery in Seitenstetten in the Mostviertel region of Lower Austria.-History:...

 in Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

.

He died on 25 August 1192 in the proximity of Köthen and was buried in his own cathedral. The city and diocese of Magdeburg had fully bloomed under his oversight.

Sources