Election

After the death of Archbishop Siegfried II von Westerburg in Bonn

Bonn

Bonn is the 19th largest city in Germany. Located in the Cologne/Bonn Region, about 25 kilometres south of Cologne on the river Rhine in the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, it was the capital of West Germany from 1949 to 1990 and the official seat of government of united Germany from 1990 to 1999....

 on 7 April 1297 the nobility and clergy gathered to select a new archbishop of Cologne in Neuss

Neuss

Neuss is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located on the west bank of the Rhine opposite Düsseldorf. Neuss is the largest city within the Rhein-Kreis Neuss district and owes its prosperity to its location at the crossing of historic and modern trade routes. It is primarily known...

, as Cologne was still under an interdict

Interdict

The term Interdict may refer to:* Court order enforcing or prohibiting a certain action* Injunction, such as a restraining order...

. King Adolf of Nassau

Adolf of Nassau-Weilburg

Adolf was the King of Germany from 1292 until 1298. Though his title in his lifetime was Rex Romanorum , he is usually known as Adolf of Nassau...

 was also present. Count Eberhard von der Mark urged the election of Wigbold, because Eberhard's son, Engelbert, was married to Wigbold's niece, Mechtilde von Aremberg. When he was duly elected as archbishop of Cologne in May 1297 by the chapter

Cathedral chapter

In accordance with canon law, a cathedral chapter is a college of clerics formed to advise a bishop and, in the case of a vacancy of the episcopal see in some countries, to govern the diocese in his stead. These councils are made up of canons and dignitaries; in the Roman Catholic church their...

 of Cologne Cathedral

Cologne Cathedral

Cologne Cathedral is a Roman Catholic church in Cologne, Germany. It is the seat of the Archbishop of Cologne and the administration of the Archdiocese of Cologne. It is renowned monument of German Catholicism and Gothic architecture and is a World Heritage Site...

, of which he was already a member as dean, he was already described as an old man ("senis confracti"). Adolf of Nassau however valued his diplomatic skill, and therefore supported his election.

In 1298 Wigbold received the pallium

Pallium

The pallium is an ecclesiastical vestment in the Roman Catholic Church, originally peculiar to the Pope, but for many centuries bestowed by him on metropolitans and primates as a symbol of the jurisdiction delegated to them by the Holy See. In that context it has always remained unambiguously...

 from Pope Boniface VIII

Pope Boniface VIII

Pope Boniface VIII , born Benedetto Gaetani, was Pope of the Catholic Church from 1294 to 1303. Today, Boniface VIII is probably best remembered for his feuds with Dante, who placed him in the Eighth circle of Hell in his Divina Commedia, among the Simonists.- Biography :Gaetani was born in 1235 in...

.

Career as archbishop

Well-schooled in worldly and intellectual studies, Wigbold was mostly occupied in minimising the political damage resulting from the defeat at the Battle of Worringen

Battle of Worringen

The Battle of Worringen was fought on June 5, 1288, near the town of Worringen , which is now the northernmost borough of Cologne...

 of his predecessor by the Counts of the Mark. He had the reputation of loving money above all else, and was suspected of simony

Simony

Simony is the act of paying for sacraments and consequently for holy offices or for positions in the hierarchy of a church, named after Simon Magus , who appears in the Acts of the Apostles 8:9-24...

.

He died on 26 March 1304 in Soest

Soest, Germany

Soest is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the capital of the Soest district. After Lippstadt, a neighbouring town, Soest is the second biggest town in its district.-Geography:...

, where he is buried.

Sources and external links