Frederik V Schenck van Toutenburg
Encyclopedia
Vollenhove
Vollenhove is a city in the Dutch province of Overijssel. It is located in the municipality of Steenwijkerland, southwest of Steenwijk. Until the Noordoostpolder was drained, it was located on the coast of the IJsselmeer....
, ca. 1503 - Utrecht
Utrecht (city)
Utrecht city and municipality is the capital and most populous city of the Dutch province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, and is the fourth largest city of the Netherlands with a population of 312,634 on 1 Jan 2011.Utrecht's ancient city centre features...
, 25 August 1580) was the first archbishop
Archbishop
An archbishop is a bishop of higher rank, but not of higher sacramental order above that of the three orders of deacon, priest , and bishop...
of Utrecht (previously only a bishopric).
Biography
The son of Georg Schenck van ToutenburgGeorg Schenck van Toutenburg
Georg Schenck van Toutenburg was Stadhouder of Friesland , succeeding Wilhelm van Roggendorf. Later he was also Stadholder of Overijssel, Drenthe and Groningen...
, he graduated in law at the Reichskammergericht
Reichskammergericht
The Reichskammergericht or Imperial Chamber Court was one of two highest judicial institutions in the Holy Roman Empire, the other one being the Aulic Council in Vienna. It was founded in 1495 by the Imperial Diet in Worms...
in Speyer
Speyer
Speyer is a city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany with approximately 50,000 inhabitants. Located beside the river Rhine, Speyer is 25 km south of Ludwigshafen and Mannheim. Founded by the Romans, it is one of Germany's oldest cities...
. After being made a priest, he became archdeacon
Archdeacon
An archdeacon is a senior clergy position in Anglicanism, Syrian Malabar Nasrani, Chaldean Catholic, and some other Christian denominations, above that of most clergy and below a bishop. In the High Middle Ages it was the most senior diocesan position below a bishop in the Roman Catholic Church...
of the Pieterskerk
Pieterskerk, Utrecht
The Pieterskerk is one of the oldest Roman Catholic churches in the Dutch city of Utrecht, dedicated to Peter the Apostle. Its construction began in 1039 and it was inaugurated on 1 May 1048 by Bernold, Bishop of Utrecht...
in Bishopric of Utrecht and priest at the Sint-Plechelmusbasiliek in Oldenzaal. He spent his time writing tracts on church law until he was promoted to the Dutch episcopate in 1559 by Philip II
Philip II of Spain
Philip II was King of Spain, Portugal, Naples, Sicily, and, while married to Mary I, King of England and Ireland. He was lord of the Seventeen Provinces from 1556 until 1581, holding various titles for the individual territories such as duke or count....
, who named him as the very first Archbishop of Utrecht
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Utrecht
The Archdiocese of Utrecht is an archdiocese of the Catholic Church in the Netherlands. The archdiocese is the metropolitan for 6 suffragans, the dioceses of Breda, Groningen-Leeuwarden, Haarlem-Amsterdam, Roermond, Rotterdam, and 's-Hertogenbosch....
(which was then confirmed in 1561 by Pope Pius IV
Pope Pius IV
Pope Pius IV , born Giovanni Angelo Medici, was Pope from 1559 to 1565. He is notable for presiding over the culmination of the Council of Trent.-Biography:...
). Until that time, the Bishopric of Utrecht reported to the Archbishop of Cologne. By agreement between Philip II and Rome in the spirit of the Counter-Reformation
Counter-Reformation
The Counter-Reformation was the period of Catholic revival beginning with the Council of Trent and ending at the close of the Thirty Years' War, 1648 as a response to the Protestant Reformation.The Counter-Reformation was a comprehensive effort, composed of four major elements:#Ecclesiastical or...
, the low countries (at that time a loose set of Seventeen Provinces
Seventeen Provinces
The Seventeen Provinces were a personal union of states in the Low Countries in the 15th century and 16th century, roughly covering the current Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, a good part of the North of France , and a small part of Western Germany.The Seventeen Provinces were originally held by...
) received its own archbishoprics, which besides Utrecht were Mechelen
Mechelen
Mechelen Footnote: Mechelen became known in English as 'Mechlin' from which the adjective 'Mechlinian' is derived...
and Cambrai
Cambrai
Cambrai is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department.Cambrai is the seat of an archdiocese whose jurisdiction was immense during the Middle Ages. The territory of the Bishopric of Cambrai, roughly coinciding with the shire of Brabant, included...
. This was an attempt to give the various parts of the low countries some self-government as a way of fending off the Protestant Reformation
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
. These measures were not very successful, and Scheck van Toutenburg's archbishopric saw the Catholic reaction against the Council of Trent
Council of Trent
The Council of Trent was the 16th-century Ecumenical Council of the Roman Catholic Church. It is considered to be one of the Church's most important councils. It convened in Trent between December 13, 1545, and December 4, 1563 in twenty-five sessions for three periods...
in the northern Netherlands. Governor Margaret of Parma
Margaret of Parma
Margaret, Duchess of Parma , Governor of the Netherlands from 1559 to 1567 and from 1578 to 1582, was the illegitimate daughter of Charles V and Johanna Maria van der Gheynst...
forced him to lead support for the decrees of the Council of Trent and led him to call a provincial synod
Synod
A synod historically is a council of a church, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. In modern usage, the word often refers to the governing body of a particular church, whether its members are meeting or not...
in 1565. The clergy and canon
Canon (priest)
A canon is a priest or minister who is a member of certain bodies of the Christian clergy subject to an ecclesiastical rule ....
s were fiercely opposed to the new disciplinary measures and tried to frustrate their introduction, but Schenck van Toutenburg used his power to break the opposition and to give leadership in the fight against Protestantism
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...
.
Protestant Reformation
Schenck van Toutenburg was unable to unite the Catholics under his archbishopric. Under his tenure, many good Catholic Utrecht burgers became secret Protestants. As the Dutch RevoltDutch Revolt
The Dutch Revolt or the Revolt of the Netherlands This article adopts 1568 as the starting date of the war, as this was the year of the first battles between armies. However, since there is a long period of Protestant vs...
began and William the Silent
William the Silent
William I, Prince of Orange , also widely known as William the Silent , or simply William of Orange , was the main leader of the Dutch revolt against the Spanish that set off the Eighty Years' War and resulted in the formal independence of the United Provinces in 1648. He was born in the House of...
, stadtholder
Stadtholder
A Stadtholder A Stadtholder A Stadtholder (Dutch: stadhouder [], "steward" or "lieutenant", literally place holder, holding someones place, possibly a calque of German Statthalter, French lieutenant, or Middle Latin locum tenens...
since 1559, fled, Maximilien de Hénin-Liétard
Maximilien de Hénin-Liétard
Maximilien de Hénin-Liétard, Count of Boussu was a soldier and statesman from the Habsburg Netherlands. During the Eighty Years' War he was the royalist stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland and Utrecht from 1567 until he was made a prisoner of war during the Battle on the Zuiderzee in 1573...
was named the official stadtholder
Stadtholder
A Stadtholder A Stadtholder A Stadtholder (Dutch: stadhouder [], "steward" or "lieutenant", literally place holder, holding someones place, possibly a calque of German Statthalter, French lieutenant, or Middle Latin locum tenens...
of the Netherlands in 1567 with his base in Utrecht at Vredenburg (castle)
Vredenburg (castle)
Vredenburg or Vredeborch was a 16th-century castle built by Habsburg emperor Charles V in the city of Utrecht in the Netherlands. Some remains of the castle, which stood for only 50 years, are still visible on what is now Vredenburg square in Utrecht....
. Like Schenck van Toutenburg, he met with insurrection with those under his command. After unsuccessfully preventing the Capture of Brielle
Capture of Brielle
The Capture of Brielle by the Sea Beggars, or Watergeuzen, on 1 April 1572 marked a turning point in the uprising of the Low Countries against Spain in the Eighty Years' War. Militarily the success was minor, as Brielle was not being defended at the time...
in April–June 1572, he convened a meeting of the States General in The Hague
The Hague
The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...
in July 1572, but many representatives convened a new meeting in Dordrecht
Dordrecht
Dordrecht , colloquially Dordt, historically in English named Dort, is a city and municipality in the western Netherlands, located in the province of South Holland. It is the fourth largest city of the province, having a population of 118,601 in 2009...
later that month, in which they pledged allegiance to William the Silent (or now, William of Orange). As the country turned to Protestantism and the Orange sympathies grew, Hénin-Liétard was taken prisoner at the Battle on the Zuiderzee
Battle on the Zuiderzee
The Battle on the Zuiderzee was a naval battle during the Eighty Years' War in which a Dutch fleet destroyed a larger and better-equipped Spanish fleet on the Zuiderzee.-Prelude:...
on October 11, 1573. His Spanish troops based at Vredenburg thus lost their local leader.
The nearby city of Oudewater
Oudewater
Oudewater is a municipality and a town in the Netherlands, in the province of Utrecht.-Population centres :The municipality of Oudewater consists of the following cities, towns, villages and/or districts: Hekendorp, Oudewater, Papekop, Snelrewaard....
was massacred by Spanish troops for its participation in rebellion on 7 augustus 1575. Only those who could pay ransom money escaped. This shocked many leading Utrecht burgers. Though Hénin-Liétard was released as a term of treaty in the Pacification of Ghent
Pacification of Ghent
The Pacification of Ghent, signed on November 8, 1576, was an alliance of the provinces of the Habsburg Netherlands for the purpose of driving mutinying Spanish mercenary troops from the country, and at the same time a peace treaty with the rebelling provinces Holland and Zeeland.-Background:In...
in 1576, he no longer had command of Vredenburg and chose the side of William of Orange. This caused a problem of loyalties among the Spanish stationed at Utrecht. The city council of Utrecht sent representatives to Archbishop Schenk van Toutenburg to borrow money to pay the Spanish mercenaries at Vredenburg who had as a result pointed their canons at the city itself. These Spanish troops still had no leader and worse, had not been paid. Schenk van Toutenburg refused to pay, and the city fathers forced the lock on his money chest to "loan" 40,000 guilders. This was the end of Utrecht's allegiance with Catholicism, as they feared a fate like Oudewater. In June of 1580 the city council of Utrecht decided to ban Catholic services in Utrecht. The archbishop died later that summer on August 25.
Legacy
He became the first and last Archbishop that Utrecht had for 237 years. The Cathedral of Utrecht was closed from June onwards, though Roman Catholics still received permission to bury their dead (including their late archbishop) in the cathedral. Schenck van Toutenburg's funeral ceremony on 30 August 1580 was the last Catholic service in Utrecht for a long while and was disturbed by Protestants, who sang their version of psalm 130Psalm 130
Psalm 130 , traditionally De profundis from its Latin incipit, is one of the Penitential psalms.-Commentary:...
against the Catholic version ("De Profundiis").