WARTENBERG, FRANZ WILHELM VON

Cardinal; b. Munich, Mar. 1, 1593; d. Regensburg, Dec. 1, 1661. He was educated at Ingolstadt and Rome. Wartenberg became political administrator for the Elector Ferdinand of Cologne in the early years of the thirty years' war (1621). On Oct. 26, 1625, he was elected bishop of Osnabrück, then in Protestant hands, but he did not take up residence until March 1628, when he entered the city with the aid of Johann tilly, general of the forces of the Catholic League. During the next five years, until Osnabrück was captured by the Swedes, Wartenberg energetically reestablished the Church in religious, political, and educational matters. In addition, he was responsible for administering the Edict of restitution (1629) in Lower Saxony; he became also the bishop of Verden (1630) and of Minden (1631). With the advent of the Swedes in 1633, Wartenberg took refuge in Regensburg, where he was ordained priest (1636), and appointed vicar apostolic to Bremen (1645), and bishop of Regensburg (1649).

After the Peace of westphalia (1648), during the negotiations of which he served as a representative of the Catholic imperial electors, Wartenberg returned to Osnabrück. Bremen and Verden had been transferred to Sweden, and Minden to Prussia, although he nominally retained spiritual authority there. In April 166l, eight months before his death, he was created a cardinal priest.

Bibliography: g. schwaiger, Kardinal Franz Wilhelm von Wartenberg als Bischof von Regensburg, 1649–1661 (Munich 1950). h. lÜnenborg, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche ¹ 10:757.

[t. t. helde]