The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church

Biographical Dictionary
Pope Innocent III (1198-1216)
Consistory of March 1206 (V)
Celebrated in Rome


(23) 1. EPPSTEIN, Siegfried von (ca. 1165-1230)

Birth. Ca. 1165, Eppstein, Germany. Second son of Count Gottfried I (or III) von Hainhausen, lord von Eppstein. Brother of Gottfried I von Eppstein. His last name is also listed as Eppenstein.

Education. (No information found).

Early life. Provost of the church of St. Gangolf, Mainz, 1189. Provost of the church of St. Martin, Worms, 1194. Provost of the church of St. Peter, Mainz, 1196. Probably, he also was provost of the collegiate church of St. Peter in Brünn and provost of the collegiate chapter of St. Peter und Paul in Wysche hrad, Prague. Chancellor of the king of Bohemia.

Episcopate. Elected archbishop of Mainz by a minority of the metropolitan cathedral chapter, influenced by Emperor Otto IV, in November 1200; chased before his consecration by a rival faction that elected Lupold von Scheinfeld, bishop of Worms, as new archbishop; he retired to Cologne, where Cardinal Guy Paré, bishop of Palestrina and papal legate, was. He received the episcopal consecration in 1200 from the papal legate, assisted by Adolf I von Altena, archbishop of Cologne, and by Hermann von Katzenelnbogen, bishop of Münster. He went to Rome, where Pope Innocent III confirmed his election on March 21, 1202 and gave him the pallium.

Cardinalate. Created cardinal priest of S. Sabina in March 1206 (1). The intruder archbishop of Mainz was exiled in June 1208; he returned to Mainz and resigned his cardinalitial title (2). Named legate for Germany in March 1212. He crowned Friedrich II as king of Germany on December 9, 1212 in Mainz; and again, on July 23, 1215 in Aachen. Did not participate in the papal election of 1216, in which Pope Honirus III was elected. Participated in Fourth Lateran Council. In April 1220, he accompanied the emperor's son, Heinrich (VII), to Frankfurt-am-Main, where he was elected king of Germany. He attended the coronation of Friedrich as Holy Roman emperor by Pope Honorius III on November 22, 1220, in the patriarchal Vatican basilica, Rome. In February 1223 he was with Emperor Friedrich II in Capes; and in September 1227 in Brindisi. He celebrated a synod in Erfurt in 1223; and in 1225, 1226 and/or 1227 in Mainz. Did not subscribe any papal bulls.

Death. September 9, 1230, Erfurt. Buried in the cathedral of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Marienkirche), Erfurt.

Bibliography. Cardella, Lorenzo. Memorie storiche de' cardinali della Santa Romana Chiesa. Rome : Stamperia Pagliarini, 1792, I, pt. 2, 229-230; Chacón, Alfonso. Vitæ, et res gestæ Pontificvm Romanorum et S. R. E. Cardinalivm ab initio nascentis Ecclesiæ vsque ad Vrbanvm VIII. Pont. Max. 2 volumes. Romae : Typis Vaticanis, 1677, II, col. 39-40; "Essai de liste générale des cardinaux. Les cardinaux du XIIIè siècle". Annuaire Pontifical Catholique 1929. Paris : Maison de la Bonne Presse, 1929, p. 112-113; Eubel, Conradus and Gulik, Guglielmus van. Hierarchia Catholica Medii Aevi. Volumen I (1198-1431). Münich : Sumptibus et Typis Librariae Regensbergianae, 1913; reprint, Padua : Il Messagero di S. Antonio, 1960, pp. ; Jürgensmeier, Friedhelm. "Siegfried (II.) von Eppstein (Eppenstein) (um 1165-1230)." Die Bischöfe des Heiligen Römischen Reiches, 1198 bis 1448 : ein biographisches Lexikon. Herausgegeben von Erwin Gatz, unter Mitwirkung von Clemens Brodkorb. Berlin : Duncker & Humblot, 2001, p. 398-399.

Webgraphy. Biography by Regina Schäfer, in German, Deutsche Biographie; biography, in German, Wikipedia; his genealogy, in German; biography, in German, Institut für Geschichtliche Landeskunde Rheinland-Pfalz.

(1) This is according to "Essai de liste générale des cardinaux. Les cardinaux du XIIIè siècle". Annuaire Pontifical Catholique 1929, p. 113; Cardella, Memorie storiche de' cardinali della Santa Romana Chiesa, I, pt. 2, 225; and Chacón, Vitæ, et res gestæ Pontificvm Romanorum et S. R. E. Cardinalivm , II, col. 38, indicate that the date of his promotion to the cardinalate is unknown.
(2) The practice of resigning the cardinalitial title when appointed to a diocese was followed by some cardinals in the 12th and 13th centuries. For example, according to "Essai de liste générale des cardinaux. Les cardinaux du XIIè siècle". Annuaire Pontifical Catholique 1928. Paris : Maison de la Bonne Presse, 1928, p. 132, in the pontificate of Pope Lucius III, Cardinal Adelardo Cattaneo (1185), resigned his cardinalitial title when he became bishop of Verona at the end of 1188; at that time, he changed his signature from "cardinal priest of the title of S. Marcello" to "cardinal priest of the Holy Roman Church, humble bishop of Verona".

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