CONRAD
259
CONRAD
nocent IV and the archbishop ceased, and in April,
1250. the ApostoUc legation in Germany was commit-
ted to Peter, Bishop of Albano. At the same time
began Conrad's estrangement from King William,
which finally led to open rebellion. With all the
means of a powerful and nnscrupiilous prince, Con-
rad attempted to detlironc \\'illiam and would prob-
ably have been successful had not tlic king's prema-
ture death made the intrigues of the arclibishop un-
necessary. After the death of King William (28
January, 12.56), Conrad played an important but de-
spicable role in the election of the new king. For a
large sum he sold his vote to Richard of Cornwall,
brother of Henry III of England, and crowned him at
Aachen, 17 May, 1257. This was the last important
act of Conrad. He is buried in the cathedral of
Cologne, of which he laid the comer-stone, 15 August,
1248.
Cahdauns, Konrad von Hostaden, Erzbrschof vtm Koln, lS3S-i>l (Cologne, ISSO); Id., licgrsten des Kulncr Erzbischofs Konrad von Hostadfn in Annakn des hist. Vcreins fitr den Niederrhrin (Coloene. ISSO), No. 35; Burckhahdt, Konrad von Hoehslnden (Bonn. 1S43); Anruiles Monasterii S. Fanta- Uonia in Mon. Germ. Hist.: Script., XXII, 530 sqq.
MlCH.\EL OtT.
Conrad of Leonberg (Leoxtorius), a Cistercian monk and Humanist. I), at Leonberg in Swabia in 1460; d. at Engenthal near Basle after 1.520. He took vows at the Cistercian monasterj' of JIaulbronn in the Neckar district, which, unlike most other Cis- tercian monasteries of those times, was then enjojnng its golden age. In 1490 he became secretary' to the general of his order. When the Geniian Humanists began to revive the study of the Latin and Greek classics, as Conrad deplored the barbarous Latin in which the scholastic philosophers and theologians of Germany were expounding the doctrine of their great masters, he was in full accord with their endeavours to restore the classical Latinity of the Ciceronian Age. He also, by word and example, encouraged the study of Greek, but was especially attracted by the great Hebrew scholar Reuclilin (d. 1522) who in- spired Conrad with his own enthusiasm for the study of Hebrew. Like Reuclilin, his friend and teacher, Conrad was convincefl of the necessity of Hebrew for a thorough. understanding of the Holy Scriptures, and became one of the few great Hebrew scholars of his time. He was in correspondence with the best writers in sacred and profane literature, and was highly es- teemed by the learned men of his period. For a time he appears to have been engaged as proof-reader in the celebrated printing-office of Amerbach at Basle. Besides writing numerous Latin poems, orations, and epistles, he published (Basle, 1506-8) the Latin Bible with the "Postilla" and "MoraHtates" of the Oxford Franciscan Nicolas de Lyra, together with the " Addi- tiones " of Paul of Burgos (d. 1435) and the " Replies " of Mathias Thoring (d. 1469).
I WlON. Ltgnum Vita (Venice. 1595), I, 78; Hurter. Nomen- lalor (Innsbruck. 1907), II, 949; Hagen. Deulschiands Uerarische Verhaltnmse im licformations-ZeUaltcr (Erlangen, 841), I, 151.
Michael Ott.
Conrad of Lichtenau. See Lichte.vau.
Conrad of Marburg, confessor of Saint Elizabeth at Thuringia and papal incpiisitor, b. at or near Mar- burg, Germany, in the second half of the twelfth cen- tury; d. .30 July, 12.33. His contemporaries called Um MngiMer, a proof that he had finished the course >f studies at some university, perhaps Paris or Bo- ogna. According to the Thuringian court-chaplain Berthold, and Cacsarius of Hcisterbach, he was prol> ibly a secular priest, therefore neither a Dominican, w Hausrath states, nor a Franciscan, as is asserted by Henke and others. Papal letters and contemporary Jhroniclers describe Conrad as a man of much ability, arge theological learning, great eloquence, ardent seal in defence of the purity of Catholic Faith, and a
severe ascetic. They also agree as to the sternness of
his character. He is first heard of as a vigorous
preacher of the crusade proclaimed in 1213 by Inno-
cent III. The death of Innocent and the consequent
relaxation of interest in the crusade, did not dampen
the ardour of Conrad, while, in addition, he was
charged with various important commissions. Hon-
orius III authorized him ( 1219) to adjust the differ-
ences of the convent of Nihenburg with the Duke of
Saxony and the Count of Askanien. The abbot of
Hajma, the provost of St. Stephen, Mainz, and Con-
rad were appointed in 1227 papal commissioners for
the separation of Marburg from the parish of Ober-
weimar. The synod of Mainz (1225) had issued sev-
eral decrees for the imjirovement of the clergy and
Conrad was intrusted with their execution; he was
also charged with the reform of certain convents, as
Nordhausen. In 1232 he describes himself as visita-
tor monasteriorum in Alemannid. In the course of
these laboin-s Conrad became acquainted with the
Landgrave Ludwig of Thuringia and his wife, St.
Elizabeth. The prince held Conrad in high esteem,
and the latter exercised great influence at the Thur-
ingian coiu-t, being authorized by Ludwig to appoint
to all ecclesiastical offices in the gift of the landgrave.
This power of appointing to ecclesiastical livings was
confirmed (12 June, 1227) by Gregory IX (Mon. Germ.
Hist.: Epistola; Sa;c. XIII, ed. Rodenberg, 1,276, n.
361).
In 1225, after the recall of the Franciscan Rodeger, Conrad became the spiritual director and confessor of the pious landgravine. He treated her with the same severity that he used against himself, a pro- cedure in accordance with her own wishes. At times, however, he checked her pious zeal and forbade ex- cessive mortifications. Conrad has been often blamed, quite unjustly, for the direction, in keeping with the custom of the time, which he imparted to the soul of St. Elizabeth. After the death of St. Eliza- beth on 19 November, 1231, Conrad was deputed, with the Archbishop of Mainz and the Abbot of Eber- bach, to examine witnesses concerning her life and the miracles attributed to her intercession. He also wrote for the process of canonization a short life of .St. Elizabeth. In his later years Conrad was very active in Germany as papal inquisitor. The heresies of the Catharists and the Waldenses were spreading through- out the land; to Catharism, in particular, was owing the fantastic sect of the Luciferians (see Michael, Geschichte des deutschen Volkes, II, 266). From the beginning of the thirteenth century the German eccle- siastical authority, in union with the civil power, had proceeded vigorously against all heresies. The con- flict in which Conrad had so large a share was waged according to the medieval views of public right and welfare. The first process in which he took part was that directed against Heinrich Minnike, Provost of Goslar. In 1224 after a trial that lasted two years, Minnike was declared guilty of heresy, delivered to the secular arm, and perished at the stake. In the follow- ing years Conrad preached with great vigour again.stthe heretics and was waraily praised and encouraged to greater zeal by Gregory IX in a letter of 1227. The Archbishops of Trier and of Mainz both wrote to the pope in 1231 in praise of the extraordinary activity of Conrad and reported his triumphs over several hereti- cal leaders. Thereupon Pope Gregory conferred on Conrad (11 October, 1231) the extensive authority of papal inquisitor, the first such officer appointed in Germany. At the same time the pope released C<in- rad from the obligation of following the ordinary canonical procedure (te a cognitionibus cau/innim habere rolumua exrunntum) and authorized him to pro- ceed resolutely against heretics as he thought best, but with due observance of the papal decrees on the subject.
In the exercise of this authority, even according to
