Friedrich III. von Zollern

Frederick III of Zollern († 29/30 July 1436 in Gottlieben) was Bishop of Constance from 1434 to 1436

Family

Frederick of Zollern was one of six children from the marriage of Count Frederick XI of Hohenzollern-Hechingen and Adelheid, daughter of Count Hugo of Fürstenberg in Zindelstein. Known brothers were Frederick XII and Eitel Frederick I.

Life

Frederick of Zollern was an imperial councillor of Sigismund, the emperor’s envoy to the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order Paul von Rusdorf in 1433, and a canon in Strasbourg. Frederick was able to convince the canons of Constance with a “considerable Leibgedinges”, who agreed to a transfer of the highly indebted bishopric on November 15, 1433. On 6 September 1434, Pope Eugene IV gave his consent.^[1]

He thus succeeded the deposed Otto III of Hachberg in the episcopate on September 6, 1434. In accordance with the order issued in 1433 at the Council of Basel, he invited the clergy to a diocesan synod in Constance on May 30, 1435. It is not known whether Zollern held the announced second synod in May 1436 or not. Just three months later on 29/30 July 1436, he died at Gottlieben Castle.^[2] Frederick of Zollern was buried in the Constance Cathedral.

On August 4, 1436, Heinrich von Hewen succeeded him as bishop of Constance.

Coat of arms

Beside the diocesan coat of arms, the black-silver shield of the Zollern and the golden Zollern stag in red.

Individual references

1. ↑ G. Braun: “Zeitschrift für die Geschichte des Oberrheins, Band 100”, 1952, page 70
2. ↑ Elmar L. Kuhn: “The Bishops of Constance, Volume 1”, Gessler 1988