Bischof Iso von Wölpe

ENTRY FROM FEMINAE:

Bishop Iso von Wölpe (ca. 1170–1231) rose to a position of considerable power in the early 13th-century Holy Roman Empire. Beginning in 1205, as prince-bishop of Verden, a town in what is now the northwest German state of Lower Saxony, he wielded great spiritual and secular authority during a time of immense political and religious tumult. In his role as prince-bishop, Iso enjoyed imperial immediacy, meaning he was an elector of the Holy Roman Emperor and, by default, operated largely independently of the emperor (and to an extent, the pope). This synthesis of ecclesiastical and lay authority in one local ruler was a defining feature of 13th-century imperial politics in the Germanies. Iso's monumental brass, dedicated upon his death in 1231, is the oldest remaining medieval brass monument in Europe.

The inscription around the edge of the brass reads: "Iso von Wölpe, thirty-first Bishop of Verden ruled for 26 years. He built the monastery of Saint Andrew. He was the first to fortify Verden. He dissolved the lordship of the city and expedited the relinquishing of control of the monks’ goods held by "dynasten" like the von Wanebergen/Waneberge/Wahnebergen (Advocati/Vogtei zu Verden) and the extinct von Westen "dynasten". Having bought the patrimony of Westen for 500 marks and more, he donated it to Saint Mary. He died happily in the year of the Lord’s incarnation MCCXXXI on the nones of August."

His effigy shows him dressed in full liturgical vestments: he wears an alb, dalmatic, chasuble, pallium, and on his head, a mitre. The subdued patterns decorating his priestly garments bring the viewer’s eyes up to meet Iso’s strong gaze. A crosier, a symbol of the bishop’s role as shepherd of his flock, leans against his right side. In each hand he holds a model of a building: in his right, St. Andrew's Church, which he founded in 1220, and in his left, the city wall of Verden, which he commissioned during his episcopate, and which demarcated what would later become the town’s boundaries. This representation aptly illustrates his power as both a religious and lay ruler over the town.

Related Resources:
"Iso von Wolpe" in Germania Sacra. http://personendatenbank.germania-sacra.de/index/gnd/136953913. Accessed 2016;

Norris, M. W. “The Schools of Brasses in Germany.” Journal of the British Archaeological Association 3rd series 19 (1956): 34-52;

Vogtherr, Thomas. Iso von Wölpe, Bischof von Verden: (1205-1231); Reichsfürst, Bischof, Adliger; eine Biographie. Landschaftsverband der Ehemaligen Herzogtümer Bremen und Verden, 2008.

https://inpress.lib.uiowa.edu/feminae/DetailsPage.aspx?Feminae_ID=3...

THE COUNTY OF WÖLPE:

The County of Wölpe (German: Grafschaft Wölpe) was the territorial lordship of a noble family in the Middle Ages in the Middle Weser Region near Nienburg/Weser which folded in 1302. The seat of the counts of Wölpe was the castle site at Erichshagen-Wölpe on the Wölpe stream in the borough of Nienburg in north Germany. The castle itself no longer exists.

Important Representatives
1. Bernard II of Wölpe (1176–1221), founder of Neustadt am Rübenberge and Mariensee Abbey

2. Iso of Wölpe (1167–1231), Prince-Bishop of Verden

Sources
Marcus René Duensing: Die Chronik der County of Wölpe, Diepenau 1999, ISBN 3-929793-69-5

Ernst Andreas Friedrich: Wenn Steine reden könnten. Band IV, Landbuch-Verlag, Hannover 1998, ISBN 3-7842-0558-5

Dieter Riemer: counts und Herren im Erzstift Bremen im Spiegel der Geschichte Lehes, Bremerhaven/Hamburg 1995 (Diss. phil. Oldenburg) S. 141 ff ISBN 3-923725-89-2

https://www.erichshagen-woelpe.de/geschichte/grafen.htm

https://kulturerbe.niedersachsen.de/piresolver?id=isil_DE-MUS-16351...

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Er war der jüngere Sohn des Grafen Bernhard I. von Wölpe aus der Grafschaft Wölpe.

Iso war 1188 Domherr in Verden und Propst von Bardowick. Ab 1197 war er Dompropst. 1205 wurde er zum Bischof von Verden gewählt.

Das Bild Iso von Wölpes auf seiner Grabplatte in der Verdener St. Andreas-Kirche.

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iso_von_W%C3%B6lpe

Gerhard de Hoya, Bischof zu Verden 1254 is Iso von Wölpe's great nephew.