Archbishop Anno II of Cologne

From Freepedia

Anno II was Archbishop of Cologne from 1055-1075 Born to non noble family in approximately 1010, educated at Bamburg, and was eventually elevated into the court Chapel of Emperor Henry III. He was was invested as archbishop of Cologne by the emperor in 1055. A few years after the death of Henry III in 1056, he and a group of other prominent magnates orchestrated a coup at Kaiserwerth in 1062 that resulted in the kidnapping of the young king Henry IV (later Emperor Henry IV) and in the ending the regency of Empress Agnes. He was regent of the German Empire between 1062 and 1064, when Henry IV reached the age of majority. In 1064, Anno participated in negotiations between two claimants to the papacy, Nicholas II of the papal reform party and Bishop Cadulus of Parma during a period of schism. During his tenure as archbishop, he largely supported monastic reform by establishing new monasteries at Siegburg (Landkreis Bonn-Siegburg), Grafschaft (Westphalia) and Saalfeld (Thuringia). He consecrated and expanded numerous churches in Cologne, including Saint Maria ad Gradus (located east of the present Cologne Cathedral) the church of St. Georg, and church of St. Gereon. He also supported placing his relatives into ecclesiastical seats. This had tragic results in 1066, when Anno's nephew Conrad was murdered shortly after being appointed by him as archbishop of Trier, apparently against the will of the local clergy, nobles, and the people. In 1074 he was briefly driven from Cologne by the citizens and merchants following his highly resented aquisition of a merchant ship for his own purposes. However, he was able to return and reassume his position, after severely punishing the leaders of the uprising. He died in 1075 and was buried at the Benedictine monastery at nearby Siegburg. After a series of miracles were reported in Cologne and Siegburg in the twelfth century, he was canonized in 1183. Prominent sources include the Vita Annonis (Latin, Monumenta Germania Historica, Scriptores Volume XI), Vita Annonis Minor (Latin and German, ed. and trans. M. Mittler), and several passages from the Annalen of Lampert von Hersfeld (Latin and German).