Melchior Zobel von Giebelstadt information

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Melchior Zobel von Giebelstadt
Prince-Bishop of Würzburg
Melchior Zobel von Giebelstadt
See	Würzburg
Appointed	27 October 1544
Term ended	15 April 1558
Predecessor	Konrad von Bibra
Successor	Friedrich von Wirsberg
Personal details
Born	c. 1502 Giebelstadt
Died	15 April 1558(1558-04-15) (aged 55–56)
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Coat of arms

Melchior Zobel von Giebelstadt (1502–1558) was the Prince-Bishop of Würzburg from 1544 to 1558.

Melchior Zobel von Giebelstadt was born in 1502, the son of Georg Zobel and his wife Dorothea Rüdt von Callenberg.^[1] As a younger son, he was groomed for a career in the church from an early age. He became a canon (Domizellar) of Würzburg Cathedral on 27 January 1521.^{[citation needed]} He studied at the University of Wittenberg in summer semester 1521.^{[citation needed]} He spent winter semester 1521 studying at the University of Leipzig.^{[citation needed]} He became a Domherr of Würzburg Cathedral in 1522.^{[citation needed]} On 4 March 1540 he was elected dean of Würzburg Cathedral and was subsequently ordained as a priest.^[1] Following the death of Bishop Konrad von Thüngen, Zobel von Giebelstadt was a candidate to replace him as Prince-Bishop of Würzburg, but he lost the election, held on 1 July 1540, to Conrad von Bibra.^{[citation needed]}

On 19 August 1544 the cathedral chapter of Würzburg Cathedral elected him as the new Prince-Bishop of Würzburg.^[1] A delegation from the cathedral chapter informed Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor of his election on 22 August 1544 and Pope Paul III confirmed his appointment on 27 October 1544.^[1]

During the Schmalkaldic War of 1546-47, he allied the Prince-Bishopric of Würzburg with the pro-Catholic imperial forces.^{[citation needed]} That war ended when the Diet of Augsburg of 1547-48 declared the Augsburg Interim.^{[citation needed]} Zobel von Giebelstadt's opposition to the Augsburg Interim led to him and six other prelates being personally rebuked by Charles V at an audience held on 9 April 1548.^{[citation needed]}

As bishop, Zobel von Giebelstadt was fiercely opposed to the efforts of Friedrich Bernbeck (1511–70), mayor of Kitzingen to introduce the Reformation in Kitzingen.^{[citation needed]} He attempted to found a Jesuit university in 1556, but this effort failed as the order was unable to provide a sufficient number of priests to staff the proposed university.^{[citation needed]}