Tilman Riemenschneider, Tomb of Lorenz of Bibra (Dompfarrei St. Kilian, Würzburg)

Lorenz von Bibra (1459–1519) came from an important family of the lower nobility in the Würzburg Collegiate Monastery. After studying in Heidelberg, Erfurt and Bologna, he joined the service of the Mainz Elector Berthold von Henneberg (d. 1504, elector 1484–1504). In 1495, he was elected bishop of Würzburg.

Through monastic reforms, the promotion of pilgrimages and the proclamation of indulgences, he proved himself to be a representative of the traditional church. Lorenz von Bibra, however, according to a statement attributed to Martin Luther (1483–1546), would have become “Lutheran if he had lived longer” and some researchers considered him to be a sympathiser of the Reformation.

In the Würzburg Cathedral, the tomb monument created by Tilman Riemenschneider (1460–1531) depicts the bishop in ecclesiastical ornate with a sword and crooked stick as the symbols of secular and spiritual power. The epitaph’s superstructure shows the coat of arms of the prince-bishop. On the sides, a series of coats of arms of the Bibra family can be seen, together with the “Franconian rake” and with the Würzburg “racing flag”.

To the digitised copy