Rüdiger Huzmann

Rüdiger Huzmann (died 22 February 1090) was a German religious leader who served as the Roman Catholic Bishop of Speyer from 1075 to his death.

[6] Huzmann's predecessor as bishop of Speyer, Heinrich of Scharfenberg [de], who was called to the 1075 Synod of Lent in Rome, where he was suspended in absentia, died either on 29 December 1074 or on 26 February 1075.

[13][14] On receipt of the letter, Pope Gregory excommunicated archbishop of Mainz Siegfried I and Henry IV and threatened all signatories with suspension, giving them until 1 August to justify their actions to Rome.

[16][17] He stayed at Oppenheim with Henry while the supporters of Gregory, who were asking for the king to seek absolution and the revocation of his excommunication, met on the opposite side of the Rhine at Trebur.

[16][17][18] After lengthy negotiations, Henry had to dismiss the bishops and princes that had been loyal to him, including Huzmann, and the king stayed in Speyer before embarking on the Road to Canossa.

[26] In June 1075, Henry IV gave control of the Cyriakusstift Eschwege [de] convent to the Prince-Bishopric of Speyer and allowed the bishop to appoint the abbess.

After a fire in Mainz, some of the Jewish inhabitants left that city, and Huzmann welcomed their arrival and issued a chartered letter of protection dated 13 September 1084.

[32][33][34] Huzmann intended to grow the economy and status of Speyer and built a wall around the new Jewish quarter in order to protect its inhabitants.

[35] He granted business rights and allowed the community to organise its own affairs,[36] and declared the legal protections given by his charter as more generous than those found anywhere in Germany.