Friedrich Christian von Plettenberg

Friedrich Christian Freiherr von Plettenberg-Lenhausen (8 August 1644 – 5 May 1706) was Prince-Bishop of Münster from 1688 until his death in 1706.

Through his foreign policy, which relied on different alliance partners, he succeeded in giving the Prince-Bishopric of Münster a semi-independent role for the last time during the Nine Years' War.

Ferdinand von Plettenberg, Prime Minister of the Electorate of Cologne was his nephew.

To strengthen the independence of the bishop, he built, among other things with foreign aid, the Münster military.

Since the foreign funds were not sufficient, he took without the approval of the estates, loans of 100,000 Reichstalern to bring the army to a strength of 6,000 men.

However, the troops from Münster and Brandenburg arrived too late in the theatre, which contributed to the defeat of the allies in the Battle of Fleurus.

He bought the then still small Nordkirchen Castle for them, turning it into a palace called "the Versailles of Westphalia".

His epitaph was created by Johann Mauritz Gröninger and is located in St. Paul's Cathedral in Münster.