Gregory of Heimburg

Gregory of Heimburg (Gregorius Heimburgensis) (b. at Würzburg in the beginning of the fifteenth century; d. at Tharandt near Dresden, August, 1472) was a German jurist, humanist and statesman.

Filled with the prevalent ideas of reform, this ardent and eloquent jurist was naturally attracted to the Council of Basle, convened, according to the assembled prelates, for "the extirpation of heresy, and of the Greek schism.

After the election of Albert VI of Austria, he was sent, with John of Lysura, to the Council of Basle to demand that the proceedings against the pope be suspended, and then to Eugene IV at Ferrara to propose that the negotiations with the Greeks be carried on in a German city.

The pope had deposed the Archbishops of Cologne and Trier, both electoral princes, who favoured the antipope Felix V. The other electors now demanded of Eugene (1) his approval of certain decrees of Basle; (2) the convocation of a general council in a German city within three months; (3) the acceptance of the article on the superiority of the council over the pope; and (4) the reinstating of the two deposed archbishops.

Some of the electors were won over to the cause of the pope; a new embassy was organized; and in February, 1447, shortly before the death of Eugene, the four Bulls constituting the Concordat of the Princes was promulgated.

In February, 1448, a complete agreement was reached in the Concordat of Vienna, concluded between Frederick III and Nicholas V. Gregory, who had considered even the declaration of neutrality an ignoble concession, was disappointed at this turn of events and decided to abandon ecclesiastical politics.

During the negotiations between the pope and the electors there appeared the anonymous "Admonitio de injustis usurpationibus paparum" or, as Matthias Flacius entitles it, "Confutatio primatus papæ", which is generally ascribed to Gregory.

Æneas Sylvius had ascended the papal throne as Pius II the same year, and soon afterwards (1459) summoned the princes of Christendom to Mantua to plan a crusade against the Turks.