Salentin IX of Isenburg-Grenzau

As his parents did not have the money to educate all three of their sons, the elder two, John and Salentin, were chosen and sent to the cathedral of Mainz in 1548.

He did not have priestly consecrations as he intended to leave the church and take up rulership of the County of Isenburg-Grenzau in the foreseeable future, a condition which had the support of the cathedral chapter and the Holy Roman Emperor but not Pope Pius V, who demanded a new election was to take place.

However Pius V died in 1572 and his successor, Gregory XIII, confirmed the election the following year.

As the archbishop of Cologne, Salentin used its resources to improve the conditions in Isenburg-Grenzau, and succeeded in obtaining for it the status imperial immediacy in the Bench of Counts of the Wetterau.

[3] He had two sons, Salentin X and Ernest I and both, like their father, had successful military careers.

A castle stands at the top of a steep hill, and its walls are being blown away in explosion and fire. The fortress is surrounded by mounted and foot soldiers, and several units of mounted soldiers are racing up the hill toward the castle on its peak. Frans Hogenberg, a Dutch engraver and artist of the 16th century, was living in the Electorate of Cologne during the war, and engraved this picture of the destruction of the Godesburg (fortress).
Salentin's successor converted to Protestantism, triggering a war in the Electorate. In one of the first major sieges of the war, the Godesburg (fortress) was destroyed; the walls were breached by mines, and most of the defenders were put to death. Engraved by Frans Hogenberg, a Dutch engraver and artist of the 16th century.