Wichmann von Seeburg

Wichmann von Seeburg (c. 1115 – 25 August 1192) was Bishop of Naumburg from 1150 until 1154 and Archbishop of Magdeburg from 1154 until his death.

Wichmann initially had to overcome the resistance by Pope Eugene III and his successor Anastasius IV; nevertheless, he immediately endeavoured to extend his diocese and its economy, and actively promoted trade within the cities.

In 1157, he allied with the Ascanian margrave Albert the Bear to re-conquer and Germanise the cities of Brandenburg and Jüterbog, whose vicinity he conquered and colonised with Flemish settlers (cf.

In 1166, Wichmann joined the German princes in war with Duke Henry the Lion, but he succeeded only in seeing his lands devastated.

He strongly worked for Henry's deposition and ban in 1180 and greatly profited from its actualisation, becoming the principal secular authority in Saxony after.