{{refimprove|date=January 2016}} right|thumb|Painting from 1586 thumb|Coat of arms thumb|Schloss Mespelbrunn thumb|Julius Echter von Mespelbrunn's grave at Würzburg Cathedral
'''Julius Echter von Mespelbrunn''' (18 March 1545 – 9 September 1617) was Prince-Bishop of Würzburg from 1573. He was born in Mespelbrunn Castle, Spessart (Lower Franconia) and died in Würzburg.
==Life== {{moresources|section|date=August 2025}} Mespelbrunn was born the second son of diplomat Peter III Echter.<ref name=R>[https://www.robinhalwas.com/n03-julius-echter-von-mespelbrunn "Julius Echter von Mespelbrunn's Library"], robinhalwas.com. Accessed 20 April 2026.</ref> He was educated in Mainz, Leuven, Douai, Paris, Angers, Pavia, and Rome.<ref name=C />
In Rome, he became a licentiate of canon and civil law.<ref name=R /> In 1567 he entered on his duties as canon of Würzburg, an office to which he had been appointed in 1554; in 1570 he became the dean of the cathedral chapter, and in 1573, at the age of twenty-eight, even before his ordination to the priesthood, was appointed to the office of the Prince-Bishop of Würzburg. During the first ten years of Echter's government, he attempted to unite the Abbey of Fulda and the Bishopric of Würzburg, after Prince-Abbot Balthasar von Dernbach was deposed. Von Dernbach's attempts at re-Catholicisation of Fulda alienated the Fulda chapter, the Hessian gentry, and the Lutheran knights. They joined forces with Echter von Mespelbrunn. This alliance forced von Dernbach to abdicate at Hammelburg in 1576. Echter was installed as administrator, but only on the condition that he tolerate the knights’ Lutheran faith. However, Echter had no intention of honoring this condition in Würzburg. From the beginning, he carried out a thorough ecclesiastical restoration. To this end, he promoted the Jesuits and their ministry. Echter re-founded the University of Würzburg<ref>[https://www.historisches-lexikon-bayerns.de/Lexikon/Universit%C3%A4t_W%C3%BCrzburg_(1402-1420/1582-1814) Historisches Lexikon Bayerns website, ''University of Würzburg (1402-1420/1582-1814)'', article by Peter Baumgart], historisches-lexikon-bayerns.de. Accessed 20 April 2026.</ref> which was opened 2 January 1582. It became a model for all similar Counter-Reformation institutions. Under the Jesuits it flourished, grew rapidly, and furnished the see with the priests and officials needed to prosecute the Counter-Reformation. He also founded a seminary in 1589.<ref>[https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/echter-von-mespelbrunn-julius Profile: Julius Echter von Mespelbrunn], encyclopedia.com. Accessed 9 August 2025.</ref>
Echter took decisive steps against Protestants. He banished all Lutheran preachers from his territory<ref name=J /> and removed all priests who were unwilling to observe the rules of their office.{{clarify|date=April 2026}} Public officials had to be Catholics, and none but Catholic teachers could be appointed. He began, moreover, courses of careful instruction {{clarify|date=August 2025}} for non-Catholics, and to some extent threatened them with penalties and/or banishment. Within three years about 100,000 reportedly returned to the Catholic Church. Julius Echter von Mespelbrunn died on 9 September 1617, aged 72, at Marienberg Fortress.
==Burial== The main part of his body was buried at the Würzburg Cathedral. Julius Echter von Mespelbrunn broke with the tradition of heart burial at Ebrach Abbey and had his heart buried in the ''{{Interlanguage link multi|Neubaukirche|de|3=Neubaukirche (Würzburg)|lt=Neubaukirche}}'', which he had had built. After the ''Neubaukirche'' was destroyed in World War II, the heart had to be temporarily transferred. To mark the 400-year anniversary of the re-founding of the university, the heart was brought back to the rebuilt Renaissance church and placed within a heart monument weighing two tons. The church had been secularized and turned into the great hall of the university.<ref>[https://www.uni-wuerzburg.de/en/presse/service/bilder-und-grafik/picture-gallery/fotogalerie-neubaukirche/ University of Wuerzburg website, ''Neubaukirche'']</ref>
==Legacy== He is also identified by Dillinger (2009) as one of the "spearheads of Tridentine reform in Germany. For them, the fight against witches was clearly part of an apocalyptic battle against evil and for the purity of the church".<ref>{{cite journal|last = Dillinger|first=Johannes (Oxford Brookes University)|year= 2009|title= The Political Aspects of the German Witch Hunts|journal = Magic, Ritual, and Witchcraft |volume= 4 |issue=1 |pages= 62–81 |doi = 10.1353/mrw.0.0121|s2cid = 153794692}}</ref>
His most lasting monument, after the University of Würzburg, is the Julius Hospital (''Juliusspital'') in that town, which he founded with the endowment of the abandoned monastery of Heiligenthal. By skillful administration he improved the economic conditions, reduced taxes and improved the administration of justice. He proved himself one of the most capable rulers of his time as ''"founder and soul of the Catholic League"''.<ref name=C>[https://www.catholic.com/encyclopedia/julius-echter-von-mespelbrunn "Julius Echter von Mespelbrunn"], Catholic.com. Accessed 20 April 2026.</ref>
Echter built or renovated around 300 churches as well as constructing numerous rectories and school buildings in his territory.<ref name="Dumont">{{cite book|last=Dettelbacher|first=Werner|title=Franken - Kunst, Geschichte und Landschaft (German)|publisher=Dumont Verlag|year=1974|isbn=3-7701-0746-2}}</ref>{{rp|21}}
''Würzburger Hofbräu'' makes a wheat beer called ''Julius Echter Hefe-Weissbier''<ref>[https://www.ratebeer.com/Ratings/Beer/Beer-Ratings.asp?BeerID=5047 Rate Beer website, ''Julius Echter Hefe-Weissbier Hell'']</ref> in honor of the bishop.
St John's College, Cambridge holds 20 volumes which previously belonged to him; these were taken from Mespelbrunn's library during the Thirty Years War.<ref name=J>[https://www.joh.cam.ac.uk/library/special_collections/early_books/mesp.htm St John's College University of Cambridge website, ''Books from the library of Julius Echter von Mespelbrunn, Prince-Bishop of Wurzburg (1545-1617)'']</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * [https://www.deutsche-biographie.de/sfz37980.html Biography at NDB] {{in lang|de}} * [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05271a.htm 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia (basis of much of article)]{{better source|date=January 2016}} *[https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O94158/julius-echter-bishop-of-wurzburg-medal-maler-valentin/ Silver gilt medal] at the Victoria and Albert Museum
{{commons category|Julius Echter von Mespelbrunn}} {{s-start}} {{s-rel|ca}} {{succession box| title = Prince-Bishop of Würzburg | years = 1573–1617 | before = Friedrich von Wirsberg | after = Johann Gottfried von Aschhausen}} {{s-end}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Echter von Mespelbrunn, Julius}} Category:1545 births Category:1617 deaths Category:People from Aschaffenburg (district) Category:17th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Bavaria Category:Counter-Reformation Category:Prince-bishops of Würzburg Category:University of Würzburg Category:Burials at Würzburg Cathedral Category:Dukes of Franconia Category:Witch hunters Category:16th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Bavaria Category:Witch trials in Germany