Andlau, Helene d'

Wilhelm von Hohnstein or Honstein (1466 - 29 June 1541) was prince bishop of Strasbourg from 1506 to 1541 under Maximilian I and Charles V and the papacies of Julius II, Leo X, Adrian VI, Clement VII and Paul III. He was assisted by a titular bishop, initially Johann Ortwin bishop of Mathones, then Konrad Wickgram bishop of Dunes. His episcopate, like that of his successor, was very representative of the medieval and modern history of Alsace and Strasbourg, in illustrating the complex mechanisms of Holy Roman Empire's geopolitics in a troubled era marked by the arrival of the Protestant Reformation, the Alsace anchorage's place in a then largely German-speaking Rhine basin, and tensions between Strasbourg (a multiconfessional and multicultural free imperial city) and the prince bishopric deep in Lower Alsace with a diocese which formerly extended beyond the modern-day frontiers of Alsace and France. Wilhelm and his brother Francis originated in Thuringia, showing how the influence of the chapters, collegiate churches and cathedrals of Strasbourg extended beyond its region, with the city's nobles proud of being prebendary canons like the chapters in Cologne, Speyer, Worms, Mainz and...