Gebhard of Salzburg

Who was Gebhard of Salzburg?

Blessed Gebhard of Salzburg, also occasionally known as Gebhard of Helfenstein, was Archbishop of Salzburg from 1060 until his death. He was one of the fiercest opponents of King Henry IV during the Investiture Controversy.

Of Gebhard's origins, all that is known for certain is that he was born in the German stem duchy of Swabia. Although he appeared in a 17th-century genealogy by Gabriel Bucelin as a scion of the comital House of Helfenstein, this lineage is entirely speculative. Gebhard assumedly studied in Paris, was ordained a priest at Salzburg in 1055 and became court chaplain to Emperor Henry III. Then a loyal supporter of the Salian dynasty, he also travelled as an ambassador to the Byzantine court at Constantinople and held the office of an Imperial chancellor between 1057 and 1059.

On 30 July 1060 he was consecrated bishop of the Archdiocese of Salzburg. He reorganized the tithes paid by the Carantanian peasants and the parish system in Carinthia, where he in 1072 dissolved the double monastery of Gurk Abbey, founded by Saint Hemma in 1043, and replaced it by the suffragan Diocese of Gurk. Gebhard also established Admont Abbey in 1074, vested with Hemma's estates in the Carinthian March of Styria. Besides this, he had the fortresses of Hohensalzburg, Hohenwerfen and Friesach built.