Gregory of Heimburg

Who was Gregory of Heimburg?

Gregory of Heimburg was a German jurist, humanist and statesman.

About 1430 he received the degree of Doctor of Both Laws at the University of Padua. Filled with the prevalent ideas of reform, this ardent and eloquent jurist was naturally attracted to the Council of Basle, convened, according to the assembled prelates, for "the extirpation of heresy, and of the Greek schism. . . .and for the reformation of the Church in her Head and members". While at the council he became the secretary of Æneas Sylvius.

He left Basle in 1433, when he was elected syndic of Nuremberg, in which capacity he served until 1461. After the election of Albert VI of Austria, he was sent, with John of Lysura, to the Council of Basle to demand that the proceedings against the pope be suspended, and then to Eugene IV at Ferrara to propose that the negotiations with the Greeks be carried on in a German city.

In 1446 he was again placed at the head of an embassy to Eugene IV. The pope had deposed the Archbishops of Cologne and Trier, both electoral princes, who favoured the antipope Felix V. The other electors now demanded of Eugene his approval of certain decrees of Basle; the convocation of a general council in a German city within three months; the acceptance of the article on the superiority of the council over the pope; and the reinstating of the two deposed archbishops. But Gregory's mission was unsuccessful.