Linde, Jasper

Jasper Linde, apparently, came from a wealthy aristocratic family, whose representatives occupied the post of warriors in the city of Kamen. His bart, Gert Linde, was a vassal of the archbishop of Riga, and in 1497 received a post in Kockenhausen . It is not known exactly at which university Linda received a Master of Arts degree. Since 1491, he has been a member of the Chapter of the Dome Cathedral and takes an active part in electoral processes. At that time, the house chapter was incorporated into the Teutonic Order , which caused displeasure to the canons who were striving for greater legal independence. At the same time, Jasper Linde served as pastor at St. Peter’s Church , which was traditionally under the jurisdiction of the Riga Magistrate. In the home chapter, he advanced to the post-Probst deputy in 1496, and already in 1497 he held the position of church dean .

After the death of Archbishop Michael Hildebrand on February 18, 1509, Jasper Linde was elected his successor in the cathedral chapter. In fact, this is the first time in many years when the Archbishop of Riga was again elected with the participation of the house chapter, and not solely appointed pontiff or the Livonian Order. Michael all the time of his tenure preferred to adhere to the policy of diplomatic neutrality, acting in accordance with the benefits for himself and his archdiocese, but when the need arose to support the Riga army or the Livonian Order , he could make concessions. May 25 was followed by a papal confirmation from Julius II about the legitimacy of the election of Yasper, but the papal curia initially opposed it. Like his predecessor, Jasper Linde sought to maintain and maintain good partnerships with the powerful head of the Livonian Order, Walter von Plettenberg , who spent most of his time in foreign military campaigns, fighting Lithuanian warlords and Russian princes for geopolitical influence. Despite the fact that Jasper Linde ruled his diocese in relatively peaceful times, he commanded to substantially strengthen the two main strongholds in his territorial possessions - the castle in Kokenhausen and the fortress in Ronneburg. The restructuring continued for a long time, the fortresses were adapted to new conditions when firearms became widespread. Not far from the border with Western Russian lands, he ordered the rebuilding of a powerful stone castle in Marienhausen to replace the dilapidated and dilapidated wooden fortifications. Apparently, Jasper Linde thus sought to secure his possessions from possible invasions by the Russian troops, which was to be expected given the volume of military actions that were led by the expansionist-minded Livonian Order against the Moscow Grand Duchy and the specific rulers of Russia.

In order to consolidate the spiritual and political influence of the Catholic Church Administration in Terra, Mariana Jasper Linde held several meetings and synods, at which he actively spoke with the ideas of uniting religious authorities and creating a single church in Livonian land. However, not all vassals of the archdiocese had such proposals. Authoritative hierarchs did not want to lose their influence after the formation of a united local church. Nevertheless, Jasper Linde continued to actively publicly disseminate his Reformation ideas, in particular, during the conduct of the Landtags in Livonia. In particular, Jasper Linde intended to find large funds in order to found a higher school in Riga to train professional Catholic clergy, but he was denied the realization of this idea under the pretext of lack of money in the archdiocesan treasury. Nevertheless, Jasper Linde helped to improve the working conditions of rural pastors in the field of education of the peasant parishes, and also achieved the elimination of deficiencies in the activities of provincial church communities. In 1513, he commanded that prayer books be printed for preachers in churches belonging to his archdiocese. In the same years (1512, 1513, 1514) he spent the Landtags in Wolmar , where he spoke with the idea of ​​spreading the foundations of the Catholic Church among the inhabitants of peasant settlements.

Together with the heads of his subordinate bishops in Worms in 1521, he received regalia. In 1522, perhaps due to poor health, he led the process of distributing the personal property of the chapter to the members of the Dome Cathedral. At the same time, Jasper Linde confirmed their property privileges to the archbishop's knights obedient to him. In 1523, with the consent of Jasper Linde himself, the house chapter voted to appoint Johann Blankenfeld as his chaplain and successor. Nevertheless, until his death in 1524, Jasper Linde remained in his post and performed all the duties of the archbishop in full. He died at his residence in Ronneburg and was buried in the Riga Dome Cathedral. Meanwhile, the ideas of the Reformation came to Livonia. Shortly before the death of Yasper Linde, representatives of radical urban estates (mostly middle-class merchants and craftsmen) declared themselves free from oath and belonging to the Protestant faith and publicly refused to subordinate to the Archbishop, but he did not have time to take measures, although he opposed spread the concept of the Reformation in Livonia. After his death, an uprising of the townspeople began in Riga - apologists of the Lutheran faith, which was marked by crushing pogroms of Catholic churches under the influence of the radical North German preachers.

In the history of the Catholic Church of Riga, Jasper Linde remained as an honest and economical ruler of the archdiocese, during which the archbishopric experienced a period of economic well-being and political stability.