The New International Encyclopædia/Hermann, Count of Wied

HERMANN, Count of (1477-1552). Archbishop and Elector of Cologne, born at Wied.

He was elected Archbishop of Cologne in 1515, and supported the claims of Charles V., whom he crowned at Aix-la-Chapelle in 1520. The next year, at the Diet of Worms, he strongly opposed heresy, and endeavored to have Luther declared an outlaw, in spite of the fact that he himself was striving to bring about a reform, though within the Church. In 1542 he became an advocate of the new teachings, and in consequence was outlawed by the Emperor and banned by the Pope. The Emperor then secured the election of Adolf of Schaumburg to the Archbishopric, and Hermann withdrew to his Earldom of Wied, where he died a few years later. Consult Varrentrapp, Hermann von Wied und sein Reformationsversuch in Köln (Leipzig, 1878).