WILLIGIS, wil'li-gis: Archbishop of Mainz 975 1011; d. at Mainz Feb. 23, 1011. He was one of the great ecclesiastical princes of the Middle Ages. Of his origin all that is known is that he came of a poor family, and that he received a good education under Wolcold, later bishop of Meissen, who recommended him to Otto I. Otto II. made him archbishop of Mainz and chancellor of Germany, positions which he long held, and in them rendered great services to his royal masters. He was able to strengthen the position of the archdiocese over which he presided so as to take rank after the pope over all the prelates in Germany and France, while his cathedral acquired vast wealth through imperial gifts in Bingen and the vicinity. St. Martin's at Mainz was built by him, also St. Stephen's, and he extended St. Victor's; he built also the church at Brunnen in Nassau and rebuilt the monastery of Bleidenstadt, founded the Benedictine monastery of Jechaburg, restored that of Disibodenburg and en dowed it richly, and to a great number of institu tions either secured great gifts or extended their privileges, in which. activity he did not limit himself to his own diocese. That he was a disciplinarian is shown by the case of Gozmar, a cantor in the insti tution of St. Peter at Aschaffenburg, who in a con tention with a teacher of the institution killed a boy, while his opponent was besieged in a tower by Goz mar's adherents. Willigis tried Gozmar before a synod at Mainz and condemned him to solitary con finement at Neustadt, and regulated the appointments of church and school. Of general importance was Willigis' contest over the monastery of Gandersheim, a very important foundation in Lower Saxony, founded by Undolf, grandfather of Otto the Great, lying on the border of the dioceses of Mainz and Hildesheim. Its orig inal site was Brunhausen, which was in the diocese of Hildesheim, while Gandersheim belonged to Mainz, which claimed it when Sophia, the daughter of Otto II., became abbess. Through pride Sophia wished to be consecrated by an archbishop and asked Willigis to perform the ceremony. But Osdag of Hildesheim claimed the prerogative, and the Empress Theophano commanded the two prelates

to unite in the -function. The contest between the dioceses was carried on by Osdag's successor, Bernward, and the presence of Willigis at a synod over which Bernward presided was construed by Hildesheim as granting the latter's claims to Gandersheim. In 1000, when the new building was to be dedicated, Sophia invited Willigis to officiate; he invited Bernward to assist and appointed Sept. 14-21 as the time. Bernward appeared on Sept. 14 and was prevented from officiating alone by Sophia, and the protest entered by Bernward was allowed by Willigis when he came on the 20th, so that the con9ecration did not take place. He called a synod for Nov. 28 to settle the affair, at which Bernward was not present, having carried his protest to Rome and left his case with Bishop Eckhard of Sleswick, whom Willigis did not recognize as a member of the synod. Eckhard and his adherents then left the assemblage, while the rest acknowledged Willigis' claim to Gandersheim. But a synod called by Pope Sylvester II. annulled this action and confirmed the claims of Hildesheim to Gandersheim, warning Willigis to take care in his actions. A further synod under Cardinal Friedrich as papal legate was set for June 21, which a tumult of the popular supporters disturbed at its first session, while at the second judgment was pronounced on Willigis, who had absented himself, the legate appointing a further synod for Christmas. A synod called by Willigis at Frankfort Aug. 15, 1001, was resultless through the absence of Bernward, and another synod was held at Todi in the presence of Otto Ill., was postponed to a later date, and then indefinitely, since pope and king both died early the next year. At first Henry IV. recognized the rights of Mainz, and Willigis consecrated Sophia as abbess Aug. 10, 1002. The consecration of the church was postponed till Christmas of 1006, and the contest rested till Bernward's successor, Godehard, reopened it.

The bishopric of Merseburg had been founded by Otto the Great, but under the second bishop Giseler had been dissolved to enable the ambitious prelate to go to Magdeburg, a proceeding frowned upon.by Gregory V. At a synod the restoration of the see was resolved upon, and Giseler was offered the choice between Magdeburg and Merseburg, with his deposition in view. The archbishop was meanwhile on guard to maintain his rights. The death of Giseler in 1004 cleared the way, Henry's court chaplain Tagino was appointed to Magdeburg, and his consent to the restoration of Merseburg opened the road for the consecration of a bishop for the diocese in 1004.

The erection of the bishopric of Bamberg was possible only in case the bishops of Würzburg and Eichstatt would give up part of their dioceses. The negotiations were successfully carried through by Willigis in two synods held in 1007, and Willigis consecrated Eberhard, Henry's chancellor, bishop at Frankfort.

(A. Hauck.)

Bibliography: The earlier lives are collected and edited by F. Folk in Der Katholik, 1869, i. 224-230, 1873, ii. 729 731, and Theologische Litteraturblatt, 1869, no. 22, p. 819 (cf. Der Katholik, 1869, i. 219-231, 1871, i. 499 sqq., 1881, ii. 273-290, 383-405); and by G. Waits, in MGH, Script., xvi. 2 (1887), 729-731, 746-748. Consult: H. Boehmer, Willigis von Mainz, Leipsic. 1895; Feller, in Buder's Sammlung ungedruckter Schriften and Urkunden, pp. 473 sqq., ib. 1735;R. Wilmans, Jahrbücher des

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deutschen Reichs enter Oft 111., Berlin, 1840; C. Euler, Erzbischof Willigis von Mainz, Naumburg, 1860; S. Hirsch, Jahrbücher des deutschen Reichs unter Heinrich II., vols. i.-ii., Berlin, 1862-64; F. Gehle, De S. Bernwardi . vita e6 rebus gestis, Bonn, 1866; C. Will, in Der Katholik, 1873, ii. 715-734; idem, Regesten zur Geschichte der Mainzer Embischofe, i. pp. xxxvii-xliii., 117-144, Innsbruck, 1877; W. Giesebrecht, Geschichte der deutschen Kaiserzeit, vols. i-ii., Brunswick, 1874; Hauck, KD, vol. iii.