caption father predecessor successor succession house mother death_date burial_place religion title birth_date image article_title name reign
gebhard . 's conversion and marriage triggered the cologne war william seneschal of waldburg salentin vii of isenburg-grenzau ernst of bavaria dean , strasbourg cathedral provost , augsburg cathedral house of waldburg johanna von fürstenberg 21 may 1601 strasbourg cathedral roman 1582 -rrb- catholicism -lrb- to 1582 -rrb- calvinism -lrb- from prince-elector-archbishop of cologne 10 november 1547 gebhard truchsess von waldburg.jpg gebhard truchsess von waldburg
 gebhard truchsess von waldburg 3 1576 & nbsp ; october 1577 -- 1588 1574
gebhard truchsess von waldburg

gebhard truchsess von waldburg -lrb- 10 november 1547 -- 21 may 1601 -rrb- was archbishop-elector of cologne .
after pursuing an ecclesiastical career , he won a close election in the cathedral chapter of cologne over ernst of bavaria .
after his election , he fell in love with and later married agnes von mansfeld-eisleben , a protestant canoness at the abbey of gerresheim .
his conversion to calvinism and announcement of religious parity in the electorate triggered the cologne war .
on 19 december 1582 , a proclamation in his name established parity for catholics and calvinists in the electorate of cologne , causing a scandal in the catholic church and the holy roman empire , and after his marriage in february 1583 , he sought to convert the electorate into a dynastic dignity .
for the next six years , his supporters fought those of the catholic cathedral chapter for the right to hold the electorship and the archdiocese in the so-called cologne war or seneschal war .
after brutal fighting , plundering of villages , cities , and abbeys throughout the electorate , gebhard surrendered his claim on the electorate and retired to strasbourg .
he died there in 1601 and was buried in the cathedral .
gebhard 's conversion and marriage was the first major test of the principle of ecclesiastical reservation established in the peace of augsburg , 1555 .
his loss of the electorate strengthened the catholic counter reformation in the northern german states , gave the jesuits a stronghold in cologne , and expanded the wittelsbach family influence in imperial politics .
