Frederik V Schenck van Toutenburg

Frederik Schenck van Toutenburg (Dwingeloo, Drenthe, ca. 1503 – Utrecht, 25 August 1580) was the first Archbishop of Utrecht (1559-1580). Prior to Schenck's ministry as archbishop, Utrecht was a bishopric with a succession of sixty bishops. The last bishop of Utrecht, prior to Schenck was George van Egmond. After Schenck's death in 1580, the see would remain vacant until Sasbold Vosmeer assumed the archbishopric in 1602.

The son of Georg Schenck van Toutenburg, he graduated in law at the Reichskammergericht in Speyer. After being made a priest, he became archdeacon of the Pieterskerk in Bishopric of Utrecht and priest at the Sint-Plechelmusbasiliek in Oldenzaal.He spent his time writing tracts on church law until he was promoted to the Dutch episcopate in 1559 by Philip II, who named him as the very first Archbishop of Utrecht (which was then confirmed in 1561 by Pope Pius IV). Until that time, the Bishopric of Utrecht reported to the Archbishop of Cologne. By agreement between Philip II and Rome in the spirit of the Counter-Reformation, the low countries (at that time a loose set of Seventeen Provinces) received its own archbishoprics, which besides Utrecht were Mechelen and Cambrai. This was an attempt to give the various parts of the low countries some self-government as a way of fending off the Protestant Reformation. These measures were not very successful, and Scheck van Toutenburg's archbishopric saw the Catholic reaction against the Council of Trent in the northern Netherlands. Governor Margaret of Parma forced him to lead support for the decrees of the Council of Trent and led him to call a provincial synod in 1565. The clergy and canons were fiercely opposed to the new disciplinary measures and tried to frustrate their introduction, but Schenck van Toutenburg used his power to break the opposition and to give leadership in the fight against Protestantism.

...
Wikipedia