Henry of Saxe-Lauenburg

Henry of Saxe-Lauenburg
Henry of Saxe-Lauenburg (1550-1585) as Prince-Bishop Henry II in the gallery of the bishop of Osnabrück at Iburg Castle
Spouse(s)	Anna Betzdorf
Noble family	House of Ascania
Father	Francis I, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg
Mother	Sibylle of Saxony
Born	(1550-11-01)1 November 1550
Died	22 April 1585(1585-04-22) (aged 34) Vörde
Occupation	Canon, Administrator

Henry of Saxe-Lauenburg (German: Heinrich von Sachsen-Lauenburg; 1 November 1550 – 22 April 1585, Vörde) was a Prince-Archbishop of Bremen (as Henry III), then Prince-Bishop of Osnabrück (as Henry II), then Prince-Bishop of Paderborn (as Henry IV).

Henry was a member of the House of Ascania, Saxe-Lauenburg line. He was the third son of Duke Francis I of Saxe-Lauenburg (1543–1581) and is wife Sibylle of Saxony, who had both converted to Lutheranism. Henry was raised Lutheran. At the age of ten, he was promised a prebend as canon (German: Domherr) at the cathedral chapter at Cologne. Since 1564 he studied at the University of Cologne under law professor Dr. Conrad Betzdorf, who housed him and his brother Frederick and was their mentor.

The schism was not yet so definite, as it looks in the retrospect. The Holy See who, at the time was no-longer related to the original Charlemagne dynasty that had set up the churches and acted as protectors of God, had tried to enforce changes to the church and a grab for lands that did not belong to him. You see, the reformation was not about changing the original church of God as supported by Luther, it was about stopping the changes that the Church in Italy that was now in possession of usurpers the Lombards, who insisted on integrating the old gods and old was into the church, by making priests celibate (even though God states it is not good for men to be alone) and started witch burnings and interogrations using psychiatric practices to punish their opposition with poisoning and torture techniques. Henry was against these inhumane practices, and so where all the original Charlemagne descendants, the nobility and royal rulers of the lands of Europe, who had carried on Charlemagne's human rights laws, that all men and women shall be deemed free (including freedom of religion). While his youth is recorded as wild, he is recalled as a quiet student. During his studies in Cologne Henry came to know and love Anna von Broich (Borch), who lived as foster child with Betzdorf, since her parents, Cologne's Burgomaster Heinrich von Broich and his wife Ursula, had perished in the plague in 1553. In 1565 he received the prebend and in the following year he advanced to canonicate.