Albert (3)

Albert fifth archbishop of Magdeburg and primate of all Germany (1513), and further, in 1514, elected archbishop of Mentz, both of which archiepiscopal sees, by dispensation from Pope Leo X, he held together — a thing altogether without example. Besides this, he was appointed administrator of the bishopric of Halberstadt. He made a contract with Pope Leo for the farming of indulgences, and made the notorious Tetzel (q.v.) one of the agents for their sale in Germany. The proceedings of Tetzel, were vigorously watched and opposed by Luther, who, in turn, was hated by the archbishop. His efforts to retard the Reformation were rewarded by the cardinal's hat in 1518. He was the first to introduce the Jesuits into Germany. He died at Mentz in 1545. His writings are,

1. Statuta pro Cleri Reformatione: — 2. Decreta adversus Novatores Lutherum et Asseclas: — 3. Sermons: — 4. Oratio de Bello movendo contra Turcos (Eisleben, 1603): — 5. Responsio ad Epist. Lutheri: — 6. Constitutions and Statutes Ecclesiastical, in German (Leipsic, 1552). — Fabricius, Biblioth. Hist. 1, 386, 407, 411.