Conrad of Furstenberg

Conrad Of Furstenberg a German prelate, was son of Egon or Eginon, count of Urach and of Firstenberg. After being dean of St. Lambert, at Liege, he became a monk of the Cistercian order, and then abbot of Villers, Brabant. In 1214 he was elected abbot of Clairvaux, and in 1217 head of the general order. In 1219 pope Honorius III appointed him cardinal and bishop of Oporto, and two years after sent him to France to preach against the Albigenses. Conrad afterwards returned to Germany, and published ordinances for the reform of the manners of the clergy. At the death of Honorius III he refused to be a candidate for the papacy, and thus aided the election of Gregory IX, who sent him to preach a crusade against the Mussulmans, and to lead it to the Holy Land. Conrad died during the expedition, Sept. 30,1227, leaving, Constitutiones in Germania pro Cleri Reformatione, published in the Annales of Bzovius: — De Erroribus Albigensium. See Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Generale, s.v.; Jocher, Allgemeines Gelehrten-Lexikon, s.v.