Konrad of Marburg

Konrad Of Marburg, a German Dominican of the 13th century, one of the most trusted of Rome's votaries, was confessor of princess St. Elizabeth of Thuringia, and inquisitor of Germany. Of his personal history but little is known. Some suppose him to be identical with the Konrad who, as a scholastic of Mentz, enjoyed the favor of Honorius III (q.v.). Konrad of Marburg was a particular favorite of pope Gregory IX, by whom he was intrusted with various disciplinary offices, particularly with the punishment of heretics and the extirpation of heresy. His conduct towards St. Elizabeth (q.v.) was perfectly atrocious, but no less inhuman was the treatment which the Patarenes (q.v.) received at his hands. He was finally slain in 1233 by, or at the instigation of, some German nobles whom he had opposed. See Hausrath, Konrad von Marlburg (1861); Henke, K. v. Marburg (1861); Herzog, Real-Encyklop. 8:25; and the Roman Catholic Kirchen-Lexikon, by Wetzer und Welte, ii, 805 sq. (J. H.W.)