Eberhard was Archbishop of Salzburg, Austria from 1146 until his death in 1164.
Eberhard was born to a noble family of Nuremberg, Germany; he became a Benedictine in 1125 at Pruffening, Germany. Later he was made Abbot of Biburg near Regensburg. In 1146 Pope Innocent II appointed him Archbishop of Salzburg.[1]
He rose to fame as a mediator when Pope Alexander III was faced with the controversy surrounding the Papal election of 1159, created by Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa who supported antipope Victor IV. Eberhard wrote to Hildegard of Bingen, requesting her prayers during this stressful time.[2] Eberhard intended to attend the Council of Pavia in 1160, but only got as far as Treviso due to ill health.[3]
Although Archbishop Eberhard I, Count of Hippoldstein, steadily supported Alexander, Barbarossa left him in peaceful possession of his see.[4] Frederick saw Eberhard as a potential arbiter. Eberhard was greatly respected for his piety, learning, and integrity; and Frederick needed the support of the German princes for his Italian campaigns.
Eberhard was one of the most able of the prelates of his age.[1] He died in 1164, at the age of seventy-nine, returning from another peace keeping mission.[5]
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