GEBHARD: TRUCHSESS VON WALDBURG 1601), elector and archbishop of Cologne, second son of William, count of Waldburg, was born on Nov. Io. 1547, at Cologne, studied at Ingolstadt, Perugia and Louvain, and took orders. He held various positions at the cathedrals of Augsburg, Strasbourg, Cologne, and again at Augsburg, and in Dec. 1577 was elected elector archbishop of Cologne. He became a convert to the Reformed doctrines, but it was suspected that his conversion was due to his desire to marry Agnes, countess of Mansfeld. The mar riage was celebrated in February 1583, and caused a great scandal.
Gebhard declined to give up his see, and collected an army. In April he was deposed and excommunicated by Pope Gregory XIII. ; a Bavarian prince, Ernest, bishop of Liege, Freising and Hildesheim, was chosen elector, and war broke out between the rivals. The Lutheran princes of Germany gave no real support to Gebhard, who had Calvinistic leanings, and the only armed assistance he received was from John Casimir, administrator of the Rhenish Palatinate. Early in 1584 he was driven from Bonn. He found refuge in the Netherlands. In 1589 Gebhard went to live at Strasbourg, where he had held the office of dean of the cathedral since 1574. He died at Strasbourg on May 31, 1601. Gebhard was a drunken and licentious man, who owes his promi nence rather to his surroundings than to his abilities.
See J. H. Hennes, Der Kampf um das Erzstift Köln (Cologne, 1878) ; L. Ennen, Geschichte der Stadt Koln (Cologne, 1863-8o) ; and Nun tiaturberichte aus Deutschland. Der Kampf um Köln, edited by J. Hansen (Berlin, 1892).