Corneille of Berghes

Corneille of Berghes
Prince-bishop of Liège
Anonymous portrait of Corneille of Berghes
ChurchRoman Catholic
DioceseDiocese of Liège
Installed1538
Term ended1544
PredecessorÉrard de La Marck
SuccessorGeorge of Austria
Personal details
Died1560 ?

Corneille of Berghes or de Glymes-Berghes (1490?–1560?) was Prince-bishop of Liège between 1538 and 1544.

Corneille of Berghes was the youngest son of Cornelis of Glymes, Admiral of the Netherlands and Maria Margaretha van Zevenbergen. First he was Prévôt in the Saint Peter's Collegiate church in Lille, then he stayed in Mechelen at the court of Margaret of Austria. In 1520 he became Coadjutor bishop in Liège, and when Prince-Bishop Érard de La Marck died in 1538, was made his successor by Holy Roman Emperor Charles V.

His reign was a disaster, because of his fanatic persecution of presumed heretics, which alienated himself from the population. He resigned in 1544 to get married. Very little was registered about the rest of his life and marriage, only that he died around 1560.

Sources

  • Joseph Daris, Histoire du diocèse et de la principauté de Liège pendant le XVIe siècle, Liège, Louis Demarteau, 1884, 698 p. « La principauté et le diocèse sous Corneille de Berghes », p. 123-142
Catholic Church titles
Preceded by Prince-bishop of Liège
1538–1544
Succeeded by