Author: unknown
Date: 1563
Material: stone.
Technique: stone hammer
Dimensions, mm:
Dedicated to: the Archbishop of Riga (elected 1539) Wilhelm von Brandenburg (1498–1563).
Wilhelm of Brandenburg or the Margrave Wilhelm of Brandenburg (German: Wilhelm von Brandenburg, Latin: Guilhelmus Marchio Brandenburgiensis) was the last Catholic Archbishop of Riga (1539 – 1563).
Wilhelm von Brandenburg was the son of the margrave Friedrich I von Brandenburg-Ansbach and the brother of Albrecht of Prussia, the last Master of the Teutonic Order and the first Duke of Prussia. Belongs to the Hohenzollern dynasty
On the Tomb is seen recumbent figure of the Archbishop in a chasuble; his head and a mitre rest on a richly decorated pillow. The hands rest on his chest in the praying position. The rounded toecaps and ornament (elements derived from the grotesque and scrollwork no longer clearly visible, rather imaginable) point towards late Renaissance. Below the splendid chasuble there are the letters HIS – a cryptogram widely used in late Middle Ages, derived from IESUS HOMINUM SALVATOR (Jesus the Saviour of mankind) or IN HOC SIGNO (with this sign). It is unrelated to the Jesuit movement IESUS HABEMUS SOCIUM (Jesus our companion) because there is no information on any connection between Wilhelm von Brandenburg and the recently founded order. To the right of the figure, there is the bishop’s cane (baculus pastoralis), to the left, a crosier of the cross. The surface of the tomb is severely damaged; it has possibly been left in the open air for a longer period of time. In 1601 the Polish Catholic Jarislaw Drüsky Sarolinsky, killed in a battle with the Swedes, was buried in the grave site of Wilhelm von Brandenburg. In the early 19th century, the tomb of Wilhelm von Brandenburg was placed in the altar choir but by the end of the century it had been moved to its present location in the north transept.