Siegfried II of Westerburg

Siegfried (or Sigfrid) II of Westerburg (before 1260 – 7 April 1297, in Bonn) was Archbishop of Cologne from 1275 to 1297. Siegfried was the second son of Siegfried IV, Count of Runkel in Westerburg (died 1266). His older brother was Henry (Heinrich) I of Westerburg (who would be killed at the Battle of Worringen in 1288). Siegfried was consecrated Archbishop of Cologne in March 1275 in Lyon. The city of Cologne since 1268 had been under excommunication, and was therefore deemed an unsuitable place for consecration. In July 1275, as the new Archbishop of Cologne, Siegfried lifted the city’s excommunication and signed a friendship treaty with the city. In October 1279 in Pingsheim (now part of Nörvenich), he concluded the Peace of Pingsheim with the Counts of Jülich. On 27 April 1285 he awarded Brühl, situated south of Cologne, town and market rights. Around 1283, Siegfried took the side of Count Reinoud I of Guelders in the War of the Limburg Succession. In March 1287, he led the opposition the taxation of the clergy proposed by the cardinal legate Giovanni Boccamazza at the Synod of Würzburg. In July 1287, he freed the city of Cologne, after receiving a loyalty oath from its citizens, from paying duties to finance his war expenses in the Limburg succession conflict.