John Conrad of Gemmingen

Johann Konrad von Gemmingen (also Conrad) (1561−1612) was Prince bishop of Roman Catholic Diocese of Eichstätt in Bavaria. The bishop was an enthusiastic botanist who derived great pleasure from his garden, which rivaled Hortus Botanicus Leiden among early European botanical gardens outside Italy. Family of origin Johann Konrad came from the Steinegg line of the Swabian noble family of the Lords of Gemmingen and was the third of eight children of Dietrich IX von Gemmingen (1517–1586) an Augsburg councilor and governor of Dillingen and his wife Lia (also Leia), née von Schellenberg. He is thought to have been born in Tiefenbronn and to have at least partly grown up there. His uncle, the Augsburg Prince-Bishop Otto von Gemmingen, is said to have had a significant influence on his upbringing and repeatedly appears as his mentor. Education and career Johann Konrad's career was typical of an ecclesiastical one of the times. In 1573 he became an Exspektanz (entitlement to a vacant position in the church) at Konstanz and a canon at Ellwangen in 1578. The following year he became a canon at the cathedral in Augsburg and a domiciliary in the diocese of Eichstätt, and he was also made a canon at Konstanz in 1588.