Adam Adami

Adam Adami (1603, Mülheim upon Rhine - 19 February 1663, Hildesheim) was a German archbishop and diplomat.

Adami seems to have made his first studies in Cologne. At the age of 19, he entered the Benedictine abbey of Brauweiler and occupied himself with theology and law studies. In 1633, he received the ordination to priesthood, one year later he became rector of the Benedictine seminary in Cologne, where he also acquired a doctorate in theology. In 1637 he followed a call to the abbey of St. Jacob in Mainz, where he served as prior and acquired a good reputation as diplomat.

In the following, Adami was elected to become prior of the monastery of Murhart . Murhart, like many surrounding abbeys, was subject of administrative dispute between the diocese of Würzburg and the Dukes of Württemberg. Adami was chosen because he was expected to be able to best defend the rights of the abbeys in the years to come, during and following the Peace of Westphalia. Therefore he was sent in 1643 as the envoy of the restituted monasteries and chapels of Swabia, to the peace negotiations.

During the negotiations, his legitimation as envoy was disputed, but he could obtain a second authorisation of the sovereign-abbot of Korvei . Adami's records of the proceedings of the negotiations are today the primary soure of information on the Peace of Westphalia. From his point of view, the negotiations failed though.

Later he was sent by the elector and archbishop of Cologne, Maximilian Heinrich of Bavaria to Rome. With a recommendation of the former papal legate Fabio Chisi , Pope Innocent X elected Adami to become bishop of Hierapolis. However, Maximilian Heinrich's gratitude also offered him the post as suffragan bishop of Hildesheim. Adami accepted this offer and served in Hildesheim until his death, while publicating several tracts on national law.

Publications

• Arcana pacis Westphaliae, Frankfurt, 1698, anonymous publication. Published under his name in 1707, later as Relatio historica de pacificatione Osnabrugo-Monasteriensi. Accurante Jo. God. de Meiern, Leipzig 1738, 672 pages 4°.

Sources

• Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie - online version