Günther von Wüllersleben

Who was Günther von Wüllersleben?

Günther von Wüllersleben was the eighth Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights, serving from 1249 to 1252.

Von Wüllersleben hailed from a ministerialis family of Hersfeld Abbey whose seat was in Bad Hersfeld. It is unknown when he joined the Teutonic Order, although he served in Acre until 1215. He was a close friend of Grand Masters Hermann von Salza and Heinrich von Hohenlohe, allowing him to take part in secret diplomatic missions for the Order. He spent 1244 in Prussia where he served under the Master of Livonia, Poppo von Osterna.

Günther von Wüllersleben was chosen Grand Master by the Order's capitulum in 1249 or 1250 in Acre. Ludwig von Queden, the unsuccessful choice of the pro-papal party led by Dietrich von Grüningen, was made Landmeister of Prussia. As the supreme authority of the Order, von Wüllersleben resided in Outremer and probably never left Acre.

Although little is known of his tenure as the Grand Master, von Wüllersleben tried to reconcile the papal and imperial parties which were demoralizing the monastic life within the Order. He often sent missions to distant provinces to supervise discipline. For a short time, he was able to overcome the division within the Order's chapter to which the pro-papal fraction was leading.