'Adam Adami' (1603 or 1610 -
19 February 1663) was a
German diplomat and
priest.
Born in
Mülheim am Rhein, 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 a diplomat.
In the following year, Adami was elected to become prior of the monastery of
Murhart. Murhart, like many surrounding abbeys, was subject of an 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 from the prince-abbot of
Korvei. Adami's records of the proceedings of the negotiations are today the primary source of information on the Peace of Westphalia. From his point of view, the negotiations failed, though.
Later he was sent to Rome by the
Prince-elector and
archbishop of Cologne,
Maximilian Henry of Bavaria. With a recommendation from the former papal legate
Fabio Chigi,
Pope Innocent X appointed Adami as
titular bishop of
Hierapolis. Maximilian Henry also offered him the post as
suffragan bishop of
Hildesheim out of gratitude. Adami served in Hildesheim until his death there, while publishing 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'' - at
Wikisource;
image version
★
Zedlers Universal-Lexicon, vol. 1, p. 225-226