George van Egmond

George van Egmond (Jan van Scorel, 1535)

George or Joris van Egmont (Egmond, ca. 1504 – Saint-Amand Abbey, 26 September 1559) was bishop of Utrecht from 1534 to 1559.

Biography

George was the son of Jan III van Egmont. In 1526 he became canon and later deacon of the chapter of Liège. Next he became abbot of Saint-Amand Abbey (since destroyed in the wars of the Protestant Reformation and French Revolution) at Saint-Amand-les-Eaux, south of Tournai. Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor appointed him bishop of Utrecht in 1534 as a favour to the Dutch nobility. Because he had to be ordained as priest, his consecration as bishop was delayed for over a year. George stayed in Saint-Amand, and had a vicar manage the bishopric for him. He acted unsuccessfully against the rise of Calvinism.

Legacy

George van Egmont in prayer on the left half of a large stained glass window he donated to the Janskerk (Gouda).

Cenotaph memorial to George van Egmont in St. Martin's Cathedral, Utrecht

The stained glass window he donated with the theme of the baptism of Christ still exists in the Janskerk in Gouda. This window was designed and made by Dirk Crabeth in 1557-8.

Egmond coat of arms

After his death he was buried in Saint-Amand Abbey, but his heart was interred in a cenotaph in St. Martin's Cathedral, Utrecht. A portrait of George van Egmont from ca. 1535, painted by his friend Jan van Scorel, is located in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam.