Ernest of Bavaria

This article is about the Archbishop of Cologne. For the earlier Bavarian ruler named Ernest, see Ernest, Duke of Bavaria. For other people named Ernest of Bavaria, see Ernest of Bavaria (disambiguation).

Ernest of Bavaria
Prince-Elector-Archbishop of Cologne
Portrait by Hans Werl, now in the Alte Pinakothek (c. 1601)
ReignApril 1583 – 17 February 1612
PredecessorGebhard Truchsess von Waldburg
SuccessorFerdinand of Bavaria
Born17 December 1554
Munich, Duchy of Bavaria
Died17 February 1612(1612-02-17) (aged 57)
Arnsberg, Archbishopric of Cologne
Burial
Cologne Cathedral
HouseWittelsbach
FatherAlbert V, Duke of Bavaria
MotherAnna von Habsburg

Wittelsbach-Hapsburg aristocrat Ernest of Bavaria (German: Ernst von Bayern) (17 December 1554 – 17 February 1612) was Prince-Elector-Archbishop of the Archbishopric of Cologne and, as such, Archchancellor of the Holy Roman Empire and Duke of Westphalia, from 1583 to 1612 as successor of the expelled Archbishop Gebhard Truchsess von Waldburg.

He was also simultaneously Prince-Bishop of Münster, Hildesheim, Freising, and Liège, Count of Loon, and Prince-Abbot of Savelot.