 He was educated in Mainz, Leuven, Douai, Paris, Angers, Pavia, and Rome.In Rome he became a licentiate of canon and civil law.In 1567 he entered on his duties as canon of Würzburg, an office to which he had been appointed in 1554; in 1570 he became the dean of the cathedral chapter, and in 1573, at the age of twenty-eight, even before his ordination to the priesthood, was appointed to the office of the Prince-Bishop of Würzburg.