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Johann Otto von Gemmingen, Prince-Bishop of Augsburg (1591–1598)

A prince-bishop is a bishop who is also the civil ruler of some secular principality and sovereignty. Thus the principality or prince-bishopric ruled politically by a prince-bishop could wholly or largely overlap with his diocesan jurisdiction, since some parts of his diocese, even the city of his residence, could be exempt from his civil rule, obtaining the status of free imperial city. If the episcopal see is an archbishopric, the correct term is prince-archbishop; the equivalent in the regular (monastic) clergy is prince-abbot. A prince-bishop is usually considered an elected monarch.

In the West, with the decline of imperial power from the 4th century onwards in the face of the barbarian invasions, sometimes Christian bishops of cities took the place of the Roman commander, made secular decisions for the city and led their own troops when necessary. Later relations between a prince-bishop and the burghers were invariably not cordial. As cities demanded charters from emperors, kings, or their prince-bishops and declared themselves independent of the secular territorial magnates, friction intensified between burghers and bishops.

In the Byzantine Empire, the still autocratic Emperors passed general legal measures assigning all bishops certain rights and duties in the secular administration of their dioceses, but that was part of a caesaropapist development putting the Eastern Church in the service of the Empire, with its Ecumenical Patriarch almost reduced to the Emperor's minister of religious affairs.

Holy Roman Empire

Arms of a Prince-Bishop with components from both princely and ecclesiastical heraldry.

Ecclesiastical lands in the Holy Roman Empire, 1780

Bishops had been involved in the government of the Frankish realm and subsequent Carolingian Empire frequently as the clerical member of a duo of envoys styled Missus dominicus, but that was an individual mandate, not attached to the see. Prince-bishoprics were most common in the feudally fragmented Holy Roman Empire, where many were formally awarded the rank of an Imperial Prince Reichsfürst, granting them the immediate power over a certain territory and a representation in the Imperial Diet (Reichstag).

The stem duchies of the German kingdom inside the Empire had strong and powerful dukes (originally, war-rulers), always looking out more for their duchy's "national interest" than for the Empire's. In turn the first Ottonian (Saxon) king Henry the Fowler and more so his son, Emperor Otto I, intended to weaken the power of the dukes by granting loyal bishops Imperial lands and vest them with regalia privileges. Unlike dukes they could not pass hereditary titles and lands to any descendants. Instead the Emperors reserved the implementation of the bishops of their proprietary church for themselves, defying the fact that according to canon law they were part of the transnational Catholic Church. This met with increasing opposition by the Popes, culminating in the fierce Investiture Controversy of 1076. Nevertheless, the Emperors continued to grant major territories to the most important (arch)bishops. The immediate territory attached to the episcopal see then became a prince-diocese or bishopric (Fürstbistum).^[1] The German term Hochstift was often used to denote the form of secular authority held by bishops ruling a prince-bishopric with Erzstift being used for prince-archbishoprics.

Emperor Charles IV by the Golden Bull of 1356 confirmed the privileged status of the Prince-Archbishoprics of Mainz, Cologne and Trier as members of the electoral college. At the eve of the Protestant Reformation, the Imperial states comprised 53 ecclesiastical principalities. They were finally secularized in the 1803 German Mediatization upon the territorial losses to France in the Treaty of Lunéville, except for the Mainz prince-archbishop and German archchancellor Karl Theodor Anton Maria von Dalberg, who continued to rule as Prince of Aschaffenburg and Regensburg. With the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, the title finally became defunct. However, in some countries outside of French control, such as in the Austrian Empire (Salzburg, Seckau, and Olomouc) and the Kingdom of Prussia (Breslau), the institution nominally continued, and in some cases was revived; a new, titular type arose.

No less than three of the (originally only seven) prince-electors, the highest order of Reichsfürsten (comparable in rank with the French pairs), were prince-archbishops, each holding the title of Archchancellor (the only arch-office amongst them) for a part of the Empire; given the higher importance of an electorate, their principalities were known as Kurfürstentum ("electoral principality") rather than prince-archbishoprics:

Name	Rank	Local name(s)	Imperial immediacy	Imperial Circle	Modern nation	Notes
Cologne	Archbishopric Electorate	German: Erzstift Köln, Kurköln	953–1803	Electoral Rhenish	Germany	Prince-elector and Arch-Chancellor of Italy. Duke of Westphalia since 1180. Cologne became a Free Imperial City in 1288.
Mainz	Archbishopric Electorate	German: Erzbistum Mainz, Kurmainz	c. 780–1803	Electoral Rhenish	Germany	Prince-elector and Arch-Chancellor of Germany.
Trier	Archbishopric Electorate	German: Erzbistum Trier, Kurtrier French: Archevêque Trèves	772–1803	Electoral Rhenish	Germany	Prince-elector and Arch-Chancellor of Burgundy.
Aquileia	Patriarchate	Latin: Patriarchæ Aquileiensis Italian: Patriarcato di Aquileia	1077–1433	None	Italy	Conquered by Venice in 1420, officially incorporated after the 1445 Council of Florence
Augsburg	Bishopric	German: Hochstift Augsburg	c. 888–1803	Swabian	Germany	Augsburg became a Free imperial City in 1276.
Bamberg	Bishopric	German: Hochstift Bamberg	1245–1802	Franconian	Germany
Basel	Bishopric	French: Principauté de Bâle German: Fürstbistum Basel	1032–1803	Upper Rhenish	France Germany Switzerland	Basel joined the Old Swiss Confederacy as the Canton of Basel in 1501. A tiny fraction of the bishopric is not now in Switzerland: Schliengen and Istein are both now in Germany; a very small part of the Vogtei of St Ursanne is now in France.
Besançon	Archbishopric	French: Archévêqué de Besançon German: Erzstift Besantz		None	France	The archbishops had been rulers over Besançon, an Imperial city from 1307, which in 1512 joined the Burgundian Circle.
Brandenburg	Bishopric	German: Hochstift Brandenburg	c. 1165–1598	Upper Saxon	Germany	Founded in 948, annihilated 983, re-established c. 1161, continued by Lutheran administrators after Reformation in 1520, secularized and incorporated to the Margraviate of Brandenburg in 1571.
Bremen	Archbishopric	German: Erzstift Bremen	1180–1648	Lower Saxon	Germany	Continued by Lutheran administrators after Reformation in 1566 until 1645/1648. Bremen itself became autonomous in 1186, and was confirmed as a Free Imperial City in 1646.
Brescia	Bishopric	Italian: Principato vescovile di Brescia		None	Italy	Bishop Notingus was made count of Brescia in 844.
Breslau	Bishopric	German: Fürstbistum Breslau Polish: Biskupie Księstwo Wrocławskie Lower Silesian: Brassel		None	Poland	In 1344 Bishop Przecław of Breslau (present-day Wrocław) bought the town of Grottkau (Grodków) from the Silesian duke Bolesław III the Generous and added it to the episcopal Duchy of Neisse (Nysa), becoming Prince of Neisse and Duke of Grottkau as a vassal to the Bohemian Crown.
Brixen	Bishopric	German: Hochstift Brixen Italian: Principato vescovile di Bressanone	1027–1803	Austrian	Italy	secularized to Tyrol
Cambrai	Bishopric, then Archbishopric	French: Principauté de Cambrai German: Hochstift Kammerich	1007–1678	Lower Rhenish / Westphalian	France	To France by 1678 Peace of Nijmegen
Cammin	Bishopric	German: Bistum Kammin Polish: Biskupie Księstwo Kamieńskie	1248–1650	Upper Saxon	Poland	Lost Reichsfreiheit to Duchy of Pomerania in 1544, secularized in 1650, to Brandenburg Province of Pomerania
Chur	Bishopric	German: Bistum Chur Romansh: Chapitel catedral da Cuira Italian: Principato vescovile di Coira	831/1170–1526	Austrian	Switzerland
Constance	Bishopric	German: Hochstift Konstanz	1155–1803	Swabian	Austria Germany Switzerland	Greatly reduced during the Reformation, when significant parts of Swabia and Switzerland became Protestant.
Eichstätt	Bishopric	German: Hochstift Eichstätt	1305–1802	Franconian	Germany
Freising	Bishopric	German: Hochstift Freising	1294–1802	Bavarian	Austria Germany
Fulda	Abbey, then Bishopric	German: Reichskloster Fulda, Reichsbistum Fulda	1220–1802	Upper Rhenish	Germany	Imperial Abbey until 5 October 1752, when it was raised to a bishopric. Secularized in 1802 in the German Mediatization
Geneva	Bishopric	French: Évêché de Genève German: Fürstbistum Genf		Upper Rhenish	France Switzerland	De jure Reichsfrei since 1154, de facto dominated by their guardians, the counts of Geneva (until 1400) and Savoy (since 1401). Geneva joined the Old Swiss Confederacy in 1526.
Halberstadt	Bishopric	German: Bistum Halberstadt	1180–1648	Lower Saxon	Germany
Havelberg	Bishopric	German: Bistum Havelberg	1151–1598	Lower Saxon	Germany	Founded in 948, annihilated 983, re-established 1130, continued by Lutheran administrators after Reformation in 1548 until 1598
Hildesheim	Bishopric	German: Hochstift Hildesheim	1235–1803	Lower Saxon	Germany
Lausanne	Bishopric	French: Prince-Évêché de Lausanne German: Bistum Lausanne	1270–1536	None	Switzerland	Conquered by the Swiss city canton of Bern in 1536.
Lebus	Bishopric	German: Fürstbistum Lebus Polish: Diecezja lubuska	1248–1598	None	Germany Poland	Seated in Fürstenwalde since 1385; Reichsfreiheit challenged by Brandenburg, continued by Hohenzollern Lutheran administrators after Protestant Reformation in 1555 until secularization in 1598.
Liège	Bishopric	French: Principauté de Liége German: Fürstbistum Lüttich Walloon: Principåté d' Lidje	980–1789/1795	Lower Rhenish / Westphalian	Belgium Netherlands
Lübeck	Bishopric	German: Hochstift Lübeck	1180–1803	Lower Saxon	Germany	Seated in Eutin since the 1270s; Reformation started in 1535, continued by Lutheran administrators since 1586 until secularization in 1803. Lübeck became a Free Imperial City in 1226.
Magdeburg	Archbishopric	German: Erzstift Magdeburg	1180–1680	Lower Saxon	Germany	Continued by Lutheran administrators between 1566 and 1631, and again since 1638 until 1680.
Merseburg	Bishopric	German: Bistum Merseburg	1004–1565	None	Germany	Administered by the Lutheran Electorate of Saxony between 1544 until 1565.
Metz	Bishopric	French: Évêché de Metz German: Hochstift Metz	10th century–1552	Upper Rhenish	France	One of the Three Bishoprics ceded to France by the 1552 Treaty of Chambord.
Minden	Bishopric	German: Hochstift Minden	1180–1648	Lower Rhenish / Westphalian	Germany
Münster	Bishopric	German: Hochstift Münster	1180–1802	Lower Rhenish / Westphalian	Germany
Naumburg	Bishopric	German: Bistum Naumburg-Zeitz			Germany	Under guardianship of Meissen from 1259, administrated by Saxony from 1564.
Olomouc	Bishopric	Czech: Biskupství olomoucké German: Bistum Olmütz		None	Czech Republic	The Czech bishopric (later Metropolitan) of Olomouc, as a vassal principality of the Bohemian crown, was the peer of the margraviate of Moravia, and from 1365 its prince-bishop was 'Count of the Bohemian Chapel', i.e., first court chaplain, who was to accompany the monarch on his frequent travels.
Osnabrück	Bishopric	German: Hochstift Osnabrück	1225/1236–1802	Lower Rhenish / Westphalian	Germany	Alternated between Catholic and Protestant incumbents after the Thirty Years' War, secularized in 1802/1803
Paderborn	Bishopric	German: Fürstbistum Paderborn	1281–1802	Lower Rhenish / Westphalian	Germany
Passau	Bishopric	German: Hochstift Passau	999–1803	Bavarian	Austria Germany	Princely title was confirmed at Nuremberg in 1217.
Ratzeburg	Bishopric	German: Bistum Ratzeburg	1236–1648	Lower Saxon	Germany	Ruled by Lutheran administrators between 1554 and 1648.
Regensburg	Bishopric	German: Hochstift Regensburg	1132?–1803	Bavarian	Germany	Regensburg became a Free Imperial City in 1245.
Salzburg	Archbishopric	German: Fürsterzbistum Salzburg	1278–1803	Bavarian	Austria	Raised to an electorate in 1803, but simultaneously secularized; see Electorate of Salzburg. Since 1648, the archbishop has also borne the title Primas Germaniae, First [Bishop] of Germania. The powers of this title – non-jurisdictional – are limited to being the Pope's first correspondent in the German-speaking world, but used to include the right to preside over the Princes of the Holy Roman Empire.
Schwerin	Bishopric	German: Bistum Schwerin	1180–1648	Lower Saxon	Germany	Ruled by an administrator between 1516 and 1648.
Sion	Bishopric	French: Prince-Évêché de Sion German: Bistum Sitten	999–1798	None	Switzerland	A classic example of unified secular and diocesan authority
Speyer	Bishopric	German: Hochstift Speyer	888–1803	Upper Rhenish	Germany	Territories to the east of the Rhine were annexed by France in 1681, confirmed in 1697. Speyer became a Free Imperial City in 1294.
Strasbourg	Bishopric	Alemannic German: Bistum Strossburi French: Évêché de Strasbourg German: Fürstbistum Straßburg	982–1803	Upper Rhenish	France Germany	Territories to the east of the Rhine were annexed by France in 1681, confirmed in 1697. Speyer became a Free Imperial City in 1262.
Toul	Bishopric	French: Principauté de Toul German: Bistum Toul	10th century – 1552	Upper Rhenish	France	One of the Three Bishoprics ceded to France by the 1552 Treaty of Chambord, confirmed in 1648.
Trent	Bishopric	Italian: Principato vescovile di Trento German: Fürstbistum Trient	1027–1803	Austrian Circle	Italy	Secularized to Tyrol in 1803.
Utrecht	Bishopric	Dutch: Sticht Utrecht	1024–1528	Lower Rhenish / Westphalian	Netherlands	Sold to Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor in 1528, after which it was moved to the Burgundian Circle. Founding member of the Dutch Republic in 1579/1581, confirmed in 1648.
Verden	Bishopric	German: Hochstift Verden	1180–1648	Lower Rhenish / Westphalian	Germany	Continued by Lutheran administrators after Reformation until 1645/1648, when it was continued as a secular and independent principality until its disestablishment in 1807. It became a part of the Kingdom of Hanover in 1815.
Verdun	Bishopric	French: Principauté de Verdun German: Bistum Verdun	10th century – 1552	Upper Rhenish	France	One of the Three Bishoprics ceded to France by the 1552 Treaty of Chambord, confirmed in 1648.
Worms	Bishopric	German: Bistum Worms	861–1801	Upper Rhenish	Germany	Worms city rule established by Bishop Burchard (1000–25), episcopal residence at Ladenburg from 1400, held large estates in the former Lahngau region, territories left of the Rhine lost by the 1797 Treaty of Campo Formio, secularized at first to French Empire, finally Baden and Hesse-Darmstadt in 1815.
Würzburg	Bishopric	German: Hochstift Würzburg	1168–1803	Franconian	Germany	Duke of Franconia

The suffragan-bishoprics of Gurk (established 1070), Chiemsee (1216), Seckau (1218), and Lavant (1225) sometimes used the Fürstbischof title, but never held any reichsfrei territory. The bishops of Vienna (established 1469) and Wiener Neustadt (1469–1785) didn't control any territory, nor did they claim a princely title.

State of the Teutonic Order

Order's State in 1466: Livonian episcopal territories in violet, Prince-Bishopric of Warmia in cyan

Upon the incorporation of the Livonian Brothers of the Sword in 1237, the territory of the Order's State largely corresponded with the Diocese of Riga. Bishop Albert of Riga in 1207 had received the lands of Livonia as an Imperial fief from the hands of German king Philip of Swabia, he however had to come to terms with the Brothers of the Sword. At the behest of Pope Innocent III the Terra Mariana confederation was established, whereby Albert had to cede large parts of the episcopal territory to the Livonian Order. Albert proceeded tactically in the conflict between the Papacy and Emperor Frederick II: in 1225 he reached the acknowledgement of his status as a Prince-Bishop of the Empire, though the Roman Curia insisted on the fact that the Christianized Baltic territories were solely under the suzerainty of the Holy See. By the 1234 Bull of Rieti, Pope Gregory IX stated that all lands acquired by the Teutonic Knights were no subject of any conveyancing by the Emperor.

Within this larger conflict, the continued dualism of the autonomous Riga prince-bishop and the Teutonic Knights led to a lengthy friction. Around 1245 the Papal legate William of Modena reached a compromise: though incorporated into the Order's State, the archdiocese and its suffragan bishoprics were acknowledged with their autonomous ecclesiastical territories by the Teutonic Knights. The bishops pursued the conferment of the princely title by the Holy Roman Emperor to stress their sovereignty. In the original Prussian lands of the Teutonic Order, Willam of Modena established the suffragan bishoprics of Culm, Pomesania, Samland and Warmia. From the late 13th century onwards, the appointed Warmia bishops were no longer members of the Teutonic Knights, a special status confirmed by the bestowal of the princely title by Emperor Charles IV in 1356.

Name	Rank	Local name(s)	Territory	Modern nation	Notes
Courland	Bishopric	German: Hochstift Kurland Latvian: Kurzemes bīskapija Low German: Bisdom Curland	Terra Mariana	Latvia	Established about 1234, the smallest of the Livonian dioceses. Secularized in 1559 and occupied by Prince Magnus of Denmark. From 1585 under the suzerainty of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, part of the Duchy of Livonia. To Russia in the 1795 Third Partition of Poland.
Dorpat	Bishopric	Estonian: Tartu piiskopkond German: Hochstift Dorpat Low German: Bisdom Dorpat	Terra Mariana	Estonia	Bishop Hermann, appointed by his brother Bishop Albert of Riga, received the title of a prince-bishop by King Henry VII of Germany in 1225. Dorpat (Estonian: Tartu) remained a suffragan diocese of Riga. Dissolved in the course of the Protestant Reformation in 1558.
Ösel-Wiek	Bishopric	Estonian: Saare-Lääne piiskopkond German: Bistum Ösel-Wiek Low German: Bisdom Ösel-Wiek	Terra Mariana	Estonia	Established on Saaremaa island in 1228 under Bishop Gottfried, appointed by Bishop Albert of Riga, vested with the title of a prince-bishop by King Henry VII of Germany. It remained a suffragan diocese of Riga. Dissolved in the course of the Protestant Reformation in 1559.
Riga	Archbishopric	German: Erzbistum Riga Latvian: Rīgas arhibīskapija Low German: Erzbisdom Riga	Terra Mariana	Latvia	Episcopal see at Üxküll 1186–1202. In 1225 Albert of Riga received the title of a Prince-bishop of Livonia by Emperor Frederick II. Last Archbishop William of Brandenburg resigned in 1561 during the Livonian War, territory fell to the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, to Sweden in 1621.
Warmia	Bishopric	German: Hochstift Ermland Polish: Biskupie Księstwo Warmińskie	Prussia	Poland	Established by Papal legate William of Modena in 1243, princely title documented in the Golden Bull of 1356. Incorporated into the Jagiellon kingdom of Poland in 1466 and re-established as an autonomous prince-bishopric under the Polish crown in 1479. Abolished in the course of the Prussian annexation in 1772 during the First Partition of Poland.

Elsewhere

In Montenegro

The bishops of Cetinje, Montenegro, who took the place of the earlier secular (Grand) Voivodes in 1516 had a unique position of Slavonic, Orthodox prince-bishops of Montenegro under Ottoman suzerainty.^[2] They actually became the secularized, hereditary princes and ultimately Kings of Montenegro in 1852, as reflected in their styles:

first Vladika i upravitelj Crne Gore i Brda ("Bishop and Ruler of Montenegro and the Highlands")

from 13 March 1852 (New Style): Po milosti Božjoj knjaz i gospodar Crne Gore i Brda ("By the grace of God Prince and Sovereign of Montenegro and the Highlands")

from 28 August 1910 (New Style): Po milosti Božjoj kralj i gospodar Crne Gore ("By the grace of God, King and Sovereign of Montenegro")

In England

The Bishops of Durham were also territorial prince-bishops, with the extraordinary secular rank of Earl palatine, for it was their duty not only to be head of the large diocese, but also to help protect the Kingdom against the Scottish threat from the north. The title survived the union of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707 until 1836.

In France

Apart from territories formerly within the Holy Roman Empire, no French diocese had a principality of political significance linked to its see.

However, a number of French bishops did hold a noble title, with a tiny territory usually about their seat; it was often a princely title, especially Count. Indeed, six of the original Pairies (the royal vassals awarded with the highest precedence at Court) were episcopal: the Archbishop of Reims and five other bishops (suffragans to Reims, except the Bishop of Langres); the three highest ones held a ducal title and the others a comital title.

They were later joined by the Archbishop of Paris, with a ducal title, but with precedence over the others. See also Peerage of France.

In Portugal

From 1472 to 1967, the bishop of Coimbra held the comital title of Count of Arganil, being thus called "bishop-count" (Portuguese: Bispo-Conde). The comital title is still held de jure, but since Portugal is a republic and nobility privileges are abolished, its use declined during the 20th century.

Beyond Catholic feudalism

While one might expect that the Protestant Schism, Counter-Reformation and more modern regimes than the traditional feudal principality would have eradicated the prince-bishopric, this was not quite the case. Even when the true prince-(arch)bishoprics disappeared from the map of Europe as it was redrawn by Napoleon I Bonaparte (who caused the end of the Holy Roman Empire) and the Congress of Vienna after his defeat, the title found a new, titular use.

In the Habsburg dynasty's "new" empire, the Danubian double monarchy of Austria-Hungary, reduced to the parts south of Prussia's (German) sphere of dominance that would become the (largely Protestant) German Empire, actual territorial power was no longer held by the bishops, but the status of Fürst(erz)bischof was maintained, and could be given a similar political role in the more modern, almost standardized Cisleithanian provincial level, the Kronland (crown land), as ex officio members of its Landtag, the representative and legislative assembly, often with Virilstimme, while other bishops could collectively be represented as a "prelate's bench" (an elected Kurie).

The Emperors of Austria now bestowed the title upon bishops even without any feudal principality, but as a princely style and rank (as had been usual for centuries with secular noble titles of peerage ranks) awarded to episcopal sees, carrying the privilege of a seat in the estates, e.g., for the bishop of Laibach (as a consolation prize for the see's loss of metropolitan rank to Görz), the archbishop of Vienna (probably due to Vienna's rank as Imperial residence) and for the archbishop of Esztergom (here reflecting his longstanding role as the first magnate of Hungary).

Special cases

The ultimate prince-bishop is the Bishop of Rome, i.e. the Pope, universal head (Supreme Pontiff) of the Roman Catholic Church. His claims to territorial power were bolstered by the forged early-medieval document Donation of Constantine, and the authentic Donation of Pepin, establishing the Patrimonium Petri which was further extended as the powerful Papal States. Pope Pius IX was the last of the true, sovereign prince-bishops, divested of territorial powers when the Papacy was forced to surrender the rule of Rome in 1870 to the united Kingdom of Italy, which was supported by liberal-nationalists. The pope however re-gained sovereign power over Vatican City in 1929 after successful negotiations with the Italian government under Benito Mussolini, leading to the Lateran Treaties.

The Catalan Bishop of Urgell, who no longer has any secular rights in Spain, remains one of two co-princes of Andorra, along with the French head of state (currently its President).

References

^ Joachim Fernau: 'Deutschland, Deutschland über alles — Geschichte der Deutschen'

^ Sima Milutinović Sarajlija: MONTENEGRO lead by its Bishops from Историја Црне Горе (The History of Montenegro, 1835) (in Serbian)

Sources and external links

Catholic Encyclopaedia passim

The Prince-Bishop of Münster

Albert of Buxhoeveden, Prince-Bishop of Livonia

Heraldica.org - here French peerage

Westermann, Großer Atlas zur Weltgeschichte (in German)

WorldStatesmen search under each present country

[1] Joachim Fernau: 'Deutschland, Deutschland über alles — Geschichte der Deutschen'

[2] Sima Milutinović Sarajlija: MONTENEGRO lead by its Bishops from Историја Црне Горе (The History of Montenegro, 1835) (in Serbian)

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