Prince-bishop

A prince-bishop is a bishop who is also the civil ruler of some secular principality and sovereignty, as opposed to Prince of the Church itself, a title associated with cardinals. Since 1951, the sole extant prince-bishop has been the Bishop of Urgell, Catalonia, who has remained ex officio one of two co-princes of Andorra, along with the French president.

Overview

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. The principality or prince-bishopric ruled politically by a prince-bishop could wholly or largely have overlapped with his diocesan jurisdiction, but some parts of his diocese, even the city of his residence, could have been exempt from his civil rule, obtaining the status of free imperial city. If the episcopal see was an archbishopric, the correct term was prince-archbishop; the equivalent in the regular clergy was prince-abbot. A prince-bishop was usually considered an elected monarch. With the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, the title finally became defunct in the Confederation of the Rhine. However, in respect to the lands of the former Holy Roman Empire outside of French control, such as the Habsburg Monarchy, including Austria proper, the Lands of the Bohemian Crown, as well as in respect to the parts of the 1795-partitioned Polish state, including those forming part of the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria or those acquired by the Kingdom of Prussia, the position continued in some cases nominally and was sometimes transformed into a new, titular type, initially recognized by the German Empire and Austria-Hungary until their demise, with the title ultimately abolished altogether by the pope in 1951.
The sole exception is the Bishop of Urgell, Catalonia, who no longer has any secular rights in Spain, but remains ex officio one of two co-princes of Andorra, along with the French head of state, and thus the last extant prince-bishop.
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, possibly as part of a development to put the Eastern Church in the service of the Empire, with its Ecumenical Patriarch almost reduced to the Emperor's minister of religious affairs.. The institution of prince-bishop was revived in the Orthodox Church in the modern times during the existence of the Prince-Bishopric of Montenegro.

History

Holy Roman Empire

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.
The stem duchies of the German Kingdom inside the Empire had strong and powerful dukes, always looking out more for their duchy's "national interest" than for the Empire's. In turn the first Ottonian 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 bishops. The immediate territory attached to the episcopal see then became a prince-diocese or bishopric. 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 in the successor Confederation of the Rhine.
No less than three of the prince-electors, the highest order of Reichsfürsten, were prince-archbishops, each holding the title of Archchancellor for a part of the Empire; given the higher importance of an electorate, their principalities were known as Kurfürstentum rather than prince-archbishopric.

Arms	Name	Rank	Local name	Imperial immediacy	Imperial Circle	Modern nation	Notes
	Augsburg	Bishopric		–1803	Swabian		Augsburg became a Free Imperial City in 1276.
	Bamberg	Bishopric		1245–1802	Franconian
	Basel	Bishopric		1032–1803	Upper Rhenish		Basel joined the Old Swiss Confederacy as the Canton of Basel in 1501. Secularized as a result of Swiss Mediation. 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		1043–1678/1803	Upper Rhenish		Made Prince by Henry III in 1043. Temporal power revoked and granted to the Free City of Besançon in 1290, while the title of Prince was retained by the Archbishop. Transferred to the Burgundian Circle in 1512. Imperial Diet seat was retained but left vacant after France annexed Besançon in 1678.
	Brandenburg	Bishopric		–1598	Upper Saxon		Founded in 948; annihilated 983; re-established. Continued by Lutheran administrators after the Reformation in 1520; secularized and incorporated into the Margraviate of Brandenburg in 1571.
	Bremen	Archbishopric		1180–1648	Lower Saxon		Continued by Lutheran administrators from the Reformation in 1566 until 1645/1648. Bremen itself became autonomous in 1186, and was confirmed as a Free Imperial City in 1646.
	Breslau	Bishopric		fief of the Bohemian crown, after 1748 also of the Kingdom of Prussia	-		Ceded 1335/1348 by Poland. After dissolution of the HRE, secularized in 1810 and in 1850. The princely title continued until 1951, elevated to archbishopric 1930
	Brixen	Bishopric		1027–1803	Austrian		secularized to Tyrol
	Cambrai	Bishopric, then archbishopric		1007–1678	Lower Rhenish / Westphalian		To France by 1678 Peace of Nijmegen
	Chur	Bishopric		831/1170–1526	Austrian		Secularized 1803 as a result of Swiss Mediation.
	Cologne	Archbishopric electorate		953–1803	Electoral Rhenish		Prince-elector and Arch-Chancellor of Italy. Duke of Westphalia from 1180. Cologne became a Free Imperial City in 1288.
	Constance	Bishopric		1155–1803	Swabian		Greatly reduced during the Reformation, when significant parts of Swabia and Switzerland became Protestant.
	Eichstätt	Bishopric		1305–1802	Franconian
	Freising	Bishopric		1294–1802	Bavarian
	Fulda	Abbey, then bishopric		1220–1802	Upper Rhenish		Imperial Abbey until 5 October 1752, when it was raised to a bishopric. Secularized in 1802 in the German Mediatization
	Geneva	Bishopric		1154-1526	Upper Rhenish		De jure reichsfrei since 1154. De facto dominated by their guardians, the counts of Geneva and Savoy. Geneva joined the Old Swiss Confederacy in 1526.
	Halberstadt	Bishopric		1180–1648	Lower Saxon
	Havelberg	Bishopric		1151–1598	Lower Saxon		Founded in 948; annihilated 983; re-established 1130. Continued by Lutheran administrators from Reformation in 1548 until 1598
	Hildesheim	Bishopric		1235–1803	Lower Saxon
	Lausanne	Bishopric		1270–1536	-		Conquered by the Swiss city canton of Bern in 1536.
	Lebus	Bishopric		1248/1454/1506–1598	-		Established 1124 in Poland, 1248-1372 disputed and 1372 ultimately lost to HRE. 1372–1454 fief of the Bohemian crown, seated in Fürstenwalde from 1385; reichsfrei ostensibly from 1248, but challenged by Brandenburg. Continued by Hohenzollern Lutheran administrators from Protestant Reformation in 1555 until secularization in 1598.
	Liège	Bishopric		980–1789/1795	Lower Rhenish / Westphalian
	Lübeck	Bishopric		1180–1803	Lower Saxon		Seated in Eutin from the 1270s; Reformation started in 1535, continued by Lutheran administrators from 1586 until secularization in 1803. Lübeck became a Free Imperial City in 1226.
	Lyon	Archbishopric		1157-1312	-		Seated in Lyon; Reichsfreiheit confirmed by Frederick Barbarossa in 1157. Annexed by the Kingdom of France in 1312.
	Magdeburg	Archbishopric		1180–1680	Lower Saxon		Continued by Lutheran administrators between 1566 and 1631, and again from 1638 until 1680.
	Mainz	Archbishopric electorate		–1803	Electoral Rhenish		Prince-elector and Arch-Chancellor of Germany.
	Merseburg	Bishopric		1004–1565	-		Administered by the Lutheran Electorate of Saxony between 1544 and 1565.
	Metz	Bishopric		10th century–1552	Upper Rhenish		One of the Three Bishoprics ceded to France by the 1552 Treaty of Chambord.
	Minden	Bishopric		1180–1648	Lower Rhenish / Westphalian
	Münster	Bishopric		1180–1802	Lower Rhenish / Westphalian
	Naumburg	Bishopric					Under guardianship of Meissen from 1259. Administered by Saxony from 1564.
	Olomouc	Bishopric, then archbishopric		fief of the Bohemian Crown, after 1742 also of the Kingdom of Prussia	-		The Czech bishopric of Olomouc, as a fief 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. Secularized in 1803, but the princely title continued. However, all bishops' princely titles were abolished by the pope in 1951.
	Osnabrück	Bishopric		1225/1236–1802	Lower Rhenish / Westphalian		Alternated between Catholic and Protestant incumbents after the Thirty Years' War; secularized in 1802/1803
	Paderborn	Bishopric		1281–1802	Lower Rhenish / Westphalian
	Passau	Bishopric		999–1803	Bavarian		Princely title was confirmed at Nuremberg in 1217.
	Ratzeburg	Bishopric		1236–1648	Lower Saxon		Ruled by Lutheran administrators between 1554 and 1648.
	Regensburg	Bishopric, then archbishopric electorate		1132?–1803	Bavarian		Regensburg became a Free Imperial City in 1245.
	Salzburg	Archbishopric electorate		1278–1803	Bavarian		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 of Germania, which used to include the right to preside over the Princes of the Holy Roman Empire. However, all bishops' princely titles were abolished by the pope in 1951.
	Schwerin	Bishopric		1180–1648	Lower Saxon		Ruled by an administrator between 1516 and 1648.
	Speyer	Bishopric		888–1803	Upper Rhenish		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		982–1803	Upper Rhenish		Territories to the east of the Rhine were annexed by France in 1681, confirmed in 1697.
	Tarentaise	Archbishopric		1186-1769	Upper Rhenish		Count of Tarentaise from 996; reichsfrei from 1186. De facto dominated by their guardians Savoy. Secularized and annexed by the Kingdom of Sardinia 1769.
	Toul	Bishopric		10th century – 1552	Upper Rhenish		One of the Three Bishoprics ceded to France by the 1552 Treaty of Chambord, confirmed in 1648.
	Trent	Bishopric		1027–1803	Austrian		Secularized to Tyrol in 1803.
	Trier	Archbishopric electorate		772–1803	Electoral Rhenish		Prince-elector and Arch-Chancellor of Burgundy.
	Utrecht	Bishopric		1024–1528	Lower Rhenish / Westphalian		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		1180–1648	Lower Rhenish / Westphalian		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		10th century – 1552	Upper Rhenish		One of the Three Bishoprics ceded to France by the 1552 Treaty of Chambord, confirmed in 1648.
	Worms	Bishopric		861–1801	Upper Rhenish		Worms city rule established by Bishop Burchard. Episcopal residence at Ladenburg from 1400. Held large estates in the former Lahngau region. Territories on the Left Bank of the Rhine lost by the 1797 Treaty of Campo Formio; secularized at first to the French Empire, then to Baden and Hesse-Darmstadt in 1815.

The suffragan-bishoprics of Gurk, Bishopric of Chiemsee, Prince-bishop of Seckau, and Lavant sometimes used the Fürstbischof title, but never held any reichsfrei territory. However, all bishops' princely titles were abolished by the pope in 1951.
The Patriarchate of Aquileia was conquered by Venice in 1420 and officially incorporated after the 1445 Council of Florence.
In Brescia Bishop Notingus was made count of Brescia in 844.
In the Bishopric of Belley, Saint Anthelm of Belley was granted Reichsfreiheit by Emperor Frederick I, but submitted temporal authorities to the Duchy of Savoy in 1401.
The Bishopric of Sion was from 999 a classic example of unified secular and diocesan authority. It progressively lost its powers since the Renaissance, and was finally replaced by the Republic of the Seven Tithings in 1634.