around 1891 The Diocese of Paderborn was founded in 799 by
Pope Leo III. In the early years it was subordinated to the bishop of
Würzburg. Since 855 the clergy had the right to elect the bishop. The diocese included the larger part of
Lippe,
Waldeck, and nearly half of the
County of Ravensberg. In 1180 when the
Duchy of Saxony ceased to exist, the rights which the old dukedom had exercised over Paderborn were transferred to the
Archbishopric-Electorate of Cologne. The claims of the archbishops of Cologne were settled in the 13th century, almost wholly in favor of Paderborn. Under Bernhard II, Bishop of Paderborn () (1188–1203) the
bailiwick over the diocese, which since the middle of the 11th century had been held as a fief by the Counts of Arnsberg, returned to the bishops. This was an important advance in the development of the bishops' position as a secular ruler in his
temporalities, forming a
Hochstift of
imperial immediacy since. From this time on the bishops did not grant the bailiwick as a fief, but managed it themselves, and had themselves represented in the government by one of their clergy. They strove successfully to obtain the bailiwicks over the abbeys and monasteries situated in their diocese. Bishop Otto von Rietberg had to contend with Cologne; in 1281, when only bishop-elect, he received the regalia from
Rudolph of Habsburg, and full judicial power (except penal judicature). After the defeat of the Cologne arch bishop at the
Battle of Worringen 1288 the bishops of Paderborn became increasingly sovereigns, though not over the whole of their diocese.
Bernhard V of Lippe (1321–41) established a first territorial constitution ("
Privilegium Bernhardi"). However he had to acknowledge the city of Paderborn as free from his judicial supremacy.
Heinrich III Spiegel zum Desenberg (1361–80), also
Abbot of Corvey, left his spiritual functions to a suffragan; in 1371 he rebuilt the Burg Neuhaus at Paderborn.
Simon II, Count of Sternberg (1380–89), involved the bishopric in feuds with the nobility, who after his death devastated the country.
Wilhelm Heinrich van Berg, elected 1399, sought to remedy the evils which had crept in during the foregoing feuds, but when in 1414 he interested himself in the vacancy in the Archbishopric of Cologne, the cathedral chapter in his absence chose
Dietrich III of Moers (1415–63). The wars of Dietrich, also Archbishop of Cologne, brought heavy debts upon the bishopric; during the feuds of the bishop with the city of
Soest (1444–49) Paderborn was devastated. Under
Eric, Duke of Brunswick-Grubenhagen (1502–32), the
Protestant Reformation obtained a foothold in the diocese, although the bishop remained loyal to the Church.
Hermann von Wied (1532–47), also Archbishop of Cologne, sought to introduce the new teaching at Paderborn as well as Cologne, but he was opposed by all classes. The countships of
Lippe,
Waldeck, and
Pyrmont, the part of the diocese in the
County of Ravensberg, and most of the parishes on the right bank of the
Weser became Protestant.
Heinrich IV, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg (1577–85), was a Lutheran; he permitted the adoption of the
Augsburg Confession by his subjects. In the city of
Paderborn only the cathedral and the Monastery of Abdinghof remained faithful. To save the Catholic cause, the cathedral chapter summoned the
Jesuits to Paderborn in 1580.
Dietrich IV of Fürstenberg (1585–1618) restored the practice of the Catholic religion, built a
gymnasium for the Jesuits, and founded the
University of Paderborn in 1614. During the
German Mediatisation in 1802, the bishopric became
Prussian, from 1807 until 1813 it was part of the
Kingdom of Westphalia, and then part of the Prussian
province of Westphalia. While the bishopric as a state had been permanently dissolved, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Paderborn was recreated by
Pope Pius VII in 1821. Through the
Prussian Concordate, it was promoted to an archdiocese in 1930; at the same time, Paderborn lost its districts around
Erfurt and
Heiligenstadt to the
Diocese of Fulda, and two small areas to the
Archdiocese of Cologne. The dioceses of Fulda and
Hildesheim were made subordinate to it. When the
Diocese of Essen was created in 1958, Paderborn lost a significant portion of its district to it. In 1994 Paderborn lost the part of its district located in the former
East Germany to the newly created
Diocese of Magdeburg. Both Magdeburg and the
Diocese of Erfurt were made subordinate to Paderborn. At the same time, Hildesheim was made subordinate to the
Archdiocese of Hamburg. In the 1990s, the conflict between the archdiocese and renegade priest
Eugen Drewermann made headlines. The current archbishop is
Hans-Josef Becker. == Prince-bishops ==