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 , 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 , 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 (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 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 (arch)bishopric (). The German term was often used to denote the form of secular authority held by bishops ruling a prince-bishopric with 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 (originally only seven)
prince-electors, the highest order of (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 ("electoral principality") rather than prince-archbishopric. The suffragan-bishoprics of
Gurk (established 1070), (1216), (1218), and
Lavant (1225) sometimes used the title, but never held any territory. However, all bishops' princely titles were abolished by the pope in 1951. The
Patriarchate of Aquileia (1077–1433) 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 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.
State of the Teutonic Order 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.
Kingdom of Poland and Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth Three bishoprics were initially parts of the Kingdom of Poland and its offshoots before being subsequently incorporated into the Holy Roman Empire, namely the bishoprics of
Wolin/Kamień (Wollin/Cammin) (1140–1181),
Lubusz (Lebus) (1125–1372) and
Wrocław (Breslau) (1201–1335/1348), with the latter two of them continuing, however, as suffragan to the Polish
archbishopric of Gniezno for many years later (until 1424 in the case of Lebus and until 1821 in the case of Breslau). On the other hand, the Prince Bishopric of Warmia was obtained by
Poland following the
Second Peace of Thorn.
England Durham The
bishops of Durham, while not sovereign, held extensive rights usually reserved to the English, and later British, monarch within the county palatine of Durham. In 1075
Walcher, the bishop of Durham, was allowed to purchase the earldom of Northumbria; this marked the beginning of the bishops' temporal powers, which expanded during the Middle Ages before being gradually curbed from the sixteenth century onwards. Except for a brief period of suppression during the
English Civil War, the bishopric retained some temporal powers until it was abolished by the
Durham (County Palatine) Act 1836, when its powers returned to the Crown. The last institution of the palatinate, its
court of chancery, was abolished in 1974.
Other English Prince-bishoprics • The
Isle of Ely was a
royal liberty, and between 1109 and 1535 a county palatine, with traces of the bishop's princely status remaining until 1837. •
Hexhamshire was a county palatine under the
Archbishop of York from at least the 14th century until 1572; prior to that, it was a royal liberty.
France From the tenth century civil wars on, many bishops took over the powers of the local count, as authorised by the king. For example, at Chalons-sur-Marne the bishop ruled the lands around the town, while the Archbishop of Rheims demarcated his territory with five fortresses of Courville, Cormicy, Betheneville, Sept-Saulx and Chaumuzy. 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 but also Prince or Baron, including actual seigneurial authority and rights.
Portugal From 1472 to 1967, the bishop of
Coimbra held the
comital title of Count of
Arganil, being thus called "bishop-count" (). The use of the
comital title declined during the 20th century since
Portugal has become a republic and nobility privileges have ceased to be officially recognized, and was ultimately discontinued.
Montenegro The
bishops of Cetinje, who took as the
Prince-Bishops of Montenegro the place of the earlier secular (Grand)
Voivodes in 1516, had a unique position of
Slavonic,
Orthodox prince-bishops of
Montenegro under
Ottoman suzerainty. It was eventually secularized and became ruled by hereditary princes and ultimately
Kings of Montenegro in 1852, as reflected in their styles: • first ("Bishop and Ruler of Montenegro and the Highlands") • from 13 March 1852 (
New Style): ("
By the grace of God Prince and Sovereign of Montenegro and the Highlands") • from 28 August 1910 (New Style): ("By the grace of God, King and Sovereign of Montenegro") == Contemporary ==