Diocese of Minden

This article deals with the submerged Roman Catholic diocese of Minden. The secular territory of the Minden bishops is often referred to with the same name, see Hochstift Minden .

Coat of arms of the diocese of Minden

Minden Cathedral

The diocese of Minden was a Roman Catholic diocese in northern Germany. The seat of the bishopric was the Minden Cathedral in what is now Minden an der Weser in North Rhine-Westphalia . The diocese was proclaimed around 800. During the Reformation in the mid-16th century, the diocese approached Protestant teaching and was de facto abolished in 1648. As the secular territory of the Minden bishops, there was also the Minden Monastery , which was secularized in 1648 with the end of the diocese and fell to Brandenburg-Prussia as the Principality of Minden .

area

Territory of the diocese and important places of ecclesiastical administration. The territory of the principality is outlined in green

The area of ​​the diocese extended from the Hunte in the west to the Lüneburg Heath in the northeast and thus included large parts of the historical Engern . The diocese was under the church province of Cologne . Minden itself was one of the largest cities in the diocese, but was on the southern edge of the diocese.

The main seat of the diocese's administration, after it was temporarily housed in Petershagen Castle, was the Bishop's Palace next to the Minden Cathedral in Minden.

history

The diocese was founded around 800 by Charlemagne as part of the Christianization and ecclesiastical organization of the Saxons . As a result of the Ottonian imperial reform, the Mindener See received imperial princely rights like other bishoprics and was enfeoffed with large estates. From these the bishopric of Minden (or the prince-bishopric of Minden) developed, which from then on was the secular domain of the Minden bishops. The bishopric was significantly smaller than the diocese and extended roughly to the area of ​​today 's Minden-Lübbecke district . The itineraries of the Minden bishops in the 11th century reflect their lively political travel.

Dietrich III. was Bishop of Minden from 1353 to 1361 and also a trusted advisor to Emperor Charles IV , who also visited Minden on November 16-18, 1377.

During the Reformation , the Minden bishops approached Lutheran doctrine. Since Francis II , who was Bishop of Minden from 1530, the bishopric and prince-bishopric were headed time and again by bishops who tolerated or even promoted Lutheran teaching. Some of the bishops from the House of Braunschweig-Lüneburg were particularly inclined to Protestant doctrine. The secularization of the diocese progressed along with it. It was not until 1631 that Franz Wilhelm von Wartenberg , a decidedly Catholic sovereign ruler and bishop, was reinstated in Minden.However, in 1634 he de facto lost government power over the diocese and in 1648 resigned de jure as bishop, because in the Peace of Westphalia of 1648 the diocese de facto ceased to pass.

The bishop's chair remained true as the Minden cathedral chapter initially received and the bishopric formally only provisionally resolved restituted but it was below never again. The bishopric, which existed until then, was finally secularized in 1648 and fell under the name of the Principality of Minden an Brandenburg-Prussia . In the 17th century, the Catholic jurisdiction for northern Germany was reorganized. The areas of the former diocese of Minden, like those of the dioceses of Bremen , Verden , Ratzeburg , Schwerin , Magdeburg and Halberstadt , were subordinated to the Apostolic Vicariate of the North . The cathedral chapter in Minden was only dissolved in Napoleonic times in 1810 , seven years after the main conclusion of the Imperial Deputation.

After the end of the old imperial church in the Napoleonic turmoil, papal circumscription bulls , e.g. B. De salute animarum for Prussia and Impensa Romanorum Pontificum for Hanover , a new diocesan structure based on the new political borders. The western areas of the old diocese of Minden came to the Diocese of Osnabrück , most of the areas east of the Weser to the Diocese of Hildesheim . The southern areas around the episcopal city, which now belonged to the Prussian province of Westphalia, were added to the Archdiocese of Paderborn . In 1821 Pope Pius VII finally abolished the diocese. From this point on, the cathedral was simply a parish church. To this day, the area around Minden belongs to the Archdiocese of Paderborn.

coat of arms

Miter from Minden, 14th century

The coat of arms of the bishopric and the diocese showed the crossed keys of St. Peter on a red background, turning their beards away . Peter was the patron saint of the diocese and Minden Cathedral . The coat of arms remained the coat of arms of the Principality of Minden after 1648 and was included in the large Prussian coat of arms . To this day it is represented in the coat of arms of many municipalities in the region, e.g. B. in the coat of arms of the city of Minden. The now dissolved districts of Minden and Lübbecke also had the keys in their coat of arms. The coat of arms of the Minden-Lübbecke successor district also takes up this old symbol.

See also

• List of the bishops of Minden
• List of auxiliary bishops in Minden
• List of the Minden canons

literature

• Ludwig August Theodor Holscher: Description of the former diocese of Minden according to its borders, archdeaconates, districts and old courts. A historical experiment , Münster 1877. ( digitized version )
• Kurt Ortmanns: The diocese of Minden in its relations with the king, pope and duke until the end of the 12th century. A contribution to the Germania Pontificia , Bensberg 1972.
• Horst Müller-Asshoff: The documents of the German kings and emperors in the area of ​​the former diocese of Minden from 871 to 961. Communications of the Mindener Geschichtsverein, year 50 (1978), pp. 7–43.
• Hans Nordsiek: From the Principality to the Principality of Minden. Constitutional, political and denominational changes from 1550 to 1650 . In: Westphalian magazine . tape 140 , 1990, pp. 253-273 .

Web links

• Deeds of documents for the Principality and Cathedral Chapter of Minden / Digital Westphalian Document Database (DWUD)
• Minden . In: Lexicon of the Middle Ages . tape VI . Artemis - & - Winkler-Verlag, Stuttgart 1993, ISBN 3-7608-8906-9 , p. 631 ( online [accessed January 2, 2019]).
• Diocese of Minden. In: catholic-hierarchy.org The Hierarchy of the Catholic Church Current and historical information about its bishops and dioceses. Retrieved September 7, 2012 . 

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Wilfried Möller: Itinerare Mindener bishops of the 11th century (1002-1080). Messages of the Mindener Geschichtsverein, year 54 (1982), pp. 103-112.
2. ↑ Hans Nordsiek: Emperor Charles IV and the diocese Minden.. Communications of the Mindener Geschichtsverein, year 50 (1978), pp. 71-102.
3. ↑ Hans Nordsiek, From the Principality of Minden to the Minden-Lübbecke District , Minden 1977

Coordinates: 52 ° 17 '19.6 "  N , 8 ° 55' 10.1"  E