Spiritual territory
A state area in the pre-modern era (antiquity up to around 1800), whose sovereign ( prince ) was also the supreme clergyman and thus combined the spiritual with the secular power, is called a spiritual territory . He exercised ecclesiastical power in his ecclesiastical jurisdiction and at the same time secular power in a territory that did not have to be congruent . This form of rule was particularly widespread in the Holy Roman Empire . With the establishment of secularization since the early modern period , i.e. the tendency to separate church and state, this form of rule was pushed back further and further.
After the crook , the symbol of rule of the bishops, spiritual territories were also called crook lands.
In the Holy Roman Empire
Spiritual territories within the Holy Roman Empire developed from the Ottonian-Salian imperial church system and were partly dissolved after the Reformation , at the latest in 1803 in the course of secularization by the Imperial Deputation Main Council. Spiritual gentlemen who were directly involved in the empire were referred to as imperial prelates and ecclesiastical lords were called imperial pens . In detail:
- the three clergy of the seven electoral principalities - specifically Mainz , Cologne and Trier - each ruled by an archbishop.
- other archbishopric and principal dioceses. Depending on the internal church hierarchy of the respective territorial lord, the areas were named differently: They were called Archbishopric ( e.g. Archbishopric Magdeburg ) if they were ruled by an archbishop, and Hochstift when they were ruled by a simple bishop (called Prince- Bishop for his secular rule ) were ruled (e.g. Hochstift Münster , see also list of principal bishoprics around 1800 ).
- the imperial abbeys , which were headed by an abbot (or an abbess) (e.g. the imperial abbey Werden ).
- the other imperial monasteries , which were headed by a provost (e.g. the prince provost of Berchtesgaden ).
- other imperial monasteries, such as B. Kartausen.
Outside the realm
Outside the Empire there were sacred territories, such as the papal dominions County Avignon and Comtat , the Papal States (with controversial status, rich belong or not), the Bishopric of Warmia (to 1466 in the religious state of Prussia , then in Prussia Royal share ). Other Baltic bishops ( Kurland , Ösel-Wiek , Riga ) obtained sovereignty for parts of their diocesan areas as prince-bishops. In England, the bishops of Durham also had territorial power in earlier times.
Hierarchies and pens around 1750
Footnote: Dioceses and monasteries lost to the empire through the Reformation or border changes are in italics .
See also
literature
- Bettina Braun: Princeps et Episcopus. Studies on the function and self-image of the north-west German prince-bishops after the Peace of Westphalia. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2013, ISBN 978-3-525-10121-6 , Introduction Part 1: The rediscovery of the spiritual states , pp. 12-16 ( preview on Google Books for a research overview with many references).
Web links
- Meinrad Schaab, Hans-Martin Maurer, Anneliese Müller, Hans Pfeifer: Development of selected ecclesiastical territories in southwest Germany, Baden-Württemberg State Archive , accessed on January 19, 2016
- Dieter J. Weiß: Bamberg, Hochstift: Territorium und Struktur , in: Historisches Lexikon Bayerns , accessed on January 19, 2016
Individual evidence
- ↑ Manfred Heim : From indulgence to celibacy. Small encyclopedia of church history . Verlag CH Beck, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-40657-356-9 , p. 255