Diocese of Cammin

Coat of arms of the bishopric of Cammin

The diocese of Cammin is a former diocese . It existed from the 12th to the 17th century on the territory of Pomerania (seat: Kamień Pomorski ).

history

12th Century

Coat of arms of the bishopric of Cammin

In the years 1124 and 1128, Bishop Otto von Bamberg carried out two mission trips to Pomerania. He led the Pomeranian Church he founded and at the same time tried to establish an independent diocese in Pomerania with the Pope . Only after Otto's death in 1139 did Pope Innocent II in Rome consecrate the chaplain Adalbert as the first Pomeranian bishop on October 14, 1140 . At the same time, St. Adalbert's Church in Wollin was designated as a bishopric.

Both the Archdiocese of Magdeburg and the Archdiocese of Gniezno claimed sovereignty over the new diocese . Innocent II avoided further disputes by subordinating the newly founded diocese directly to the Holy See by exemption . The extent of the diocese was not specifically determined. In the west it should extend to the Tribsees Castle and in the east to the Leba River. It roughly comprised Pomerania, but excluding the island of Rügen and the mainland of Rügen, parts of East Mecklenburg , the Uckermark and the Neumark . Charges from the Pomeranian castle districts were awarded to the diocese. It is not known whether land was already donated when it was founded.

During the Wendenkreuzzug in 1147, Bishop Adalbert is said to have participated in the negotiations near Stettin that ultimately led to the withdrawal of the crusader army. In the following decades, Henry the Lion and the Danes, who were allied with him, went on military campaigns against Pomerania. Adalbert's successor, Bishop Konrad I von Salzwedel, initially relocated the bishopric, probably at the beginning of the 1170s, for a short time to the Premonstratensian Monastery of Grobe and then to Cammin around 1175 . A cathedral chapter was founded at the Camminer St. Johannis Cathedral . By Duke I. Casimir was Christianity to the state religion explained. The Pope gave the diocese of Cammin permission to tithe . After Conrad I's death in 1186, his successor, Bishop Siegfried I, received confirmation from the Pope that the episcopal residence had been relocated to Cammin and the independence of the diocese was recognized.

13th Century

Cammin bishopric around 1250

At the beginning of the 13th century there were clashes between Poland and Denmark, whose feudal supporters were the Pomeranian dukes. To protect against attacks and against the takeover by the Polish Archdiocese of Gniezno, Bishop Sigwin subordinated his diocese to the Archbishop of Magdeburg. He later tried to quit this suffragan position . He ignored the orders of Pope Innocent III issued to him in 1216 . to obey the oath given to the Archdiocese of Magdeburg. The following Pope Honorius III. confirmed all privileges of the diocese of Cammin on March 20, 1217 and treated its bishop as an independent imperial prince . At the same time it was Sigwin managed the diocese area around parts Zirzipaniens to expand, previously the bishopric of Schwerin were subordinated. The Ryck became the border of the two districts .

Around 1200 a second cathedral chapter was established at the Marienkirche in Kolberg . In the course of the 13th century, areas around Kolberg and in the 14th century around Bublitz could be obtained. In the second half of the 13th century, Bishop Hermann von Gleichen succeeded in decisively consolidating the foundations of the diocese. He succeeded in rounding off the territorial possessions of his secular rule in the function of prince-bishop into a closed area. His independent policy was often in conflict with the interests of the Pomeranian sovereigns.

Hermann von Gleichen promoted the planned settlement of German immigrants in the relatively sparsely populated territory of the diocese, which was also heavily depopulated by the Danish and Polish wars. The increasing taxes to the diocese caused by the settlers led to a significant increase in its income. Bishop Hermann granted Kolberg town rights in 1255 . In 1266 two German locators built the future town of Köslin on his behalf . The Massow settlement received Magdeburg law in 1278 . Members of aristocratic families such as Kirchberg, Kevernburg and Eberstein came to the diocese from his home in Thuringia . In 1274 he enfeoffed his relative Otto von Eberstein with Naugard and 700 Hufen land. The county of Naugard became a subordinate rule within the diocese and existed until the family died out in 1663.

14th Century

Camminer Dom St. Johannes , built around 1180–1325

Kolberg Cathedral of St. Mary , built around 1300–1400

The 1300 elected bishop Demminer Archdeacon Henry of Wacholz located at the beginning of his episcopate, the administration of the diocese again. In a document from 1303 he redefined the boundaries and income of the five archdeaconates Cammin, Demmin, Usedom , Stettin and Stargard . At this time the Camminer Cathedral was completed, the Camminer Bishop's House, which still stands today, was built and the St. Mary's Church in Kolberg began. In 1317, Conrad IV , Dean of the Camminer Cathedral Chapter, was elected Bishop of Cammin and confirmed by the Pope in Avignon . He had to fend off renewed attempts by the Archdiocese of Gniezno to join Cammin in its metropolitan association. After his return from Avignon, the Pomeranian dukes also tried to establish closer ties to the diocese of Cammin. On August 16, 1320, Wartislaw IV of Pomerania-Wolgast and Otto I of Pomerania-Stettin took their entire lands from the Bishop of Cammin as a fief. Their goal was to put Pomerania under the protection of the church and thus to fend off older claims by Brandenburg to the feudal sovereignty over the Duchy of Pomerania.

After the death of Bishop Konrad, Pope Johannes XXII. , who was in conflict with King Ludwig IV from the House of Wittelsbach , appointed the Dominican Arnold von Eltz from the Moselle noble family of Eltz as the new bishop of Cammin due to his papal right of reservation on November 14, 1324 . This led to a conflict within the diocese. The canons loyal to the Pope, who fought the Wittelsbach Margrave Ludwig I of Brandenburg together with the Pomeranian dukes , faced a Brandenburg-minded party within the diocese. This consisted mainly of members of noble families who were resident in both Pomerania and the Mark. They elected two opposing bishops one after the other. Arnold von Eltz came to his diocese in 1327 and took ecclesiastical punishments against his opponents. His deposition by the antipope Nicholas V on January 27, 1329, who declared Heinrich von Babenberg bishop, had no effect.

When Arnold von Eltz died in the summer of 1330, the moderate vice-dominus Friedrich von Eickstedt was elected by the cathedral chapter and consecrated bishop in Avignon in September. He succeeded in largely settling the disputes within the monastery. These had impaired the stability of the diocese, new claims were made from Gniezno. The pen’s reduced income also became problematic. At the end of his term of office, he made Johann von Sachsen-Lauenburg , a grandson of Bogislaw IV , coadjutor . This was in 1343 by Pope Clement VI. consecrated bishop. Johann successfully fought off the claims of the diocese of Schwerin on the land of Schwerin and the diocese of Gnesen on the independence of Cammin. With a writing by the Augustinian Angelus from Stargard , he succeeded in getting the Pope to confirm the Camminer privileges in 1349. The attempt to achieve imperial immediacy failed, among other things, because of the negative attitude of Emperor Charles IV. After another attempt, Johann von Cammin was accepted by Bogislaw V in 1355 to recognize the ducal protectorate as well as the right to supervise and confirm all elections within the diocese forced.

In the 1370s there were disputes over the Uckermark between Pomerania and Brandenburg . Philipp von Rehberg , elected Bishop of Cammin in 1370 with the consent of the Pomeranian dukes, took the party of Brandenburg. In 1373 Pomerania made peace with Brandenburg. The Pomeranian dukes and the bishop joined forces on May 17, 1373 in Kaseburg to protect their interests and their common property. In the same period there were feuds between the noble families Schöning and Köller against the Camminer cathedral chapter. The numerous disputes and a lengthy process with the diocese of Gniezno almost exhausted the monastery finances. Because of the debts of the diocese, Gülzow Castle had to be ceded to the creditors. After the death of Bishop John II Wilcken in 1385, the bishops moved their residence from Cammin to Körlin , where they built a castle.

In 1385 the cathedral chapter elected Duke Bogislaw VIII as the new bishop. However, Pope Urban VI appointed , at the request of King Wenceslas , Johannes Brunonis , until now provost of Lebus and Chancellor Wenceslas, as bishop. Wenzel enfeoffed Johannes Brunonis with the diocese and claimed it for the empire itself. In order to prevent a separation of the diocese from the Duchy of Pomerania, Bogislaw VIII waived the title of bishop and was instead appointed as the bailiff and head of the monastery through a contract with the cathedral chapter of Cammin. Johannes Brunonis stayed only a short time in his diocese and left the business largely to his vicars and the ducal administrator.

During this time, Waldensians settled in Pomerania and also within the diocese . The inquisitor Petrus Zwicker therefore came to Stettin in 1393 and carried out investigations. Johannes Brunonis renounced his episcopate in 1394. Pope Boniface IX then transferred Johann von Oppeln from the diocese of Gniezno, where he had not been able to assert himself, as the new bishop to Cammin. Bogislaw VIII put down the secular leadership, but kept several locks he had redeemed. Because of the poor conditions in the diocese, Johann von Oppeln had himself transferred to Kulm in 1398 . His successor was the previous bishop of Kulm, Nikolaus von Schippenbeil .

15th century

Hochstift Cammin around 1400

Bishop Nikolaus encountered fierce resistance in the monastery when he demanded from Bogislaw VIII the castles Massow, Gülzow and Arnhausen, which had been retained, and even excommunicated them . In the ensuing feuds, the city of Kolberg also opposed the bishop. In 1410 Pope Alexander V relieved the bishop, who was one of the supporters of the antipope Gregory XII. belonged to his office and replaced him with Magnus von Sachsen-Lauenburg. He had the official business carried out mainly by auxiliary bishops and vicars general. Konrad Bonow, who entered into an alliance with the Teutonic Order in 1413, stood out among them . Magnus was confirmed and consecrated by Pope Martin V on May 26, 1417 after the end of the papal schism in Constance . The simultaneous enfeoffment with the diocese took place in the presence and without objection of the Duke Wartislaw IX.

While Bishop Magnus sought a continuation of the trial against Bogislaw VIII in Constance, the latter died in early 1418 without having surrendered the requested locks. In the newly initiated proceedings, his widow Sophia and her still underage son Bogislaw IX. with the excommunication used but which caused no change in their attitude. At the same time, the estates strengthened within the monastery, especially the cities of Kolberg and Köslin, which led to a restriction of the sovereign power of the bishop. The disputes over the castles continued into the 1430s. Only after Duke Bogislaw IX. and his mother in 1434 by Emperor Sigismund with the imperial ban were occupied, it came in 1436 to a compensation. This was largely in favor of the duke, mainly because the diocese did not succeed in breaking away from Pomerania.

There was a violent dispute with Kolberg over the claims made by Bishop Siegfried II von Bock on the city's harbor and salt works . The cathedral chapter and the clergy were forced to leave the city. After the city succeeded twice, the attacks by Duke Bogislaw IX. as patron of the monastery, a peace agreement was reached in 1445 through the mediation of the Hanseatic cities. Bishop Henning Iven , who succeeded Siegfried II in 1446 , only received Kolberg's approval when he considerably expanded the rights of the estates in 1449. Nevertheless, soon afterwards the conflict broke out again. Kolberg allied with the Danish king. Kolberg troops destroyed the cathedral courtyards in Cammin and other villages in the chapter. The situation came to a head when in 1462 the knight Dinnies von der Osten attacked the city with a large contingent of troops, but was repulsed with heavy losses. The settlement of the city with the ecclesiastical and secular rulers only came about in the years 1466 to 1468. In 1468, Bishop Henning Iven, who helped found the University of Greifswald in 1456 and provided it financially, died in 1468 by setting up a cathedral monastery at Greifswald's Nikolaikirche , which could only be filled with university professors .

When Duke Bogislaw X. waged war with Brandenburg in the 1470s, Ludwig von Eberstein , who led the diocese as a postulate, sided with the Brandenburg side. He led open hostilities against the duke and negotiated with Brandenburg to submit to the margraves with the pen. In 1479 the Italian Marinus Freganus , who was known as a trader in indulgences in Northern Europe and was probably appointed by Pope Sixtus IV at the instigation of Bogislaw X , came to Pomerania as the new bishop. Ludwig von Eberstein was resigned to the Gülzow Castle. The treaty of 1436 was renewed so that the diocese was again closely linked to the duchy. However, when Bishop Marinus demanded taxation of the clergy in order to cover the administrative costs of the monastery, he met with considerable resistance from the Camminer cathedral chapter. In 1481 the cathedral chapter suspended him from his office after it had already sent an appeal with complaints to the Pope.

His successor, the curia diplomat Angelus Geraldini , never came to his new diocese. In 1486 Benedikt von Waldstein took over the office of bishop. He was involved in the Sternberg host-molester trial in 1492 , as a result of which 27 Jews were burned at the stake and all the others had to leave Mecklenburg . Bogislaw X., who had received the right to occupy the provost positions in the chapters of his country at an audience with the Pope in Rome, was able to further increase his influence on the diocese at the end of the 15th century. In 1498, Martin Karith , who had also been in the duke's service , was finally appointed bishop.

16th Century

Bishop Martin continued to serve as the ducal council after his appointment. From 1500 the diocese published the first printed church ordinances and liturgical texts. In the synodal statutes prohibitions against moral aberrations of the clergy were issued.

The Brandenburg side tried to influence the monastery by recommending Count Wolfgang von Eberstein as coadjutor to it in the 1510s. When he received the papal confirmation in 1518, this led to protests from the duke, the cathedral chapter and the clergy of the diocese. Regardless of the costs, the Pomeranian side in Rome recruited Erasmus von Manteuffel-Arnhausen , the previous archdeacon of Pasewalk , who was finally ordained bishop after Martin's death in 1521.

As a coadjutor, Erasmus took action in 1521 against the spread of Lutheran teachings from the Belbuck monastery . This was done with the consent of Duke Bogislaw X., who himself was present when the Edict of Worms was issued. In the following years, Protestant teaching in Pomerania became more and more popular. In the cities of Kolberg and Köslin in the monastery area, too, it was accepted by the majority of the citizens without the bishop being able to intervene. More and more evangelical preachers were hired across the country. The cathedral chapter in Cammin admonished Johann Westfal, who was appointed preacher in Cammin in 1533, to read Luther's writings exclusively to avoid false teachings. Bishop Erasmus showed little activity for the preservation and protection of the Catholic Church. One of the dukes Barnim IX. and Philip I , he initially faced a rather wait-and-see approach. At the Landtag in Treptow an der Rega in 1534, however, he strictly rejected Johannes Bugenhagen's draft of a new state church order and negotiated a period for reflection. The church order was finally passed by the dukes without any further consideration for him, and the Reformation was thus introduced in Pomerania.

Resistance to the new church order arose among the estates within the diocese and among the Pomeranian nobility. Erasmus saw his position strengthened and in 1535 refused to recognize the new order, referring to the emperor and the empire . The bishop finally made his plans public to achieve imperial immediacy and thus complete independence from the Duchy of Pomerania for the diocese of Cammin . This project, for which he also had the support of the city of Kolberg, met with fierce opposition from the dukes. In the division of the country in 1541, they demanded the renunciation of imperial immediacy and demanded the right to fill all relevant positions in the diocese up to and including the right to nominate for the office of bishop. After a long period of reflection, Erasmus decidedly refused, but had to see how numerous changes were made past him. This also included the agreement between Pomerania and Brandenburg on the areas in the Neumark subordinate to the diocese of Cammin .

After the death of the last pre-Reformation bishop Erasmus von Manteuffel-Arnhausen in 1544, a dispute arose between the dukes over the appointment of a new bishop. Eventually they agreed on Johannes Bugenhagen, who initially made high demands, but finally refused, although he had already been elected. On May 4, 1545, the Szczecin Chancellor Bartholomäus Suawe became the first Protestant bishop under the sovereignty of the Pomeranian dukes. A contract concluded in Köslin finally regulated the relationship between the diocese and sovereign rulers. The monasteries, especially Kolberg, opposed this agreement as well as the new bishop. The city of Kolberg succeeded in having an imperial mandate drawn up on January 5, 1548, in which the Köslin Treaty was declared null and void and the inhabitants of the monastery were asked to pay homage to the emperor. A complaint by the dukes was referred to the Reich Chamber of Commerce. After Suawe's resignation, the dukes agreed with the convents on changes to the Köslin Treaty. Then Martin Weiher was elected as the new bishop. An agreement against payment of money was also reached before the Reich Chamber of Commerce.

Bishop's House in Cammin, built around 1300, rebuilt in Renaissance style in 1568, today a historical museum

Martin Weiher, who took over his episcopate from Pope Julius III. had confirmed, showed ambitions to achieve the imperial immediacy of his pen. The dukes prevented further attempts in this direction by their energetic appearance. After Weiher's death in 1556, the 14-year-old Duke Johann Friedrich was elected bishop. The diocese was completely in the hands of the Greifenhaus . From 1560 to 1562 the diocese was visited and the administration and statutes of the monastery began to be reformed. When Johann Friedrich took over the government in Pomerania-Wolgast in 1567 , he retained his position as titular bishop in the Camminer Stift, as he could make decisions there without the participation of his brothers. Johann Friedrich had the bishop's house in Cammin rebuilt in 1568 and a Renaissance castle built in Köslin from 1569 to 1574 , on the site of the demolished Cistercian monastery, in which the dukes of Pomerania-Stettin resided as bishops of Cammin until 1622; the castle burned down during the town fire in 1718 and was not rebuilt, but the old monastery and later castle church still stands. The old Körlin Bishop's Castle was also converted into a palace in the Renaissance style; it was destroyed during the Seven Years' War . In the inheritance contract of Jasenitz 1569 it was agreed that in future the youngest brother of Johann Friedrich, Casimir VI. (IX.) Should take over the diocese. This was confirmed as the new bishop by Johann Friedrich in 1574 at the age of 17. Casimir, who often got into disputes with Kolberg, ruled the diocese until 1602.

17th century

Casimir was followed by the dukes Franz (until 1618), Ulrich (until 1622) and Bogislaw XIV (until 1637). After the Thirty Years' War the bishopric was secularized and, due to the Peace of Westphalia (Treaty of Osnabrück), came to Brandenburg-Prussia as the Principality of Cammin together with the rest of the Pomerania . In 1650, the last bishop of Cammin, Duke Ernst Bogislaw von Croy , waived his rights to the monastery in favor of Elector Friedrich Wilhelm von Brandenburg in exchange for a settlement . Under Prussian rule, the territory of the principality of Cammin formed the principality district until 1872 .

See also

• List of the bishops of Cammin
• List of auxiliary bishops in Cammin
• List of former Catholic dioceses
• List of territories in the Holy Roman Empire
• Archdiocese of Stettin-Cammin and Diocese of Koszalin-Kołobrzeg (both established in 1972)

literature

swell

• Pope Innocentius II confirms the Pomeranian bishopric at Wollin . In: Friedrich von Dreger : Codex Pomeraniae diplomaticus. I. Volume up to the year 1269 including Haude and Spener, Berlin 1768, pp. 1–3, no. I.
• Adelbertus, first Pomeranian bishop, ordained, endorsed and confirmed the Stolp monastery on the Peene (1153). In: Friedrich von Dreger : Codex Pomeraniae diplomaticus. Volume I except for the year 1269 including Haude and Spener, Berlin 1768, pp. 3–5, no. II.

Monographs and treatises

• Martin Wehrmann : History of Pomerania , 2nd edition in 2 volumes. Friedrich Andreas Perthes, Gotha 1919 and 1921. (Reprint: Weltbild Verlag, Augsburg 1992, ISBN 3-89350-112-6 )
• Friedrich Wilhelm Ebeling: The German bishops up to the end of the sixteenth century - presented biographically, literarily, historically and in terms of church statistics . 1. Volume, Leipzig 1858, pp. 123-135 ( online ).
• Hellmuth Heyden : Church history of Pomerania . Vol. 1: From the beginnings of Christianity to the time of the Reformation . R. Müller, Cologne-Braunsfeld, 2nd, revised edition 1957.
• August B. Michaelis, Julius Wilhelm Hamberger: Introduction to a complete history of the electoral and princely houses in Germany. Volume 1, Lemgo 1759, pp. 388-390 ( online ).
• Diplomatic contributions to the history of Pomerania from the time of Bogislaw X. ( Robert Klempin , ed.). Berlin 1859, pp. 1-472 ( online ).
• Haik Thomas Porada : Cammin (Hochstift) . In: Online encyclopedia on the culture and history of Germans in Eastern Europe. - Oldenburg 2014.

Web links

Commons : Diocese of Cammin  - collection of images

• Bishop Otto von Bamberg, Apostle of the Pomerania

Individual evidence

1. ^ Ernst Friedrich Moyer: Directories of the German bishops since the year 800 AD. Geb. Minden 1854, p. 23 .
2. ^ Rudolf Benl: Pomerania up to the division of 1368/72. In: Werner Buchholz (ed.): German history in Eastern Europe. Pomerania . Siedler Verlag, Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-88680-272-8 , p. 39.
3. ^ Hellmuth Heyden: Church history of Pomerania . Vol. 1: From the beginnings of Christianity to the time of the Reformation . Cologne, 2nd, revised edition 1957, p. 29.
4. ^ Georg Winter : Pomeranian document book . Volume 4, I. Department 1301-1310, Paul Niekammer, Stettin 1903, pp. 88-89
5. ↑ Volker Honemann: The Sternberger desecration of the host and its sources. 2008, with reference to the single-sheet publication by Simon Koch: Van der mishandelinge des hilligen Sacraments der bosse ioden to den Sternberge. Magdeburg, 1492.
6. ↑ Instrumentum Pacis Osnabrugensis of October 24, 1648, Art. XI, Para. 5.