Würzburg Monastery

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Banner of the Holy Roman Emperor with haloes (1400-1806) .svg
Territory in the Holy Roman Empire
Würzburg Monastery
coat of arms
Franconian rake


Alternative names Principality , Hochstift , Stift , Duchy of Franconia
Form of rule Electoral principality / corporate state
Ruler / government Prince-bishop , administrator or vacant : cathedral chapter
Today's region / s DE-BY
Parliament 1 virile vote on the ecclesiastical bench in the Reichsfürstenrat
Reich register 850 fl.
Reichskreis Franconian
Capitals / residences Wurzburg
Denomination / Religions Roman Catholic
Language / n German ( Lower Franconian )
surface 6100 km²
Residents 230,000 (1790)
currency Rhine. Gulden and Reichstaler
Incorporated into Grand Duchy of Würzburg


The Holy Roman Empire 1648
Map of the bishopric around 1700, copper engraving by Johann Baptist Homann
Wuerzburg Cathedral St. Kilian
Würzburg residence , built 1719–44 by Balthasar Neumann for the prince-bishops Johann Philipp and Friedrich Karl von Schönborn
Summer residence at Veitshöchheim Castle

Hochstift Würzburg was the name given to the territory of the Holy Roman Empire of the German nation ruled by the bishops of Würzburg in their capacity as imperial princes . In the 17th and 18th centuries, the monastery was often given the time-honored name of the Duchy of Franconia .

history

The Würzburg diocese was founded by Bonifatius in 741 , the first bishop was St. Burkard . In the 10th and 11th centuries, the bishops acquired most of the counties within their district and had jurisdiction over all the backcountry . In 1168, the bishops were granted the golden freedom by Emperor Friedrich I , whereby the bishopric rose to the duchy based on the Austrian model. Later the bishops also called themselves dukes in Franconia, with dubious justification . A legally effective, formal award has not been proven. General usage of the title Duke of Franconia did not become common until the 15th century. In the 13th and 14th centuries there were repeated disputes with the cities of the monastery, especially with Würzburg itself, for example under Hermann I von Lobdeburg (1225–1254) and Gerhard von Schwarzburg (1372–1400). Albrecht II von Hohenlohe (1345–1372) acquired the Burgraviate of Würzburg in 1354, which had previously been owned by the monastery bailiffs , the Counts of Henneberg .

The reign of Bishop Melchior Zobel von Giebelstadt (1544–1558) is known through the Grumbachian Handel . Julius Echter von Mespelbrunn (1573-1617) carried out the Counter-Reformation in the Würzburg Monastery and founded the Julius Hospital in 1579 and the University of Würzburg in 1582 . The witch trials in Würzburg were also resumed, which culminated in Philipp Adolf von Ehrenberg (1622–1631) and ended in 1749 with the death of Maria Renata Singer von Mossau . As a member of the Catholic League , the diocese suffered greatly in the Thirty Years' War . On June 20, 1633, the Swedish Chancellor Axel Oxenstierna transferred the dioceses of Würzburg and Bamberg to Duke Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar as the Duchy of Franconia , but after the defeat at Nördlingen, he was unable to assert himself in it. Bishop Franz von Hatzfeld (1631–1642) administered, like several of his successors, also the diocese of Bamberg . Under the reign of Bishop Franz Ludwig von Erthal (1779–1795), the bishopric experienced its last heyday. Georg Karl von Fechenbach was the last of the Würzburg prince-bishops .

On August 24, 1802, the Hochstift was secularized (implemented in 1803 by the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss ) and for the most part added to the Electorate of Bavaria . (About 826 km² were allocated to other princes.) The prince-bishop received an annual pension of 60,000 guilders and, in addition, 30,000 guilders as coadjutor of the Bamberg diocese. The collegiate monasteries, prelate and women's monasteries were dissolved. The largely preserved mendicant orders were forbidden to accept novices.

Bayern met in the Peace of Pressburg against compensation, the Principality of Würzburg in 1805 to Ferdinand , the former Grand Duke of Tuscany from which to him in 1803 surrendered to compensate Electorate Salzburg to Austria transferred, whereas now Würzburg was elevated to the electorate. On September 25, 1806, after the end of the Holy Roman Empire, the Elector joined the Confederation of the Rhine and now assumed the title of Grand Duke of Würzburg .

After the dissolution of the Rhine Confederation , the Grand Duchy of Würzburg also ended. By resolution of the Congress of Vienna (1814), the Grand Duke received his hereditary state of Tuscany , but Würzburg largely reverted to Bavaria . The diocese was then re-established in 1818, and the post of auxiliary bishop was not re-established until December 27, 1959. The church relations were reorganized in 1821 with the implementation of the Concordat between the Holy See and the Kingdom of Bavaria on June 5, 1817.

Internal structure around 1790

Based on a contemporary representation (Anton Friedrich Büsching, Georg Hassel).

Title and coat of arms

The title of the bishop is: NN, des Heil. Rom. Imperial Prince and Bishop of Würzburg, Duke of Eastern Franconia . The coat of arms of the diocese is a slanting flag of red and silver squared on a golden lance in the blue field, and was first used under Bishop Johann III. guided; because of the Duchy of Franconia, a quarter striped diagonally in red and silver, with three white points in the red field . A bishop's staff and a sword protrude from behind the coat of arms.

Special rights of honor

The bishops had a naked sword held before them in processions. Pope Benedict XIV had approved them in 1752 to wear the archbishop's pallium and cross; Otherwise they were suffragants of the Archbishops of Mainz.

Since the High Middle Ages, the bishop was allowed to assign four hereditary offices, which were of practical importance, especially in the enthronement of the bishop, but otherwise were only honorary titles of the entrusted nobility.

Reichstag and Frankish Reichskreis

At the Reichstag a prince and bishop of Würzburg had the fifth place in the imperial prince's council on the spiritual bench; but in the Franconian circle he has the first vote because of the diocese. His imperial registration number last amounted to 850  florins , which includes the posting of the Reigelsberg rule and the imperial villages of Gochsheim and Sennfeld. The Würzburg contribution to the Imperial and Reich Chamber Court was last set at 826 Reichstaler per chamber goal (= twice a year).

Bishop and cathedral chapter

The bishop was elected by the cathedral chapter, which consisted of 24 capitular lords and 30 domicellars. It had its own income and had certain control functions over the administration of the bishop, but no general budgetary law. Würzburg was one of the principal bishoprics in which the cathedral chapter withstood the pressure of the nobility and instead of a later-born prince from one of the lordly houses always only elected members from local, count and knightly families.

Administrative division

The highest authorities of the prince-bishopric were collegially established in the style of the time: the "episcopal high collegia" included

  • the spiritual government, responsible for episcopal jurisdiction in church matters,
  • the vicariate, for disputes about or with “people and things in worship” and
  • the consistory, which decided the matrimonial matters.

Appeals to the archbishop of Mainz or the papal nunciature against decisions of the vicariate and the consistory.

  • the secret council, before which the most important things belong,
  • the government and court council, which judged all criminal and civil matters and consisted of four separate courts, namely Infirmity Office, Council Office, Lehngericht and Embarrassing Court,
  • the court court, to which the regional court appealed;
  • the district court (it was also referred to as the "imperial district court in Franconia" by the Würzburg side, which had been awarded to the prince-bishop since 1384) negotiated inheritance, guardianship and similar matters (voluntary jurisdiction),
  • the upper council, before which the "police matters" belonged and
  • the city council.

The royal court chamber was responsible for the central administration of the monastery’s goods and income. The Court War Council provided the equipment and training of the five Würzburg regiments on foot and on horseback, as well as the maintenance of the defenses; he was also responsible for monitoring the Würzburg piece foundry (piece = cannon), i.e. the armaments factories.

Structure of the lower administrative level

The 33 cities, 16 market towns and around 700 other localities under the princely administration were - as far as they were directly responsible to the prince-bishop - spread over 57 lower administrative units. In addition to the capital Würzburg, the “higher dicasteries” included the districts of 23 upper and center offices, 18 center offices, 3 higher offices, 6 offices, 4 cellars, 1 monastery and provost office and a condominium office (Remlingen).

The possessions of the Dompropstei, the Cathedral Chapter, the Julius Hospital and other bodies, namely several monasteries, were also subject to indirect sovereignty.

Church structure

The (1790) about 230,000 subjects of the bishop were predominantly Roman Catholic. The Episcopal-Würzburg church district included 16 rural deanships, namely Arnstein (19 parishes), Buchheim (under the sovereignty of Mainz, 17), Bühlertann (8), Dettelbach (27), Ebern (17), Iphofen (13), Gerolzhofen (27) , Karlstadt (divided into an upper and a lower district with a total of 32 parishes), Krautheim (under the sovereignty of Mainz, 12), Mellrichstadt (36), Mergentheim (belonging to the high and German masters, 23), Mosbach, (under the electoral Palatinate sovereignty, 9), Münnerstadt (34), Neckarsulm (also in the Meistertum Mergentheim, 13), Ochsenfurt (26), Schlüsselfeld (11) and 19 prelatures, as well as 3 noble donors. In addition, there were 25 Evangelical Lutheran parishes and various Reformed parishes in the diocese, which did not have it easy under the crook and from time to time since the middle of the 17th century complained to the Reichstag about injustices and oppression. The Reformation was widespread in the 16th century, but especially during the reign of Julius Echter von Mespelbrunn, the Counter Reformation was carried out, often with coercion and violence.

literature

  • Anton Friedrich Büsching: The Würzburg Monastery. In: Part 7 of the description of the earth ... , 7th edition, 1790, pp. 862–884.
  • Günter Christ: Early modern statehood in the ore monastery Mainz and in the bishopric Würzburg. A comparison. In: Ferdinand Seibt (Ed.): History of society. Festschrift for Karl Bosl on his 80th birthday. Munich 1988, Vol. 2, pp. 373-392.
  • Georg Paul Hönn : Hochstift Würzburg . In: Lexicon Topographicum of the Franconian Craises . Johann Georg Lochner, Frankfurt and Leipzig 1747, p. 66-196 ( digitized version ).
  • Peter Kolb: The coats of arms of the Würzburg prince-bishops. Wuerzburg 1974.
  • Heinzjürgen N. Reuschling: The government of the Hochstift Würzburg 1495–1642. Central authorities and leading groups in a spiritual state. (= Research on Franconian church and theological history. Vol. 10). Echter, Würzburg 1984.
  • Ernst Schubert: The estates of the Hochstift Würzburg. Würzburg 1967.

See also

Web links

Commons : Hochstift Würzburg  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ In a letter from Bishop Peter Philipp von Dernbach from July 21, 1678 z. B. not only referred to himself as the Duke of Franconia, but also called his territory "Bistumb Würzburg and Herzogthumb zu Franckhen". Documented by: Cohen, Daniel J .: The rural Jews in Germany as organs of Jewish self-government from the early modern period to the nineteenth century. A Source Book, Volume 2, Jerusalem 1997, No. 18: 4. See also the innumerable letters from the Hochstiftisches Gebrechenamt from this time, archived in the Würzburg State Archives.
  2. ^ Friedrich Merzbacher : The witch trials in Franconia. 1957 (= series of publications on Bavarian national history. Volume 56); 2nd, extended edition: CH Beck, Munich 1970, ISBN 3-406-01982-X .
  3. ↑ Ulrich Wagner: Würzburg rulers, Bavarian minister-presidents, chairmen of the district council / district council presidents, regional presidents, bishops, lord mayors 1814–2006. In: Ulrich Wagner (Hrsg.): History of the city of Würzburg. 4 volumes, Volume I-III / 2, Theiss, Stuttgart 2001-2007; III / 1–2: From the transition to Bavaria to the 21st century. Volume 2, 2007, ISBN 978-3-8062-1478-9 , pp. 1221-1224; here: p. 1223 ( Bishops of Würzburg ).
  4. ↑ Wolfgang Weiss : The Catholic Church in the 19th Century. In: Ulrich Wagner (Hrsg.): History of the city of Würzburg. 4 volumes, Volume I-III / 2, Theiss, Stuttgart 2001-2007; III / 1–2: From the transition to Bavaria to the 21st century. 2007, ISBN 978-3-8062-1478-9 , pp. 430–449 and 1303, here: p. 430.
  5. ↑ Ulrich Wagner: Würzburg rulers, Bavarian minister-presidents, chairmen of the district council / district council presidents, regional presidents, bishops, lord mayors 1814–2006. In: Ulrich Wagner (Hrsg.): History of the city of Würzburg. 4 volumes, Volume I-III / 2, Theiss, Stuttgart 2001-2007; III / 1–2: From the transition to Bavaria to the 21st century. Volume 2, 2007, ISBN 978-3-8062-1478-9 , pp. 1221-1224; here: p. 1223.
  6. ↑ Wolfgang Weiss: The Catholic Church in the 19th Century. 2007, pp. 431-432.