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Imperial cathedral (German : Kaiserdom) is the designation for a cathedral linked to the Imperial rule of the Holy Roman Empire.
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Imperial cathedral (German : Kaiserdom) is the designation for a cathedral linked to the Imperial rule of the Holy Roman Empire.
The three Romanesque cathedrals of Mainz, [1] Worms [ citation needed ] and Speyer in the northwestern Upper Rhine area are called Rhenish imperial cathedrals. [1]
The construction of Mainz Cathedral was begun about 975 under Archbishop Willigis, then regent of the Holy Roman Empire for minor King Otto III. His seat was already meant as a kind of "state church", it was the first building of this size north of the Alps. The cathedral was completed in 1009, burnt down at the dedication, and was immediately rebuilt. Willigis may have planned to replace Aachen Cathedral as coronation church of the King of the Romans; indeed Otto's III successors Henry II (in 1002) and Conrad II (in 1024) were crowned in Mainz, but both presumably in the preceding building, since the present cathedral was not consecrated until in 1038. King Henry IV also contributed to the building after another blaze in 1081. Mainz Cathedral was the coronation site for Philip of Swabia, for Frederick II, and anti-king Henry Raspe.[ citation needed ]
Speyer Cathedral is the world's largest preserved Romanesque church (after the demolition of Cluny Abbey) and today a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was built starting about 1025 by King Conrad II as a family vault for the ruling Salian dynasty. His successor Henry III donated the Speyer Gospels in 1046; the building was completed in 1061 under the rule of King Henry IV. During the Investiture Controversy with Pope Gregory VIII, he had the church again extended from 1081, in order to stress his Imperial authority. His mortal remains were transferred to the cathedral by his son Henry V in 1111.[ citation needed ]
Worms Cathedral, a highrising building, was built from about 1130 to 1181. It houses the tombs of Emperor Conrad's II family and also got its status because of its size and glory. The church was the site of the nomination of Pope Leo IX in 1048 and of the conclusion of the 1122 Concordat of Worms ending the Investiture Controversy. In 1235 the marriage of Emperor Frederick II with Isabella of England took place here.[ citation needed ]
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Aachen Cathedral, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1978, today is the seat of the Bishops of Aachen and the city's landmark. Its central octagon was erected from the late 8th century onwards as the chapel of the Palace of Aachen, a residence of Emperor Charlemagne. The building, a masterpiece of the Carolingian Renaissance, has been expanded several times over the centuries; from 936 it served as the coronation church of the Kings of the Romans after their election at Frankfurt. Nevertheless, the former Palatine Chapel did not attain the rank of a cathedral until 1802, permanently in 1930.
Frankfurt Cathedral (St Bartholomew Church) is also described as an imperial cathedral, though it never had been a bishop's seat. The present Gothic building replaced a Carolingian palatine chapel, erected at the Frankfurt royal palace (Königpfalz). It was rebuilt as a basilica and collegiate church consecrated by Archbishop Rabanus Maurus in 852. Frankfurt first became the site of the election of the German monarch with the accession of Frederick Barbarossa in 1152, definitely fixed in the Golden Bull of 1356. From 1562 until 1792, Frankfurt was also the site of the Imperial coronation ceremony led by the Archbishop of Mainz.
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Bamberg Cathedral with its four towers also has the same status. Built from 1004 onwards for the newly established Bishopric of Bamberg at the behest of the last Ottonian King Henry II and his wife Cunigunde of Luxembourg, the church is the site where the only canonized imperial couple has their grave. In 1046 Bishop Suidger of Bamberg was elected Pope Clement II; his grave at the cathedral is the only tomb of a Pope north of the Alps. The Romanesque building, also known for the Bamberg Horseman, is part of the historic Town of Bamberg and today also listed as a World Heritage Site.
Less well known is that the imperial burial church in the small town of Königslutter, a basilica built from 1135 as a Benedictine abbey church and family vault of the Supplinburger dynasty in the Saxon lands of Emperor Lothair II. The church was completed about 1170, more than 30 years after Lothair's death, by the Welf duke Henry the Lion at the time when the Imperial rule had already passed to the Swabian house of Hohenstaufen.
Magdeburg Cathedral, see of the Archbishopric of Magdeburg founded by Emperor Otto the Great in 968, as well as Palermo Cathedral (Maria Santissima Assunta) it represents the imperial mausoleum of the Hohenstaufen family (with the sarcophagi of the Hohenstaufen emperors Henry VI and Frederick II, of the relatives and of the empresses) therefore they are imperial cathedrals.
Lothair III, sometimes numbered Lothair II and also known as Lothair of Supplinburg, was Holy Roman Emperor from 1133 until his death. He was appointed Duke of Saxony in 1106 and elected King of Germany in 1125 before being crowned emperor in Rome. The son of the Saxon count Gebhard of Supplinburg, his reign was troubled by the constant intriguing of the Hohenstaufens, Duke Frederick II of Swabia and Duke Conrad of Franconia. He died while returning from a successful campaign against the Norman Kingdom of Sicily.
Conrad III of the Hohenstaufen dynasty was from 1116 to 1120 Duke of Franconia, from 1127 to 1135 anti-king of his predecessor Lothair III, and from 1138 until his death in 1152 King of the Romans in the Holy Roman Empire. He was the son of Duke Frederick I of Swabia and Agnes, a daughter of the Salian Emperor Henry IV.
Otto II, called the Red, was Holy Roman Emperor from 973 until his death in 983. A member of the Ottonian dynasty, Otto II was the youngest and sole surviving son of Otto the Great and Adelaide of Italy.
Philip of Swabia was a member of the House of Hohenstaufen and King of Germany from 1198 until his assassination.
Henry the Proud, a member of the House of Welf, was Duke of Bavaria from 1126 to 1138 and Duke of Saxony as well as Margrave of Tuscany and Duke of Spoleto from 1137 until his death. In 1138 he was a candidate for the election as King of the Romans but was defeated by Conrad of Hohenstaufen.
Frederick II, called the One-Eyed, was Duke of Swabia from 1105 until his death, the second from the Hohenstaufen dynasty. His younger brother Conrad was elected King of the Romans in 1138.
Mainz Cathedral or St. Martin's Cathedral is located near the historical center and pedestrianized market square of the city of Mainz, Germany. This 1000-year-old Roman Catholic cathedral is the site of the episcopal see of the Bishop of Mainz.
Willigis was Archbishop of Mainz from 975 until his death as well as archchancellor of the Holy Roman Empire.
Adalbert I von Saarbrücken was Archbishop-Elector of Mainz from 1111 until his death. He played a key role in opposing Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor, during the Investiture Controversy, and secured the election of Lothair III rather than Henry V's chosen heir in 1125, causing later Holy Roman Emperors to make concessions in order to maintain hereditary monarchy.
Henry (VII) (1211 – 12 February 1242), a member of the Hohenstaufen dynasty, was King of Sicily from 1212 until 1217 and King of Germany (formally Rex Romanorum) from 1220 until 1235, as son and co-ruler of Emperor Frederick II. He was the seventh Henry to rule Germany, but in order to avoid confusion with the Luxembourg emperor Henry VII, he is usually numbered Henry (VII).
The Battle of Welfesholz was fought on 11 February 1115 between the Imperial army of the Emperor Henry V and a rebellious Saxon force.
Richenza of Northeim was Duchess of Saxony from 1106, Queen of Germany from 1125 and Holy Roman Empress from 1133 as the wife of Lothair of Supplinburg.
Albero de Montreuil was Archbishop of Trier from 1132 to 1152 and is the subject of the Gesta Alberonis.
Speyer Cathedral, officially the Imperial Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption and St Stephen, in Latin: Domus sanctae Mariae Spirae in Speyer, Germany, is the seat of the Roman Catholic Bishop of Speyer and is suffragan to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Bamberg. The cathedral, which is dedicated to St. Mary, patron saint of Speyer and St. Stephen is generally known as the Kaiserdom zu Speyer. Pope Pius XI raised Speyer Cathedral to the rank of a minor basilica of the Roman Catholic Church in 1925.
The Duchy of Franconia was one of the five stem duchies of East Francia and the medieval Kingdom of Germany emerging in the early 10th century. The word Franconia, first used in a Latin charter of 1053, was applied like the words Francia, France, and Franken, to a portion of the land occupied by the Franks.
Gertrude of Sulzbach was German queen from 1138 until her death as the second wife of the Hohenstaufen king Conrad III.
The Prince-Bishopric of Bamberg was an ecclesiastical State of the Holy Roman Empire. It goes back to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bamberg established at the 1007 synod in Frankfurt, at the behest of King Henry II to further expand the spread of Christianity in the Franconian lands. The bishops obtained the status of Imperial immediacy about 1245 and ruled their estates as Prince-bishops until they were subsumed to the Electorate of Bavaria in the course of the German Mediatisation in 1802.
Henry V was King of Germany and Holy Roman Emperor, as the fourth and last ruler of the Salian dynasty. He was made co-ruler by his father, Henry IV, in 1098.
The history of Speyer begins with the establishment of a Roman camp in 10 BCE, making it one of Germany's oldest cities. Its name evolved from Spira, first mentioned in 614. As of 1294 a Free Imperial City, the town became renowned for its Romanesque cathedral, its vibrant Jewish community, its seat of the Imperial Chamber Court, for 50 diets that took place within its walls, most notably 1526 and 1529, and last but not least, for the Protestation at Speyer. For several centuries from the Middle Ages into the early modern period, Speyer was one of the main centres of gravity of the Holy Roman Empire.
The German throne dispute or German throne controversy was a political conflict in the Holy Roman Empire from 1198 to 1215. This dispute, between the House of Hohenstaufen and House of Welf, was over the successor to Emperor Henry VI, who had just died. After a conflict lasting 17 years, the Hohenstaufen Frederick II prevailed.
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