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Prince-Bishopric of Brandenburg | |||||||||
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1165–1598 | |||||||||
![]() Episcopal territories, about 1535 | |||||||||
Status | State of the Holy Roman Empire | ||||||||
Capital | Brandenburg an der Havel Ziesar (residence) | ||||||||
Common languages | Brandenburgisch, Polabian | ||||||||
Religion | Roman Catholic until the 1530s, then Lutheran | ||||||||
Government | Elective monarchy, ruled by the bishop holding the see, elected by the cathedral chapter or, exceptionally, appointed by the Pope, or ruled by a regent | ||||||||
Prince-Bishop, or Regent | |||||||||
• 1173–1179 | Prince-Bishop Sigfrid I | ||||||||
• 1421–1459 | Prince-Bishop Stephan | ||||||||
• 1560–1569 | Regent John George | ||||||||
• 1569–1571 | Regent Joachim Frederick | ||||||||
Historical era | Middle Ages | ||||||||
• Diocese founded and restored | 948 1161 | ||||||||
• Territorial reign est. | 1165 | ||||||||
• De facto supremacy of Electoral Brandenburg | 1373 | ||||||||
• Electors privileged to choose candidates for the see | 1447 | ||||||||
• Secularised as part of Electoral Brandenburg | 1571 | ||||||||
• Legal dissolution | 1598 | ||||||||
Currency | rixdollar | ||||||||
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The Prince-Bishopric of Brandenburg (German : Hochstift Brandenburg) was an ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire from the 12th century until it was secularized during the second half of the 16th century. It should not be confused with the larger Diocese of Brandenburg (Latin : Dioecesis Brandenburgensis) established by King Otto I of Germany in 948, in the territory of the Marca Geronis (Saxon Eastern March) east of the Elbe river. The diocese, over which the prince-bishop exercised only spiritual authority, was a suffragan diocese of the Archdiocese of Magdeburg, its seat was Brandenburg an der Havel.
The Prince-Bishopric of Brandenburg was an imperial estate of the Holy Roman Empire for some time, probably starting about 1161/1165. However, the Brandenburg bishops never managed to gain control over a significant territory, being overshadowed by the Margraviate of Brandenburg, which was originally seated in the same city. Chapter and cathedral, surrounded by further ecclesiastical institutions, were located on the Dominsel (Cathedral Island), which formed a prince-episcopal cathedral immunity district (Domfreiheit), distinct from the city of Brandenburg. Only in 1929 the - meanwhile former - immunity district was incorporated into the city itself.
As rulers of imperial immediacy, regnant in a, however, dispersed territory partitioned into the four bailiwicks (German : Ämter) of Brandenburg/Havel, Ketzin, Teltow and Ziesar. The prince-bishops from the early 14th century onwards resided in their fortress in Ziesar on the road to Magdeburg. The last actual bishop was Matthias von Jagow (d. 1544), who took the side of the Protestant Reformation, married, and in every way furthered the undertakings of the Hohenzollern elector Joachim II.
There were two more nominal bishops, but on the petition of the latter of these, the electoral prince John George of Brandenburg appointed in 1560, the secularisation of the bishopric was undertaken and finally accomplished in 1571, in spite of legal proceedings to reassert the imperial immediacy of the prince-bishopric within the Empire and so to likewise preserve the diocese, which dragged on into the 17th century.
Secularized and merged into Brandenburg.
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