The Bishopric of Ösel–Wiek ( et, Saare-Lääne piiskopkond; german: Bistum Ösel–Wiek;

Low German : : : : : (70,000) (30,000) (8,000) , familycolor = Indo-European , fam2 = Germanic , fam3 = West Germanic , fam4 = North Sea Germanic , ancestor = Old Saxon , ancestor2 = Middle ...

: ''Bisdom Ösel–Wiek''; contemporary la, Ecclesia Osiliensis) was a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

diocese and semi-independent prince-bishopric (part of

Terra Mariana Terra Mariana (Medieval Latin for "Land of Mary") was the official name for Medieval Livonia or Old Livonia ( nds, Oolt-Livland, liv, Jemā-Līvõmō, et, Vana-Liivimaa, lv, Livonija). It was formed in the aftermath of the Livonian Crusade, ...

, i.e.

Livonia Livonia ( liv, Līvõmō, et, Liivimaa, fi, Liivinmaa, German and Scandinavian languages: ', archaic German: ''Liefland'', nl, Lijfland, Latvian and lt, Livonija, pl, Inflanty, archaic English: ''Livland'', ''Liwlandia''; russian: Ли ...

) in the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a political entity in Western, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars. From the accession of Otto I in 962 ...

, covering what are now Saare,

Hiiu Hiiu is a subdistrict ( et, asum) in the district of Nõmme, Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. It covers an area of and has a population of 3,986 (), population density is . Hiiu has a station on the Elron western route. The first narrow gauge ...

, Lääne counties and the western part of

Pärnu Pärnu () is the fourth largest city in Estonia. Situated in southwest Estonia, Pärnu is located south of the Estonian capital, Tallinn, and west of Estonia's second largest city, Tartu. The city sits off the coast of Pärnu Bay, an inlet o ...

county of

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and t ...

History

The bishopric was created on 1 October 1228 as a

Latin rite Latin liturgical rites, or Western liturgical rites, are Catholic rites of public worship employed by the Latin Church, the largest particular church '' sui iuris'' of the Catholic Church, that originated in Europe where the Latin language onc ...

, and initially possibly exempt, diocese by

papal legate 300px, A woodcut showing Henry II of England greeting the pope's legate. A papal legate or apostolic legate (from the ancient Roman title ''legatus'') is a personal representative of the pope to foreign nations, or to some part of the Catholic ...

William of Modena and simultaneously as a state of Holy Roman Empire—making it a prince-bishopric—by Henry, King of the Romans (1220-1242; not Emperor). Due to the repeated shift of the seat of the bishops, it was also successively known as bishopric of Leal (Lihula) from 1234, Perona (Vana-Pärnu) from 1251, Hapsal (Haapsalu) Castle from 1279, and the seat shifted (alone) to the castle of Arensburg (Kuressaare) on the island of Ösel (Saaremaa); the

cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the ''cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominatio ...

and cathedral chapter (canons) remained in Hapsal. It was a suffragan diocese in the

ecclesiastical province An ecclesiastical province is one of the basic forms of jurisdiction in Christian Churches with traditional hierarchical structure, including Western Christianity and Eastern Christianity. In general, an ecclesiastical province consists of sev ...

of the Metropolitan Archbishopric of Riga from 1253. One of the five members of the Livonian Confederation, the state was administratively divided into two bailiwicks (Latin ''advocaciae'', German ''Vogteien''). The bishop was also the lord of the

Teutonic Order The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem, commonly known as the Teutonic Order, is a Catholic religious institution founded as a military society in Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem. It was formed to aid Christians on ...

over its fiefs on the bishopric's territory. From 1241 until 1343, Ösel (Saaremaa) Island was an autonomous part of Ösel-Wiek prince-bishopric (autonomy renewed 27 August 1255). The principality ceased to exist in 1560 when its last prince-bishop, Johannes V von Münchhausen, sold it to

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establishe ...

, which vested executive power in royally appointed Governors (styled Lensmænd to 1654, then Statthalter). King

Frederick II of Denmark Frederick II (1 July 1534 – 4 April 1588) was King of Denmark and Norway and Duke of Schleswig and Holstein from 1559 until his death. A member of the House of Oldenburg, Frederick began his personal rule of Denmark-Norway at the age of ...

's brother Magnus of Livonia, Duke of

Holstein Holstein (; nds, label= Northern Low Saxon, Holsteen; da, Holsten; Latin and historical en, Holsatia, italic=yes) is the region between the rivers Elbe and Eider. It is the southern half of Schleswig-Holstein, the northernmost state of Germ ...

, obtained it as an

appanage An appanage, or apanage (; french: apanage ), is the grant of an estate, title, office or other thing of value to a younger child of a sovereign, who would otherwise have no inheritance under the system of primogeniture. It was common in much ...

on 15 April 1560 and was elected bishop on 13 May 1560; the Danish dynasty being

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...

, he abolished the diocese and assumed the secular feudal style Lord of Ösel (''Stieffte Ozel und Wieck Herr'') on 20 March 1567. Denmark ceded Wiek ( Lääne County) to the

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and, after 1791, as the Commonwealth of Poland, was a bi- confederal state, sometimes called a federation, of Poland and Lithuania ...

in exchange for parts of Ösel belonging to the

Livonian Order The Livonian Order was an autonomous branch of the Teutonic Order, formed in 1237. From 1435 to 1561 it was a member of the Livonian Confederation. History The order was formed from the remnants of the Livonian Brothers of the Sword after t ...

. Later Ösel became a Danish possession.

Episcopal Ordinaries and Prince-Bishops of Ösel-Wiek (Saare-Lääne)

* Gottfried,

Cistercian Order The Cistercians, () officially the Order of Cistercians ( la, (Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Sain ...

(O. Cist.) (1227, elected 29 June 1228; approved August 1228 – death after 1257) * ''vacancy & interregnum'' 1229 - 1234, ruled by the Bishop of Riga and the Livonian

Swordbrothers The Livonian Brothers of the Sword ( la, Fratres militiæ Christi Livoniae, german: Schwertbrüderorden) was a Catholic military order established in 1202 during the Livonian Crusade by Albert, the third bishop of Riga (or possibly by Theoderic ...

Order. * Heinrich I,

Dominican Order The Order of Preachers ( la, Ordo Praedicatorum) abbreviated OP, also known as the Dominicans, is a Catholic mendicant order of Pontifical Right for men founded in Toulouse, France, by the Spanish priest, saint and mystic Dominic of C ...

(O.P.) (1234 – death 1260.03.10) * Hermann I de Becheshovede (Buxhoevden) (1262– death 1285?) * Heinrich II (1290.05.10 – death 1294) * Konrad I (1294? – death 1307) * ''Vacancy & Interregnum'' * Hartung (Garttungus) (1310 – death 1321) * Jakob II (1322.03.03 – 1337) * Hermann II Osenbrügge (de Osenbrygge), (1338 – death 1362?63) * Konrad II (1363.07.24 – death 1374) * Heinrich III (1374.10.23 – assassinated before 1381.07.05), previously Bishop of Schleswig (1370.01.30 – 1374.10.23) * ''Vacancy & Interregnum'' * Winrich von Kniprode (1385.03.28 – death 1419.11.05) * Caspar Schuwenflug (1420.01.08 – death 1423.08.10) * Christian Kuband, Norbertines (O. Praem.) (1423.08.10 – death 1432.07.21) * Johannes I Schutte (1432.10.22 – 1438.09.12) * Johannes II Creul (Kreuwel),

(O.T.) (1439.03.20 ''de jure'' – 1457 ''de facto'' since 1449 in Wiek as ''the younger Bishop'' - death 1454.09.23) *

Ludolf Grove Ludolf is a Germanic surname or given name. It is derived from two stems: Hlud meaning "fame" and olf meaning "wolf". An alternate spelling of the name is Ludolph. People with the name include: * George Philipp Ludolf von Beckedorff (1778-1858), pr ...

(1457 ''de jure'' – death 1458.03.11) (''de facto'' since 1439, since 1449 as ''the older Bishop'' in

Saaremaa Saaremaa is the largest island in Estonia, measuring . The main island of Saare County, it is located in the Baltic Sea, south of Hiiumaa island and west of Muhu island, and belongs to the West Estonian Archipelago. The capital of the islan ...

and Dagö) * Jodokus Hoenstein (1458.07.24 – death 1471.01.17) * Peter Wetberg (1471.06.17 – death before 1491.11.14) * Johannes III Orgas (Johann Orgies) (1492.03.26 – death 1515.03.19) * Johannes IV Kyvel (Kievel) (1515.03.19 – death 1527.04.22), succeeded as former

Coadjutor Bishop A coadjutor bishop (or bishop coadjutor) is a bishop in the Catholic, Anglican, and (historically) Eastern Orthodox churches whose main role is to assist the diocesan bishop in the administration of the diocese. The coadjutor (literally, "c ...

of Ösel-Wiek (? – 1515.03.19) * Georg von Tiesenhausen (1527.05.20 – death 1530.10.02), previously Bishop of

Reval Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju '' ...

(Estonia) (1525.07.21 – 1530.10.12) * Reinhold von Buxhoeveden (1532.07.03 – retired before 1541.07.13), died 1557 * Johannes V von Münchhausen (1542.01.09 – 1560 sold the see) * Magnus of Livonia (also Prince of

and Duke of Holstein), 1560–1572 (

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

bishop, died 1583)

Sources and external links

GCatholic

TO EXPLOIT

;Bibliography * Pius Bonifacius Gams, ''Series episcoporum Ecclesiae Catholicae'', Leipzig 1931, p. 297 * Konrad Eubel, ''Hierarchia Catholica Medii Aevi'', vol. 1, p. 379; vol. 2, p. 207; vol. 3, p. 264 * Ernst Friedrich Mooyer, ''Verzeichnisse der deutschen Bischöfe seit dem Jahr 800 nach Chr. Geb.'', Minden 1854, p. 75 {{DEFAULTSORT:Oesel-Wiek, Roman Catholic Diocese States and territories established in 1228 1560 disestablishments Former Roman Catholic dioceses in Europe Pre-Reformation dioceses in Nordic Europe Geographic history of Estonia Prince-bishoprics in Livonia Haapsalu Roman Catholic dioceses in the Holy Roman Empire Kuressaare Roman Catholic dioceses established in the 13th century 13th-century establishments in Estonia

History

Episcopal Ordinaries and Prince-Bishops of Ösel-Wiek (Saare-Lääne)

See also

Sources and external links