The term (; nl, sticht) is derived from the verb (to donate) and originally meant 'a donation'. Such donations usually comprised earning assets, originally landed estates with serfs defraying dues (originally often in kind) or with vassal tenants of noble rank providing military services and forwarding dues collected from serfs. In modern times the earning assets could also be financial assets donated to form a fund to maintain an

endowment Endowment most often refers to: *A term for human penis size It may also refer to: Finance *Financial endowment, pertaining to funds or property donated to institutions or individuals (e.g., college endowment) *Endowment mortgage, a mortgage to b ...

, especially a

charitable foundation A foundation (also a charitable foundation) is a category of nonprofit organization or charitable trust that typically provides funding and support for other charitable organizations through grants, but may also engage directly in charitable act ...

. When landed estates, donated as a to maintain the college of a monastery, the chapter of a collegiate church or the

cathedral chapter According to both Catholic and Anglican canon law, a cathedral chapter is a college of clerics ( chapter) formed to advise a bishop and, in the case of a vacancy of the episcopal see in some countries, to govern the diocese during the vacancy. In ...

of a diocese, formed a territory enjoying the status of an

imperial state An Imperial State or Imperial Estate ( la, Status Imperii; german: Reichsstand, plural: ') was a part of the Holy Roman Empire with representation and the right to vote in the Imperial Diet ('). Rulers of these Estates were able to exercise si ...

within the Holy Roman Empire then the term often also denotes the territory itself. In order to specify this territorial meaning the term is then composed with as the compound ''

Hochstift In the Holy Roman Empire and the Catholic Church, the German language, German term (plural: ) referred to the territory ruled by a bishop as a prince (i.e. prince-bishop), as opposed to his diocese, generally much larger and over which he exer ...

'', denoting a prince-bishopric, or for a prince-archbishopric.

Endowment

lural (literally, the 'donation'), denotes in its original meaning the donated or else acquired fund of landed estates whose revenues are taken to maintain a college and the pertaining church (, i.e. collegiate church) and its collegiate or

capitular capitulum (plural capitula) may refer to: *the Latin word for chapter ** an index or list of chapters at the head of a gospel manuscript ** a short reading in the Liturgy of the Hours *** derived from which, it is the Latin for the assembly known ...

canons (''

Stiftsherr A canon (from the Latin , itself derived from the Greek , , "relating to a rule", "regular") is a member of certain bodies in subject to an ecclesiastical rule. Originally, a canon was a cleric living with others in a clergy house or, later, i ...

n') or canonesses ().Victor Dollmayr, Friedrich Krüer, Heinrich Meyer and Walter Paetzel, ''

Deutsches Wörterbuch The ''Deutsches Wörterbuch'' (; "The German Dictionary"), abbreviated ''DWB'', is the largest and most comprehensive dictionary of the German language in existence.Brothers Grimm): 33 vols. (1854–1971), vol. 18 'Stehung–Stitzig', Leipzig: Hirzel, 1941, cols. 2870seq., reprint: Munich: Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag (dtv; No. 5945), 1984. . Many as endowments have been secularised in Protestant countries in the course of the Reformation, or later in revolutionary France and the areas later annexed to or influenced by Napoleonic France.

Ecclesiastical endowment

Some survived and form still the endowments of modern mostly Catholic monasteries, then often called " X", such as Stift Melk. is often used – pars pro toto – as a synonym for an endowed monastery. If the endowment belongs to a collegiate church it is sometimes called . If the as a fund served or serves to maintain the specific college of a cathedral (a so-called

) then the is often called (i.e. 'cathedral donation und). However, since (like the Italian '' Duomo'') is in German an expression for churches with a college, thus actual cathedrals and collegiate churches alike, also existed with collegiate churches not being cathedrals, like with the Supreme Parish and Collegiate Church in Berlin, now often translated as Berlin Cathedral, though it never was the seat of a bishop, but endowed with a (in German ''Dom'', as the Italian ''Duomo'', is the main church of a town or a city, not always a Cathedral).

Endowment for unmarried Protestant women

In some Lutheran states the endowments of women's monasteries were preserved, with the nunneries converted into secular convents in order to maintain unmarried or widowed noble women (the so-called conventuals, german: link=no, Konventualinnen), therefore called ladies' foundations () or noble damsels' foundations ( da, link=no, Adelige Jomfrukloster, german: link=no, deligesFräuleinstift, sv, link=no, Jungfrustift). Many of these convents were dissolved in

Communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

countries after the Second World War, but, in Denmark and the former West Germany, many continue to exist, such as the

Stift Fischbeck Fischbeck Abbey (german: Stift Fischbeck) is a convent for canonesses in Fischbeck near Hessisch Oldendorf, Lower Saxony, Germany. It was founded in 955 by the noblewoman Helmburgis, a relation of the powerful family of the Ecbertiner, on land tha ...

. In Lower Saxony the former endowments of many Lutheran women's convents are collectively administered by the

Klosterkammer Hannover The Klosterkammer Hannover (Hanover Monastic Chamber), based in Hanover, is a special authority within the scope of the Lower Saxony Ministry of Science and Culture. It administers former ecclesiastical, mediatized property and maintains churche ...

, a governmental department, while others maintain their endowments independently or their endowments are administered by a collective body consisting of the noble families of a former principality (e.g.

Neuenwalde Convent The Neuenwalde Convent ( N. Low Saxon: ''Klooster Niewohl'', german: link=no, Kloster Neuenwalde; la, Conventus Sanct CrucisRobert Wöbber„Geschichtliches über die Ortschaft Neuenwalde“, on''Internetpräsenz der Ortschaft Neuenwalde'' retri ...

or Preetz Priory). Some of these charitable institutions which previously accepted only female members of noble families now also accept residents from other social classes.

General charitable endowment

Many secular or religious ancient or modern charitable endowments of earning assets in order to maintain hospitals or homes for the elderly, for orphans, for widows, for the poor, for the blind or for people with other handicaps bear the name , often combined with the name of the main donators or the beneficiaries, such as (endowment for the elderly; see e.g. Cusanusstift, a hospital).

Educational endowment

Similar to the English development, where canon-law colleges with their endowments became sometimes the nuclei for secular educational colleges the former Augustinian collegiate endowment in Tübingen is maintained until today as the Tübinger Stift, a foundation of the Lutheran Evangelical State Church in Württemberg for the theological education. The Catholic church has similar institutions, such as the Wilhelmsstift, also in Tübingen. A modern example is the , which despite the term is not ecclesiastical, but a civic charitable establishment maintaining the Goethe House in Frankfurt upon Main.

Collegial body or building

is also used – totum pro parte – as the expression for the

collegial Collegiality is the relationship between colleagues. A colleague is a fellow member of the same profession. Colleagues are those explicitly united in a common purpose and respect each other's abilities to work toward that purpose. A colleague is ...

body of persons (originally canons or canonesses) who administered it and for the building (compound) they used to meet or live in. If the served or serves to maintain the specific college of a cathedral (a so-called cathedral chapter) then the building can be also called .

Territorial entity

Territory of statehood

If a canon-law college or the chapter and/or the bishop of a cathedral managed not only to gain estates and their revenues as a but also the feudal overlordship to them as a secular ruler with imperial recognition, then such ecclesiastical estates (

temporalities Temporalities or temporal goods are the secular properties and possessions of the church. The term is most often used to describe those properties (a ''Stift'' in German or ''sticht'' in Dutch) that were used to support a bishop or other religious ...

) formed a territorial principality within the Holy Roman Empire with the rank of an

. The secular territory comprising the donated landed estates () was thus called (analogously translated as prince-bishopric) as opposed to an area of episcopal spiritual jurisdiction, called diocese (). The boundaries of secular prince-bishoprics did usually not correspond to that of the spiritual dioceses. Prince-bishoprics were always much smaller than the dioceses which included (parts of) neighbouring

s such as principalities of secular princes and Free Imperial Cities. Prince-bishoprics could also include areas belonging in ecclesiastical respect to other dioceses. (plural: ) is a compound with ('high') literally meaning 'a high

anking ecclesiastical Anqing (, also Nganking, formerly Hwaining, now the name of Huaining County) is a prefecture-level city in the southwest of Anhui province, People's Republic of China. Its population was 4,165,284 as of the 2020 census, with 804,493 living in the ...

endowment', whereas , a compound with ('arch '), is the corresponding expression for a prince-archbishopric. For the three prince-electorates of Cologne (Kurköln), Mainz (Kurmainz) and Trier (Kurtrier), which were simultaneously archbishoprics the corresponding expression is (electorate-archbishopric). The adjective pertaining to as a territory is ('of, pertaining to a prince-bishopric; prince-episcopal'). Similar developments as to statehood allowed a number of monasteries (the so-called imperial abbeys) or regular canon colleges (e.g. Berchtesgaden Provostry) with feudal overlordship to (part of) their estates to gain imperial recognition as a principality () too. Specific prince-bishoprics were often called , as in ''

Hochstift Ermland The Prince-Bishopric of Warmia ( pl, Biskupie Księstwo Warmińskie; german: Fürstbistum Ermland) was a semi-independent ecclesiastical state, ruled by the incumbent ordinary of the Warmia see and comprising one third of the then diocesan are ...

'' or in ''

Erzstift Bremen The Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen (german: Fürsterzbistum Bremen) — not to be confused with the modern Archdiocese of Hamburg, founded in 1994 — was an ecclesiastical principality (787–1566/1648) of the Holy Roman Empire and the Catholic ...

'', with meaning 'of/pertaining to the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen', as opposed to ('of/pertaining to the city of Bremen'). The spiritual entities, the dioceses, are called in German ('diocese') or ('archdiocese'). The difference between a and a is not always clear to authors so that texts, even scholarly ones, often translate or incorrectly simply as ''diocese/bishopric'' or ''archdiocese/archbishopric'', respectively.

Ecclesiastical diocese

In Danish, Norwegian and Swedish the term was adopted as a loan word from German. In an ecclesiastical respect it simply denotes a diocese of a bishop.

Territorial subdivision

At times in Nordic countries, a formed an administrative jurisdiction under a ''Stiftamtmand'' (Danish).

Toponym

In the Netherlands the term is usually denoting the

Prince-bishopric of Utrecht The Bishopric of Utrecht ( nl, Sticht Utrecht) was an ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire in the Low Countries, in the present-day Netherlands. From 1024 to 1528, as one of the prince-bishoprics of the Holy Roman Empire, it w ...

, which consisted of two separate parts ( and , i.e. upper and lower prince-bishopric) with other territories in between. The German corresponding terms are and . * Electorate-Archbishopric of Cologne (Kurerzstift Köln): ** ''Oberstift'', southerly area west of the Rhine with Bonn and Brühl; **, a more northerly, separate area with Rheinberg * Electorate-Archbishopric of Mainz (Kurerzstift Mainz): **, the easterly territorially separate Lower Franconian, Hessian and Thuringian part with Aschaffenburg and Erfurt **, the westerly Rhenish part with Mainz * Prince-Bishopric of Münster (Hochstift Münster): **, the southerly Westphalian part with Münster in Westphalia **, the northerly part, in ecclesiastical respect part of the diocese of Osnabrück *Prince-Bishopric of Utrecht (Sticht Utrecht): **''

Oversticht Overijssel (, ; nds, Oaveriessel ; german: Oberyssel) is a province of the Netherlands located in the eastern part of the country. The province's name translates to "across the IJssel", from the perspective of the Episcopal principality of Utr ...

'', the northerly territorially separate part **'' Nedersticht'', the southerly part with Utrecht

In compound nouns

As a component the term today usually takes the copulative "s" when used as a preceding compound.Victor Dollmayr, Friedrich Krüer, Heinrich Meyer and Walter Paetzel, ''

Deutsches Wörterbuch The ''Deutsches Wörterbuch'' (; "The German Dictionary"), abbreviated ''DWB'', is the largest and most comprehensive dictionary of the German language in existence.Brothers Grimm): 33 vols. (1854–1971), vol. 18 'Stehung–Stitzig', Leipzig: Hirzel, 1941, col. 2874, reprint: Munich: Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag (dtv; No. 5945), 1984. . Composite terms frequently found are such as ('vassal nobility of a prince-bishopric'), ('official of a '), ('library riginallyfinanced with the funds of a collegiate '), ('conventual in a Lutheran women's endowment'), ('

feud A feud , referred to in more extreme cases as a blood feud, vendetta, faida, clan war, gang war, or private war, is a long-running argument or fight, often between social groups of people, especially families or clans. Feuds begin because one part ...

with a prince-bishopric involved'), ('collegiate canoness'),Victor Dollmayr, Friedrich Krüer, Heinrich Meyer and Walter Paetzel, ''

Deutsches Wörterbuch The ''Deutsches Wörterbuch'' (; "The German Dictionary"), abbreviated ''DWB'', is the largest and most comprehensive dictionary of the German language in existence.Brothers Grimm): 33 vols. (1854–1971), vol. 18 'Stehung–Stitzig', Leipzig: Hirzel, 1941, cols. 2895seq., reprint: Munich: Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag (dtv; No. 5945), 1984. . ('conventual in a Lutheran women's endowment'), ''

Stiftsgymnasium Stiftsgymnasium Melk (german: link=no, Melk Abbey's gymnasium) is a Roman Catholic Benedictine-run gymnasium located in Melk, Austria. The gymnasium is located within and run by the well-known monastery Melk Abbey. Founded in the 12th century as ...

'' ('high school riginallyfinanced with the funds of a collegiate '), ''

'' ('collegiate canon'), (plural: 'vassal tenant of an estate of a '),Victor Dollmayr, Friedrich Krüer, Heinrich Meyer and Walter Paetzel, ''

Deutsches Wörterbuch The ''Deutsches Wörterbuch'' (; "The German Dictionary"), abbreviated ''DWB'', is the largest and most comprehensive dictionary of the German language in existence.Brothers Grimm): 33 vols. (1854–1971), vol. 18 'Stehung–Stitzig', Leipzig: Hirzel, 1941, cols. 2897seq., reprint: Munich: Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag (dtv; No. 5945), 1984. . ('subject/inhabitant of a prince-bishopric'), (' estates of a prince-bishopric as a realm'),Victor Dollmayr, Friedrich Krüer, Heinrich Meyer and Walter Paetzel, ''

Deutsches Wörterbuch The ''Deutsches Wörterbuch'' (; "The German Dictionary"), abbreviated ''DWB'', is the largest and most comprehensive dictionary of the German language in existence.Brothers Grimm): 33 vols. (1854–1971), vol. 18 'Stehung–Stitzig', Leipzig: Hirzel, 1941, col. 2900, reprint: Munich: Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag (dtv; No. 5945), 1984. . or ('diet of the estates of a prince-bishopric').

References

{{Authority control Prince-bishoprics of the Holy Roman Empire Church organization Monasteries Donation