The Bishopric of Dorpat was a medieval

prince-bishopric A prince-bishop is a bishop who is also the civil ruler of some secular principality and sovereignty, as opposed to ''Prince of the Church'' itself, a title associated with cardinals. Since 1951, the sole extant prince-bishop has been the Bi ...

, i.e. both a

diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, prov ...

of the

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and a temporal principality ruled by the bishop of the diocese. It existed from 1211 until 1558, generally encompassing the area that now comprises Tartu County, Põlva County,

Võru County Võru County ( or ''Võrumaa''; ) is a county in southern Estonia. It is bordered by Valga and Põlva counties, Latvia's Alūksne and Ape municipalities, and Russia's Pskov Oblast (making it the only Estonian county to border two countries) ...

, and

Jõgeva County Jõgeva County ( or ''Jõgevamaa'') is one of 15 counties of Estonia. It is situated in eastern part of the country and borders Ida-Viru County to the north-east, Lake Peipus to the east, Tartu County to the south, Viljandi County to the south-we ...

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

. The prince-bishopric was a sovereign member of the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...

(formally from 6 Nov 1225) and part of the Livonian Confederation until its dissolution in 1561. The state was originally established as the Bishopric of Leal in 1211, based in Leal, modern Lihula. When the Sword Brothers in 1224 captured Yuryev (modern

Tartu Tartu is the second largest city in Estonia after Tallinn. Tartu has a population of 97,759 (as of 2024). It is southeast of Tallinn and 245 kilometres (152 miles) northeast of Riga, Latvia. Tartu lies on the Emajõgi river, which connects the ...

), they renamed it ''Dorpat''. Prince-bishop Hermann Buxhövden of Leal took up residence there and ordered the construction of the Dorpat Cathedral. Around 1235, the bishopric was finally renamed from ''Leal'' to ''Dorpat''.

History

The first Bishop of Dorpat (the current

) was Hermann von Buxhövden, the brother of Albert von Buxhövden, Bishop of Riga and leader of the

Livonian Crusade The Livonian crusade consists of the various military Crusade, Christianisation campaigns in medieval Livonia – modern Latvia and Estonia – during the Pope, Papal-sanctioned Northern Crusades in the 12th–13th century. Overview Historic ...

. The Estonian Diocese was established by the Bishop of Riga in 1211 and its first nominal seat was Leal (Lihula) in western Estonia. In 1224, Bishop Hermann took possession of parts of what is today southeastern Estonia and chose Dorpat as his new seat. On 6 November 1225 he was enfeoffed with his principality by Henry VII of Germany,

King of the Romans King of the Romans (; ) was the title used by the king of East Francia following his election by the princes from the reign of Henry II (1002–1024) onward. The title originally referred to any German king between his election and coronatio ...

, and on 1 December Dorpat was created a

March March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Its length is 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of March. The March equinox on the 20 or 2 ...

of the Holy Roman Empire. The principality was founded mainly on territories of the Ugaunian tribe of ancient

ns. In 1242, Bishop Hermann with his Ugaunian subjects was defeated by

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's prince Alexander Nevsky in the famous Battle on Lake Peipus. During 1268, Fredrik, the then Bishop of Dorpat, is known to have called himself also as the "Bishop of

Karelia Karelia (; Karelian language, Karelian and ; , historically Коре́ла, ''Korela'' []; ) is an area in Northern Europe of historical significance for Russia (including the Soviet Union, Soviet era), Finland, and Sweden. It is currentl ...

", the background of the short-lived title remaining open.. In Latin. Hosted by th
National Archive of Finland
. See and ''Diplomatarium Fennicum'' from the menu. The Bishopric of Dorpat was an important Hanseatic trade center. At the end of the 14th century, former Dietrich Damerow became the Bishop of Dorpat. He was the archenemy of 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 thei ...

and made a coalition against it with

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

, Mecklenburg, and the

Victual Brothers The Victual Brothers () were a loosely organized guild of privateers who later turned to piracy. They affected maritime history, maritime trade during the 14th century in both the North Sea, North and Baltic Sea, Baltic Seas. They were initially ...

(notorious pirates of the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the North European Plain, North and Central European Plain regions. It is the ...

). He even asked King

Richard II of England Richard II (6 January 1367 – ), also known as Richard of Bordeaux, was King of England from 1377 until he was deposed in 1399. He was the son of Edward the Black Prince, Edward, Prince of Wales (later known as the Black Prince), and Jo ...

to take Dorpat under his protection. The Order invaded the bishopric in 1379 with no success. After settling the conflict the Livonian Order lost its right to demand that vassals of bishoprics take part in military campaigns. During its last years, the Bishopric of Dorpat had a dispute with Russia which became later the main pretext of the

Livonian War The Livonian War (1558–1583) concerned control of Terra Mariana, Old Livonia (in the territory of present-day Estonia and Latvia). The Tsardom of Russia faced a varying coalition of the Denmark–Norway, Dano-Norwegian Realm, the Kingdom ...

. Tsar

Ivan the Terrible Ivan IV Vasilyevich (; – ), commonly known as Ivan the Terrible,; ; monastic name: Jonah. was Grand Prince of Moscow, Grand Prince of Moscow and all Russia from 1533 to 1547, and the first Tsar of all Russia, Tsar and Grand Prince of all R ...

demanded that the bishopric pay a huge tribute of 40,000 talers. Ivan insisted that the Dorpat was the ancient Russian fortress of ''Yuryev'' (referring to the short-lived Rus' rule of the area after its conquest by Yaroslav I the Wise, 1030–61(?)). The rulers of Dorpat tried to negotiate a smaller amount in the interest of extending the truce, but Ivan dismissed the diplomats and started the war. In 1558 Tartu was conquered by Russian troops and the Bishopric of Dorpat ceased to exist. Beside Dorpat (Tartu) there were five more stone castles in the Bishopric: * Odenpäh () as the ancient centre of Ugandi and the first stone stronghold of bishopric; * Kirrumpäh (''Kirumpää'') and Neuhausen (''Vastseliina'') by the important ancient Dorpat–Pleskau (Tartu–Pihkva) road; * Oldentorn (Vana-Kastre) and Warbeke or Caster (Uue-Kastre) by the Emajõgi river which runs from Dorpat to Lake Peipus. There was also an outstanding

Cistercian The Cistercians (), officially the Order of Cistercians (, 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 Saint Benedict, as well as the contri ...

monastery, Kärkna Abbey (also Valkena or Falkenau) near Dorpat.

The former Bishopric today

The center of the bishopric was the Tartu (Dorpat) castle (). The castle was damaged during the Northern War and was dismantled during the 18th century. Later (at the beginning of 19th century) an observatory was built on the site. The seat of the bishopric, Dorpat Cathedral, was damaged during the

Protestant Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the papacy and ...

and has been in ruins since the 17th century.

List of bishops

* Hermann von Buxhöwden 1224–48 *Alexander 1263–68 *Friedrich von Haseldorf 1268–88 *Bernhard I 1289–1302 *Dietrich I Vyshusen 1302–12 *Nikolaus 1312–23 *Engelbert von Dolen 1323–41 *Wescelus 1342–1344 *Johannes I Viffhusen 1346–73 *Heinrich I von Velde 1373–78 *Dietrich II Damerow 1378–1400 *Heinrich II Wrangel 1400–10 *Bernhard II Bülow 1410–13 *Dietrich III Resler 1413–41 *Bartholomäus Savijerwe 1441–59 *Helmich von Mallinckrodt 1459–68 *Andreas Pepler 1468–73 *Johannes II Bertkow 1473–85 *Dietrich V Hake 1485–98 *Johannes III von der Rope 1499–1505 *Gerhard Schrove 1505–13 *Johannes IV Duesborg 1513–14 *Christian Bomhower 1514–18 *Johannes V Blankenfeld 1518–27 *Johannes VI Bey 1528–43 *Jodokus von der Recke 1544–51 * Hermann II Wesel 1552–60

Notes

References

Sources and external links

* World Statesme
Estonia: Prince-bishopric of Dorpat (Tartu)
* GigaCatholi

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dorpat, 1224 Bishopric 1558 disestablishments States and territories established in 1224 Former Roman Catholic dioceses in Europe Pre-Reformation dioceses in Nordic Europe Roman Catholic bishops in the Holy Roman Empire Livonian Confederation Historical geography of Estonia Prince-bishoprics in Livonia 13th-century establishments in Estonia History of Tartu