The Prince-Bishopric of Lübeck, () was an ecclesiastical principality 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 ...

until 1803. Originally ruled by

Roman-Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

bishops, after 1586 it was ruled by lay administrators and bishops who were members of the Protestant

Holstein-Gottorp Holstein-Gottorp () is the historiographical name, as well as contemporary shorthand name, for the parts of the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein, also known as Ducal Holstein, that were ruled by the dukes of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp, a side ...

line of the

House of Oldenburg The House of Oldenburg is a Germans, German dynasty whose members rule or have ruled in Danish Realm, Denmark, Kingdom of Iceland, Iceland, Kingdom of Greece, Greece, Norway, Russian Empire, Russia, Sweden, United Kingdom, the United Kingdom, King ...

. The prince-bishops had seat and vote on the Ecclesiastical Bench of the College of Ruling Princes of the Imperial Diet. The Prince-Bishopric of Lübeck, a secular state, should not be confused with the Diocese of Lübeck, which was larger and over which the bishop exercised only pastoral authority.

History

The original diocese was founded about 970 by

Emperor Otto I Otto I (23 November 912 – 7 May 973), known as Otto the Great ( ) or Otto of Saxony ( ), was East Francia, East Frankish (Kingdom of Germany, German) king from 936 and Holy Roman Emperor from 962 until his death in 973. He was the eldest son o ...

in the

Billung March The Billung March () or March of the Billungs () was a frontier region of the far northeastern Duchy of Saxony in the 10th century. It was named after the family which held it, the House of Billung. The march reached from the Elbe River to the ...

Oldenburg in Holstein Oldenburg in Holstein () is a German town at the southwestern shore of the Baltic Sea. The nearest city is Lübeck. The town belongs to the (historical) region of Holstein, today in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. Oldenburg was the chi ...

(''Aldinborg'' or ''Starigard''), the former capital of the pagan Wagri tribe. Oldenburg was then a

suffragan A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations. In the Catholic Church, a suffragan bishop leads a diocese within an ecclesiastical province other than the principal diocese, the metropolitan archdiocese; the diocese led ...

diocese of the

Archbishopric of Bremen The Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen () was an ecclesiastical principality (787–1566/1648) of the Holy Roman Empire and the Catholic Church that after its definitive secularization in 1648 became the hereditary Duchy of Bremen (). The prince-ar ...

, meant to missionize the

Obotrites The Obotrites (, ''Abodritorum'', ''Abodritos'') or Obodrites, also spelled Abodrites (), were a confederation of medieval West Slavic tribes within the territory of modern Mecklenburg and Holstein in northern Germany (see Polabian Slavs). For ...

. However, in the course of the 983 Slavic uprising (''see

Lutici The Lutici or Liutizi (known by various spelling variants) were a federation of West Slavic Polabian tribes, who between the 10th and 12th centuries lived in what is now northeastern Germany. Four tribes made up the core of the federation: t ...

''), the Wagri shook off Imperial supremacy and in 1038, the bishops were barred from entering their diocese. In 1052, the dioceses of

Ratzeburg Ratzeburg (; Low German: ''Ratzborg'') is a town in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is surrounded by Ratzeburger See, four lakes—the resulting isthmuses between the lakes form the access lanes to the town. Ratzeburg is the capital of the distri ...

and

Schwerin Schwerin (; Mecklenburgisch-Vorpommersch dialect, Mecklenburgisch-Vorpommersch Low German: ''Swerin''; Polabian language, Polabian: ''Zwierzyn''; Latin: ''Suerina'', ''Suerinum'') is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Germ ...

were split off from Oldenburg and no bishop was appointed after 1066. After the

Saxon The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like th ...

count Henry of Badewide had campaigned in the Wagrian lands east of the

Limes Saxoniae The (Latin for "Limit of Saxony"), also known as the Limes Saxonicus or Sachsenwall ("Saxon Dyke"), was an unfortified limes or border between the Saxons and the Slavic Obotrites, established about 810 in present-day Schleswig-Holstein. Aft ...

in 1138/39, a new Bishop of Oldenburg, Vicelinus, was appointed in 1149. Duke

Henry the Lion Henry the Lion (; 1129/1131 – 6 August 1195), also known as Henry III, Duke of Saxony (ruled 1142-1180) and Henry XII, Duke of Bavaria (ruled 1156-1180), was a member of the Welf dynasty. Henry was one of the most powerful German princes of ...

Saxony Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...

moved the seat of the diocese from Oldenburg to

Lübeck Lübeck (; or ; Latin: ), officially the Hanseatic League, Hanseatic City of Lübeck (), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 220,000 inhabitants, it is the second-largest city on the German Baltic Sea, Baltic coast and the second-larg ...

in 1160. When the Duchy of Saxony was dissolved with Henry's deposition in 1180, the Bishopric gained the status of

Imperial State An Imperial Estate (; , plural: ') was an entity or an individual of the Holy Roman Empire with representation and the right to vote in the Imperial Diet (Holy Roman Empire), Imperial Diet ('). Rulers of these Estates were able to exercise signi ...

(). Quarrels arose after the City of Lübeck gained

imperial immediacy In the Holy Roman Empire, imperial immediacy ( or ) was the status of an individual or a territory which was defined as 'immediate' () to Emperor and Empire () and not to any other intermediate authorities, while one that did not possess that stat ...

in 1226 and as the territory of the state was centered on

Eutin Eutin () is the district capital of Ostholstein, Eastern Holstein county located in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein. As of December 2022, the town had some 17,000 inhabitants. History The name Eutin (originally Utin) is of Slavic ...

, the town in 1309 became the residence of the bishops. The Bishopric did not attempt to fight 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 ...

. In 1531 the

Free City of Lübeck Free may refer to: Concept * Freedom, the ability to act or change without constraint or restriction * Emancipate, attaining civil and political rights or equality * Free (gratis), Free (''gratis''), free of charge * Gratis versus libre, the di ...

, instanced by Johannes Bugenhagen, had turned Protestant, further inhibiting Catholic pastoring in the part of the Lübeck diocese under city rule. And in 1535 the Lübeck

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 ...

and subsequently all its diocesan territories adopted the

Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

confession. The

Prince-Bishop 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 ...

was elected by the chapter; since 1586, all

administrator Administrator or admin may refer to: Job roles Computing and internet * Database administrator, a person who is responsible for the environmental aspects of a database * Forum administrator, one who oversees discussions on an Internet forum * N ...

s of the prince-bishopric were members of the

line of the

. After the 1648

Peace of Westphalia The Peace of Westphalia (, ) is the collective name for two peace treaties signed in October 1648 in the Westphalian cities of Osnabrück and Münster. They ended the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) and brought peace to the Holy Roman Empire ...

, Lübeck was one of only two Protestant prince-bishoprics in the Empire (together with

Osnabrück Osnabrück (; ; archaic English: ''Osnaburg'') is a city in Lower Saxony in western Germany. It is situated on the river Hase in a valley penned between the Wiehen Hills and the northern tip of the Teutoburg Forest. With a population of 168 ...

, which however was alternately led by Protestant and Catholic bishops).

Principality and Region of Lübeck

With the of 1803, the Prince-Bishopric was mediatized. It became the Principality of Lübeck and was given to the

Duchy of Oldenburg The Duchy of Oldenburg (), named for its capital, the town of Oldenburg, was a state in the north-west of present-day Germany. The counts of Oldenburg died out in 1667, after which it became a duchy until 1810, when it was annexed by the First ...

, since the last prince-bishop ( Peter I of Holstein-Gottorp) was also prince regent of Oldenburg. In 1803 the principality comprised 9.5 German square milesOne German sq. mile () = 21.25 Eng. sq. miles or 55.05 km². with 22,000 inhabitants. Its capital was

. Between 1810 and 1814 the principality was annexed to

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

as part of the , before it was restituted to the Duchy of Oldenburg. The Duchy of Oldenburg, named after its capital Oldenburg in Oldenburg, thus shared its name with the town of Oldenburg in Holstein, the original seat of the Bishopric, only by coincidence. Karte-Oldenburg-Ex

Following the

Austro-Prussian War The Austro-Prussian War (German: ''Preußisch-Österreichischer Krieg''), also known by many other names,Seven Weeks' War, German Civil War, Second War of Unification, Brothers War or Fraternal War, known in Germany as ("German War"), ''Deutsc ...

in 1867 the principality was enlarged by the prior Holsteinian bailiwick of

Ahrensbök Ahrensbök (Holsatian: ''Ahrensböök'') is a municipality in the district of Ostholstein, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is situated approximately 17 km northwest of Lübeck, and 45 km southeast of Kiel. History Ahrensbök came int ...

, as a compensation for hereditary claims of the ducal

to Holstein. After Oldenburg became a republic in 1918 the area remained an exclave of the

Free State of Oldenburg The Free State of Oldenburg () was a federated state that existed during the Weimar Republic and Nazi Germany. It was established in 1918 following the abdication of the Grand Duke Frederick Augustus II of the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg after th ...

now named Region of Lübeck (). Eutin Kreis Wappen

In 1937 the region was incorporated into the Prussian

Province of Schleswig-Holstein The Province of Schleswig-Holstein ( ) was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia (from 1868 to 1918) and the Free State of Prussia (from 1918 to 1946). History It was created from the Duchies of Schleswig and Holstein, which had been conquere ...

by a territorial redeployment according to the

Greater Hamburg Act The Greater Hamburg Act (), in full the Law Regarding Greater Hamburg and Other Territorial Readjustments (), was passed by the government of Nazi Germany on 26 January 1937, and mandated the exchange of territories between Hamburg and the Free S ...

. The Region of Lübeck then became the District of Eutin, which was merged with the neighbouring District of Oldenburg in Holstein in the new district of Eastern Holstein in 1970. The Lutheran Church, since the

comprising the majority of the inhabitants, remained a separate entity, named ''Evangelical Lutheran State Church of the Oldenburgian Region of Lübeck'' (, chaired by a land provost or bishop in Eutin) until it merged with neighbouring

Landeskirche In Germany and Switzerland, a Landeskirche (; plural: Landeskirchen, ) is the church of a region. The term usually refers to Protestant churches, but—in case of Switzerland—also Roman Catholic dioceses. They originated as the national churches ...

n in the new North Elbian Evangelical Lutheran Church in 1977.

Geography

The state had an area of ; as the imperial city of Lübeck was not incorporated, its only city was

Bishops of Oldenburg and Lübeck

Notes

References

At ''Meyers Konversationslexikon'', 4th ed., 1885-92
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lubeck, Prince-Bishopric Of States and territories established in 1160 Prince-bishoprics of the Holy Roman Empire in Germany Lower Saxon Circle Roman Catholic dioceses in the Holy Roman Empire Former Roman Catholic dioceses in Germany History of Lübeck Dioceses established in the 10th century 1180s establishments in the Holy Roman Empire 1180 establishments in Europe 1803 disestablishments in the Holy Roman Empire Former states and territories of Schleswig-Holstein