View source for Prince-Bishopric of Speyer

{{Short description|Prince-Bishopric of the Holy Roman Empire}}
{{one source|date=November 2018}}
{{Infobox country
|native_name            = {{native name|la|Episcopatus Spirensis}}<br/>{{native name|de|Fürstbistum Speyer}}
|conventional_long_name = Prince-Bishopric of Speyer
|common_name            = Speyer
|era                    = Middle Ages
|status                 = Prince-Bishopric
|empire                 = Holy Roman Empire
|government_type        = Prince-Bishopric
|year_start             = 888
|year_end               = 1803
|event_pre              = Established
|date_pre               = 3rd or 4th century
|event_start            = Gained territory
|date_start             =
|event1                 = [[Speyer]] became<br>{{spaces|4}}[[Imperial Free City]]
|date_event1            = &nbsp;<br>1294
|event2                 = [[War of the Grand Alliance|Lost territory]] to [[Early Modern France|France]]
|date_event2            = 1681–97
|event_end              = [[German Mediatisation|Partitioned and<br>{{spaces|4}}secularised]] to<br>{{spaces|4}}[[First French Republic|France]] and [[Margraviate of Baden|Baden]]
|date_end               = &nbsp;<br>&nbsp;<br>1801–03
|p1                     = Duchy of Franconia
|image_p1               =
|s1                     = Mont-Tonnerre
|flag_s1                = Flag of France.svg
|s2                     = Margraviate of Baden
|image_s2               = [[File:Coat of arms of Baden.svg|20px|Margraviate of Baden]]
|image_flag             =
|image_coat             = Wappen Bistum Speyer.png
|image_map              = Worms and Speyer Bishoprics 1705.png
|image_map_caption      = The Prince-Bishopric of Speyer circa 1700
|capital                = [[Speyer]] (to 1379)<br>[[Philippsburg|Udenheim]]{{smallsup|2}} (1379–1723)<br>[[Bruchsal]] (from 1723)
|common_languages       = [[Rhine Franconian dialects|Rhine Franconian]], [[South Franconian German|South Franconian]]
}}
The '''Prince-Bishopric of Speyer''', formerly known as Spires in English, (German: ''Hochstift Speyer, Fürstbistum Speyer, Bistum Speyer'') was an ecclesiastical principality in what are today the German states of [[Rhineland-Palatinate]] and [[Baden-Württemberg]]. It was [[secularization|secularized]] in 1803. The [[prince-bishop]] resided in Speyer, a [[Free Imperial City]], until the 14th century, when he moved his residence to Uddenheim ([[Philippsburg]]), then in 1723 to [[Bruchsal]]. There was a tense relationship between successive prince-bishops, who were Roman Catholic, and the civic authorities of the Free City, officially Protestant since the Reformation. The prince-provostry of Wissemburg in Alsace was ruled by the prince-bishop of Speyer in a [[personal union]].<ref>Franck Lafarge, ''Les comtes Schönborn, 1642-1756'', L'Harmattan, Paris, 2008, vol. 2, p. 349-350.</ref>
==Geography==
The Prince-Bishopric of Speyer belonged to the [[Upper Rhenish Circle]] of the [[Holy Roman Empire]]. One of the smallest principalities of the Holy Roman Empire, it consisted of more than half a dozen separate enclaves totalling about 28 German square miles (about 1540&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>) on both sides of the Rhine. It included the towns of Bruchsal (on the right bank) as well as [[Deidesheim]], [[Herxheim bei Landau]], and [[Lauterbourg|Lauterburg]] (on the left bank). Around 1800 the bishopric included about 55,000 people.
==History==
A diocese of Speyer has possibly existed since the 3rd or 4th century. It was first mentioned in historical documents in 614. Up to 748 it was a suffragant bishopric of the archdiocese of Trier, and from then until the secularisation of the prince-bishopric in 1803, of the archdiocese of Mainz.
The history of the Bishopric of Speyer began at the latest in the late 7th century when the bishop of [[Speyer]] received royal domains in the neighboring [[Speyergau]]. In the 10th and 11th centuries, the diocese received additional lands, including gifts by [[Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor|emperor Otto I]]. In 1030 the building of the [[Speyer Cathedral|cathedral]] was begun. In 1061 the cathedral was consecrated. In 1086 [[Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor|emperor Henry IV]] granted the bishopric the remaining parts of the county of Speyergau.
From 1111 the citizens of the city of Speyer began to increasingly loosen their bonds to the rulership of the bishop. In 1230 a [[Bürgermeister]]  was mentioned for the first time. In 1294 Speyer became a [[Free Imperial City]]. The bishop moved his palace in 1371 to Udenheim. At the beginning of the 17th century bishop [[Philipp Christoph von Sötern]] expanded the fortress of [[Philippsburg]]. The prince-bishops reigned from there from 1371 to 1723. Afterwards the prince-bishop moved his seat to Bruchsal.
French troops captured Philippsburg in 1644 during the later stages of the [[Thirty Year's War]]. [[France]] gained the fortress in the 1648 [[Peace of Westphalia]]. During the [[Franco-Dutch War]], Imperial troops [[Siege of Philippsburg (1676)|recaptured it]] in 1676. In the [[Treaties of Nijmegen|Treaty of Nijmegen]] 1679, the fortress was officially returned to the Bishop and the Empire. However, France annexed parts of the bishopric's left-bank territories in 1681 as ''Reunion'' and [[Siege of Philippsburg (1688)|seized Philippsburg again]] in 1688 at the beginning of the [[Nine Years' War]]. The occupied territory was not returned until 1697 in the [[Peace of Rijswijk]].
In 1801/1802, the [[Mont-Tonnerre|remaining left-bank territories]] of Speyer were conquered by French troops in the course of the French Revolution. The right-bank territories [[German mediatization|went to]] [[List of rulers of Baden|margraves of Baden]].
This ended the secular responsibilities of the bishop of Speyer. The secularized bishopric continued ecclesiastically as the [[Diocese of Speyer]]. Finally, the French part of the former prince-bishopric was divided between [[Bavaria]] and [[Hesse Darmstadt]] in 1815.
<gallery>
File:Aerial photograph Speyer Cathedral.jpg|[[Speyer Cathedral]]
File:Bischofspfalz Speyer.jpg|The Bishop's palace next to Speyer Cathedral (1765)
File:Udenheim-Philippsburg 1590 2.jpg|[[Philippsburg|Udenheim]] Castle (main residence of the bishops from 1371)
File:Bruchsal (23).jpg|[[Bruchsal]] Palace (main residence from 1723)
File:Reilly_234.jpg|Bishopric of Speyer 1793/93
</gallery>
==List of bishops==
{{For|a list of prince-bishops|Bishop of Speyer}}
==See also==
* [[Speyer Cathedral]]
==Footnotes==
{{reflist}}
{{Upper Rhenish Circle}}
{{Catholic League}}
{{coord missing|Germany}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Speyer]]
[[Category:Prince-bishoprics of the Holy Roman Empire in Germany|Speyer]]
[[Category:Catholic League (German)]]
[[Category:Upper Rhenish Circle|Speyer]]
[[Category:States and territories established in the 880s]]
[[Category:States and territories disestablished in 1803]]
[[Category:888 establishments]]
[[Category:1803 disestablishments in the Holy Roman Empire]]
[[Category:History of Catholicism in Germany]]
[[Category:Former monarchies of Europe]]