Bishopric of Hildesheim [SEP] dissolved or abolished
Prince-Bishopric of Hildesheim
The Prince-Bishopric of Hildesheim () was a state of the Holy Roman Empire from the Middle Ages until 1803. It was the territory of princely rule held by the incumbents of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Hildesheim, therefore wielding secular and religious functions as prince-bishops. It was named after its capital, Hildesheim.
History.
After the Duchy of Saxony had been conquered by the Frankish Kingdom, Emperor Charlemagne in 800 founded a missionary diocese at his eastphalian court in Elze (
invested princely power as prince-bishops. In 1235 part of the Hildesheim diocesan territory, the episcopal and capitular temporalities (Stift) were disentangled from the Duchy of Brunswick and Lunenburg and became an own territory of imperial immediacy called Prince-Bishopric of Brunswick and Lunenburg (), a vassal of the Holy Roman Empire. The prince-bishopric was an elective monarchy, with the monarch being the respective bishop usually elected by the Hildesheim Cathedral chapter and confirmed by the Holy See, or exceptionally only appointed by the Holy See.