Episcopal Duchy of Warmia

Infobox Former Country
native_name = "Biskupie Księstwo Warmińskie" (pl)
"Fürstbistum Ermland" (de)
"Dioecesis Varmiensis" (la)

conventional_long_name = Episcopal Prince-Bishopric of Warmia (sometime incorrectly referred to as duchy)
common_name = Ermland/Latin: Warmia|
continent = Europe
region = Baltic
country = Prussia than since 1466 Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. From 1772 in Kingdom of Prussia
era = Middle Ages
status = Prussian bishopric since 1243-1356 under Archbishopric Riga
status_text = 1243 Bishopric, 1356 Prince-Bishopric under Archbishopric Riga, 1512 Exempt under Pope
empire =
government_type = Theocracy|
year_start = 1243
year_end = 1772|
event_start =
date_start = Prussian Bishopric 1243 Arch-Bishopric 1356, from 1466 in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

event1 = Prussian Bishopric founded as
protectorate of Teutonic
date_event1 = 1243
event2 = Gained "Reichsfreiheit"
date_event2 = 1356
event3 = Subjugated to the
protectorate of Polish Crown
date_event3 = 1479
event4 =
by Prussia
date_event4 = 1525
event_end = Annexed by Prussia
date_end = August 5|
p1 = "Fürstbistum Ermland" Ermland/Prince-Bishopric Warmia
image_p1 =
s1 = Kingdom of Prussia
flag_s1 = Flag of Prussia (1750).gif|

---

image_map_caption = Exempt Prince-Bishopric of Warmia in 1635. (In red on a map of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth)|
capital = 1243-1945 Frauenburg, since 1972 Olsztyn (Allenstein) |latd=53 |latm=47 |latNS=N |longd=20 |longm=30 |longEW=E
common_languages = Latin Language, German and Polish
religion = Roman Catholic
currency =

The Fürstbistum Ermland (translation:) Prince-Bishopric of Warmia, sometimes incorrectly compared to a Duchy" as Episcopal Duchy of Warmia [cite book |title=Parallax |last=Hirshfeld |first=Alan |authorlink= |coauthors= |year= |publisher=Macmillan |location= |isbn=9780716737117 |pages= |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=8Gskt6uKd3wC&pg=PA36&vq=episcopal+duchy+of+Warmia&source=gbs_search_r&cad=0_1&sig=ACfU3U2NOAHpwQ2EmHtdTDXeKdUjLyGwAQ] ( _pl. Biskupie Księstwo Warmińskie) [ [http://books.google.com/books?q=%22biskupie+ksi%C4%99stwo+warmi%C5%84skie%22&btnG=Search+Books Biskupie Księstwo Warmińskie @ Google books] ] ( _de. Fürstbistum Ermland) [ [http://books.google.com/books?lr=lang_de&spell=1&as_brr=3&q=%22F%C3%BCrstbistum+Ermland%22&btnG=Search+Books Fürstbistum Ermland @ Google books] ] , (incorrectly Duchy of Warmia) or the Bishopric of Warmia was a seperate Prussian bishopric under jurisdiction of Archbishopric of Riga that was a protectorate of the Monastic state of the Teutonic Knights and a protectorate of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth after the Peace of Thorn in 1466 [cite book |title=A Concise History of Poland |last=Lukowski |first=Jerzy |authorlink= |coauthors=Hubert Zawadzki |year=2006 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location= |isbn=9780521853323 |pages= |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=HMylRh-wHWEC&pg=PA48&dq=1466+thorn+Ermeland+date:1950-2008&lr=&as_brr=3&ei=fvDRSNrnI6eSjgGa0NHmAw&sig=ACfU3U3JmCkeePd2_6KkeCLiooSaA-56Hg]

In 1477 as a prince-bishopric it accepted the King of Hungary as protector instead of the King of Poland, who was by agreement supposed to protect Ermland, but instead invaded with his military, in order to conquer it. After several military attacks and heavy descruction by Poland, the Ermland prince-bishop chapter was forced to accept nominal protection by the king of Poland again.

After the Union of Lublin in 1569, the Episcopal Duchy of Warmia became a part of the Royal Prussia province and therefore of Polish crown within the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, however it remained an exemt bishopric directly under the pope.

History

Along with Culm, Pomesania, and Samland, Ermland Latin: Warmia was one of four dioceses in Prussia created in 1243 by the papal legate William of Modena. The four Prussian bishoprics were under the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Riga.

After the Battle of Grunwald in 1410, both the Sambian and Warmian bishops paid temporary homage to Jogaila of Poland and Lithuania.

The Second Peace of Thorn (1466) removed the bishopric from the protectorship of the Teutonic Knights and placed it under the protectorship of the King of Poland. The bishops insisted on their imperial privileges and continued ruling the territory as prince-bishops although the Polish king did not like to share this point of view. This led to conflict when the Polish king claimed the right to name the bishops, as he did in the Kingdom of Poland. The chapter did not accept this and elected Nicolaus von Tüngen as bishop, which led to the War of the Priests ("Warmia Stift Feud", 1467-1479) between King Casimir IV Jagiellon (1447–1492) and Nikolaus von Tüngen (1467-89) who was supported by the Teutonic Order and King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary.

After bringing several wars and devastation and for that being reprimanded by the pope, the Polish king finally accepted Tüngen as prince-bishop in the First Treaty of Piotrków Trybunalski, while Tüngen inversely accepted the Polish king as "protector" and obliged the chapter to elect only candidates approved by the Polish king. However, when Tüngen died in 1489, the chapter honored the wishes of von Tüngen and elected Lucas Watzenrode as bishop and Pope Innocent VIII supported Watzenrode against the wishes of Casimir IV Jagiellon, who preferred his son Frederic. This problem finally led to the exemption of the bishopric in 1512 by Pope Julius II. In the Second Treaty of Piotrków Trybunalski (December 7, 1512) Warmia conceded to King Alexander Jagiellon the limited right to propose four candidates to the chapter for the election.

By 1525 the Bishopric of Warmia had lost two-thirds of its parishes due to to the inhabitants for the most part becoming protestants and the Order's Grand Master Albert of Brandenburg-Ansbach secularized the Order's remaining Prussian territories to create the Duchy of Prussia during the Protestant Reformation.

After the Council of Trent the later cardinal Stanislaus Hosius (1551-79) held a diocesan synode (1565) and the same year he brought the Jesuits to Braunsberg. While nearly all of Prussia took on evangelical Protestant religion, the prince-bishops Hosius and Cromer and the Jesuits were instrumental in keeping or regaining much of Warmia's population to Catholicism. The Congregation of St. Catherine, founded at Braunsberg by Regina Protmann, engaged in education, especially schooling for girls.

Several times in the 17th and early 18th centuries Ermland/Warmia was exposed to fighting between Polish and Sweden troops in the Polish-Swedish wars mostly on Prussian soil.

By the late 18th century, the prince-bishop was an "ex officio" Senator of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth .

As a result of the First Partition of Poland in 1772, Warmia was incorporated into the Kingdom of Prussia's province of East Prussia as bishopric of Ermland. Under the Potsdam Agreement in 1945 Ermeland returned to Poland. In 1972 it was again a Polish bishopric of Warmia which in 1992 became archbishopric of Warmia. [cite book |title=Encyclopedia of the United Nations and International Agreements
last=Osmańczyk |first=Edmund Jan |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=2003 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |location= |isbn=9780415939218 |pages= |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=aiIOW0LOdKgC&pg=PA653&dq=1772+1945+Warmia+(Ermeland&lr=&as_brr=3&ei=gPLRSIPrMo3wjAHwztTmAw&sig=ACfU3U074b7Y9710Q1sX1l7jk-d7GB_Dkg]

ee also

*War of the Priests

References