Archbishopric of Salzburg

Infobox Former Country
native_name = "Fürst-Erzbistum Salzburg"
conventional_long_name = Prince-Archbishopric of Salzburg
common_name = Salzburg
continent = Europe
region = Central Europe
country = Austria
era = Middle Ages
status = Vassal
empire = Holy Roman Empire
government_type = Theocracy
year_start = 1278
year_end = 1803
event_pre = Bishopric founded
date_pre = c. 543
event_start = Raised to archbishopric
date_start = 798
event1 = Gained territory, became spaces|4prince-archbishopric
date_event1 = 1278
event2 = Joined Bavarian Circle
date_event2 = 1500
event3 = Joined Council of Princes
date_event3 = 1793
event4 = Raised to electorate
date_event4 = 1803
event_end = Mediatised to Grand Duchy
date_end = 1803
p1 =
image_p1 =
s1 = Grand Duchy of Salzburg
image_s1 =

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image_map_caption =
capital = Salzburg
footnotes =

The Archbishopric of Salzburg was an ecclesiastical state of the Holy Roman Empire, roughly consisting of the present-day state of Salzburg (the ancient Roman city of "Iuvavum") in Austria.

The last Archbishop with princely authority was Hieronymus von Colloredo, an early patron of Salzburg native Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Since 1648, the Archbishop of Salzburg has also borne the title "Primas Germaniae" ("First [Bishop] of Germania"). The powers of this titlendash now non-jurisdictionalndash are limited to being the Pope's first correspondent in the German-speaking world, but used to include the right to summon the Prince-electors. The Archbishop also has the title of "legatus natus" ("permanent legate") to the Pope, which, although not a cardinal, gives the Archbishop the privilege of wearing a cardinal's scarlet vesture, even in Rome.

History

Abbot-Bishopric (4th century – c. 482)

Around AD 450, the "Vita Sancti Severini" reported that Salzburg was home to two churches and a monastery. Very little is known of the early bishopric, and St. Maxius is the only abbot-bishop known by name. A disciple of St. Severin, he was martyred in the retreat from Noricum. Salzburg was destroyed soon after in c. 482 and with it the bishopric, six years before the departure of the Roman legions from the region.

Bishopric (c. 543/698 – 798)

St. Rupert, Bishop of Worms and called the apostle of Bavaria and Carinthia, later came to the region and reestablished the diocese after erecting a church at Wallersee and finding the ruins of Salzburg overgrown with brambles. It is unknown whether he arrived in c. 543 during the time of Theodo I or in c. 698 when Bavaria was conquered by the Franks. In either case, it was not until after 700 that Christian civilisation reemerged in the region. The cathedral monastery was named in honour of St. Peter and Rupert's niece Ehrentrudis founded the nunnery at Nonnberg. St. Boniface completed the work of St. Rupert, and placed Salzburg under the primatial see of the Archbishopric of Mainz. St. Boniface quarrelled with Bishop St. Vergilius over the existence of antipodes, although St. Vergilius began the valuable book Liber Confraternitatum, or the Confraternity Book of St. Peter.

Early Archbishopric (798–1060)

Arno enjoyed the respect of the Frankish king Charlemagne who assigned to him the missionary territory between the Danube, the Raab, and Drave Rivers which had recently been conquered from the Avars. Monasteries were founded and all of Carinthia was slowly Christianised. While Arno was in Rome attending to some of Charlemagne's business in 798, Pope Leo III appointed him Archbishop over the other bishops in Bavaria (Freising, Passau, Regensburg, and Säben). When the dispute over the ecclesiastical border between Salzburg and Aquileia broke out, Charlemagne declared the Drave to be the border. Arno also began the copying of 150 volumes from the court of Charlemagne, beginning the oldest library in Austria.

Archbishop Adalwin suffered great troubles when King Rastislav of Great Moravia attempted to removed his realm from the ecclesiastical influence of the Germans. Pope Adrian II appointed Methodius the Archbishop of Pannonia and Moravia, and it was only when Rastislav was captured by King Louis II that Adalwin could adequately protest the invasion of his rights. Methodius appeared at the Synod of Salzburg where he was struck in the face and imprisoned in close confinement for two and a half years. Adalwin attempted to legitimise his imprisonment, but was compelled to release Methodius when ordered by the Pope.

Soon after, the Magyars ravaged Great Moravia and not a church was left standing in Pannonia. Archbishop Dietmar I fell in battle in 907. It was not until the Battle of Lechfeld in 955 that the Magyars suffered a crushing defeat, and ecclesiastical life in Salzburg returned to normal. The following year after Archbishop Herhold allied with Duke Ludolph of Swabia and Duke Conrad the Red of Lorraine, he was deposed, imprisoned, blinded, and banished. Archbishop Bruno of Cologne, called the Bishop-Maker, appointed Frederick I archbishop and declared the Abbacy of St. Peter independent. In 996, Archbishop Hartwig received the right to mint money.

Investiture Era (1060–1213)

In the era beginning with Pope Gregory VII, the Catholic church entered an era of santification and righteousness in the church. The first archbishop of the era was Gebhard, who during the Investiture Controversy remained on the side of the Pope. Gebhard thus suffered a nine year exile, and was allowed to return shortly before his death and was buried in Admont. His successor Thimo was imprisoned for five years, and suffered a horrible death in 1102. After King Henry IV abdicated and Conrad I of Abensberg was elected Archbishop. Conrad lived in exile until the Calistine Concordat of 1122. Conrad spent the remaining years of his episcopate improving the religious life in the archdiocese.

The Archbishops again took the side of the Pope during the strife between them and the Hohenstaufens. Archbishop Eberard I of Hilpolstein-Biburg was allowed to reign in peace, but his successor Conrad II of Austria earned the Emperor's wrath and died in 1168 in Admont a fugitive. Conrad III of Wittelsbach was appointed the Archbishop of Salzburg in 1177 at the Diet of Venice, after the partisans of both Pope and Emperor were deposed.

Prince-Bishopric (1213–1803)

Archbishop Eberhard II of Regensberg was made a prince of the Empire in 1213, and created three new sees: Chiemsee (1216), Seckau (1218) and Lavant (1225). Eberhard was excommunicated in 1245 after refusing to publish a decree deposing the emperor and died suddenly the next year. During the German Interregnum, Salzburg also suffered confusion. Philip of Spanheim, heir to the Dukedom of Carinthia, refused to take priestly consecrations, and was replaced by Ulrich, Bishop of Seckau.

King Rudolph I of Habsburg quarrelled with the archbishops through the manipulations of Abbot Henry of Admont, and after his death the archbishops and the Habsburgs made peace in 1297. The people and archbishops of Salzburgs remained loyal to the Habsburgs in their struggles against the Wittelsbachs. When the Black Death reached Salzburg in 1347, the Jews were accused of poisoning the wells and suffered severe persecution. The Jews were expelled from Salzburg in 1404. Later, the Jews were allowed to return but were forced to wear pointed hats. The Renaissance was a period of cultural decay due to the poor rulership of the archbishops and poor conditions in the empire during the reign of Frederick IV.

Conditions were at their worst during the reign of Bernard II of Rohr. The country was in depression, local authorities were raising their own taxes and the Turks were ravaging the archdiocese. In 1473, he summoned the first provincial diet in the history of the archbishopric, and eventually abdicated. It was only Leonard of Keutschach (reigned 1495–1519) who reversed the situation. He had all the burgomasters and town councillors (who were levying unfair taxes) arrested simultaneously and imprisoned in the castle. His last years were spent in bitter struggle against Matthäus Lang of Wellenburg, Bishop of Gurk, who succeeded him in 1519.

Matthäus Lang was largely unnoticed in official circles, although his influence was felt throughout the archbishopric. He brought in Saxon miners, which brought with them Protestant books and teachings. He then attempted to keep the populace Catholic, and during the Latin War was besieged in the Hohen-Salzburg, declared a "monster" by Martin Luther, and two later uprisings by the peasants lead to suffering to the entire archdiocese. Later bishops were wiser in the ruling and spared Salzburg the religious wars and devastations seen elsewhere in Germany. Archbishop Wolfgang Theodoric of Raitenau gave the Protestants the choice of either to live Catholic or leave. The Cathedral was rebuilt in such splendour that it was unrivalled by all others north of the Alps.

Archbishop Paris of Lodron led Salzburg to peace and prosperity during the Thirty Years' War in which the rest of Germany was thoroughly devastated. During the reign of Leopold Anthony of Firmian, Protestants emerged more vigorously than before. He invited the Jesuits to Salzburg and asked for help from the emperor, and finally ordered the Protestants to recant or emigrate - about 30,000 people left and settled in Württemberg, Hanover and East Prussia, and a few settled in Georgia in the United States of America. The last Prince-Archbishop, Hieronymus of Colloredo, is probably best well-known for his patronage of Mozart. His reforms of the church and education systems alienated him from the people.

Modern Archbishopric (1803 to date)

In 1803, Salzburg was secularised as the Electorate of Salzburg for the former Grand Duke Ferdinand III of Tuscany (brother of Emperor Francis II), who had lost his throne. In 1805 it came to Austria, and in 1809 to Bavaria, who closed the University of Salzburg, banned monasteries from accepting novices, and banned pilgrimages and processions. The Congress of Vienna restored Salzburg to the milder Austrians in 1814, and ecclesiastical life was again normalised by Archbishop Augustus John Joseph Gruber (reigned 1823-1835). The archdiocese was reestablished as the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Salzburg in 1818 without temporal power.

Bishops of Salzburg

Abbot-Bishops of Iuvavum c. 300s – c. 482

* St. Maximus of Salzburg, died 476."Abandoned after c. 482"

Bishops of Iuvavum (from 755, Salzburg)

*St. Ruprecht, born c. 543 "or" c. 698 – c. 718.
*Vitalis
*Erkenfried
*Ansologus
*Ottokar
*Flobrigis
*Johann I
*St. Virgilius, c. 745 "or" c. 767 – c. 784

Archbishops of Salzburg

Archbishops of Salzburg, 798–1213

* Arno 784–821
* Adalram 821–836
* Leutram 836–859
* Adalwin 859–873
* Adalbert I 873
* Dietmar I 873–907
* Pilgrim I 907–923
* Adalbert II 923–935
* Egilholf 935–939
* Herhold 939–958
* Friedrich I 958–991
* Hartwig 991–1023
* Günther 1024–1025
* Dietmar II 1025–1041
* Baldwin 1041–1060
* Gebhard 1060–1088
* Thiemo 1090–1101
* Konrad I von Abensberg 1106–1147
* Eberhard I von Hilpolstein-Biburg 1147–1164
* Konrad II of Austria 1164–1168
* Adalbert III of Bohemia 1168–1177
* Conrad III 1177–1183
* Adalbert III of Bohemia (restored) 1183–1200

Prince-Archbishops of Salzburg, 1213–1803

* Eberhard II von Truchsees 1200–1246
* Bernhard I von Ziegenhain 1247
* Philipp of Carinthia 1247–1256
* Ulrich von Sekau 1256–1265
* Ladislas of Silesia-Liegnitz 1265–1270
* Friedrich II von Walchen 1270–1284
* Rudolf von Hoheneck 1284–1290
* Konrad IV von Breitenfurt 1291–1312
* Weichard von Pollheim 1312–1315
* Friedrich III von Liebnitz 1315–1338
* Heinrich Pyrnbrunner 1338–1343
* Ordulf von Wiesseneck 1343–1365
* Pilgrim II von Pucheim 1365–1396
* Gregor Schenk von Osterwitz 1396–1403
* Eberhard III von Neuhaus 1403–1427
* Eberhard IV von Starhemberg 1427–1429
* Johann II von Reichensperg 1429–1441
* Friedrich IV Truchsees von Emmerberg 1441–1452
* Sigismund I von Volkersdorf 1452–1461
* Burchard von Weissbruch 1461–1466
* Bernhard II von Rohr 1466–1482
* Bernhard III Peckenschlager 1482–1489
* Friedrich V von Schallenburg 1489–1494
* Sigismund II 1494–1495
* Leonhard von Keutschach 1495–1519
* Matthäus Lang von Wellenburg 1519–1540
* Ernest of Bavaria 1540–1554
* Michael von Khuenburg 1554–1560
* Johann Jakob Khun von Bellasy 1560–1586
* Georg von Khuenburg 1586–1587
* Wolfgang Dietrich von Raitenau 1587–1612
* Marcus Sittich von Hohenems 1612–1619
* Paris von Lodron 1619–1653
* Guidobald von Thun 1654–1668
* Maximilian Gandalf von Khuenburg 1668–1687
* Johann Ernst von Thun 1687–1709
* Franz Anton von Harrach 1709–1727
* Leopold Anton von Firmian 1727–1744
* Jakob Ernst von Liechtenstein-Castelcorno 1744–1747
* Adnreas Jakob von Dietrichstein 1747–1753
* Sigismund III von Schrattenbach 1753–1771
* Hieronymus von Colloredo 1772–1812 (last prince-archbishop, lost temporal power in 1803 after secularization)

See Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Salzburg for archbishops since 1812.

External links

* [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13411b.htm Salzburg] at the "Catholic Encyclopædia".
* [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09118a.htm Legate] at the "Catholic Encyclopædia".