page_title: Prince-Bishopric of Osnabrück
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Prince-Bishopric of Osnabrück / History
caption_attribution_description: English: St. Peter in Osnabrück.
context_page_description: The Prince-Bishopric of Osnabrück was an ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire from 1225 until 1803. It should not be confused with the Diocese of Osnabrück, which was larger and over which the prince-bishop exercised only the spiritual authority of an ordinary bishop. It was named after its capital, Osnabrück.
  The still-extant Diocese of Osnabrück, erected in 772, is the oldest see founded by Charlemagne, in order to Christianize the conquered stem-duchy of Saxony. The episcopal and capitular temporal possessions of the see, originally quite limited, grew in time, and its prince-bishops exercised an extensive civil jurisdiction within the territory covered by their rights of Imperial immunity. The Prince-Bishopric continued to grow in size, making its status during the Reformation a highly contentious issue. The Peace of Westphalia left the city bi-confessional and had the Prince-Bishops alternate between Catholic and Protestant.
  The bishopric was dissolved in the German Mediatisation of 1803, when it was incorporated into the neighboring Electorate of Hanover. The see, the chapter, the convents and the Catholic charitable institutions were secularized.
context_section_description: The temporal protectorate (Latin: Advocatia; German: Vogtei) exercised over so many mediaeval dioceses by laymen became, after the 12th century, hereditary in the Amelung family, from whom it passed to Henry the Lion.
  After Henry's overthrow, it came into the possession of Count Simon of Tecklenburg and his descendants, though it was the source of many conflicts with the bishops. In 1236 the Count of Tecklenburg was forced to renounce all jurisdiction over the town of Osnabrück, as well as the lands of the see, the chapter and the parish churches. On the other hand, the bishop and chapter, from the 13th century on, expanded their jurisdiction over many convents, churches and hamlets. Scarcely any other German see freed itself so thoroughly from civil jurisdiction within its territory. The royal prerogatives were transferred little by little to the bishop, e.g. the holding of fairs and markets, rights of toll and coinage, forest and hunting rights, mining royalties and fortresses so that, by the early part of the 13th century, the bishop was the real governor of the civil territory of Osnabrück.
  Among the prominent mediaeval bishops were: Drogo (952–68); Conrad of Veltberg (1002); the learned Thietmar or Detmar (1003–22); Benno II (1067–88); Johann I (1001–10), who built the actual cathedral in place of the wooden one destroyed by fire in the time of his predecessor; Diethard I (1119–37) who was the first bishop elected by the free choice of the cathedral clergy; Philip II (1141–73) who ended the conflicts between his see and the Imperial Abbeys of Corvey and Hersfeld; and Arnold of Berg (1137–91), who died a crusader at Akkon. In the time of Engelbert of Altena-Isenberg (1224–26, deposed following his implication in Archbishop Engelbert II of Berg's assassination, rehabilitated 1238–50), Bruno of Altena-Isenberg (1250–59), and under Conrad II of Rietberg (1269–97), the new orders of Franciscans, Dominicans and Augustinians were received with favour.
caption: St. Peter's Cathedral (Osnabrück)
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