Bishopric of ChiemseeBistum Chiemsee1216–1808 CapitalCircleBench HerrenchiemseeBavarian until ?noneEstablished1216Abolished1808
The Bishopric of Chiemsee was a Roman Catholic diocese. While based on the islands of the Chiemsee in Bavaria, Germany, most of its territory lay in the County of Tyrol, Austria. The bishopric ceased to be a residential see in 1808. and accordingly is today listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see.
Establishment The Bishopric of Chiemsee was established by the Archbishop of Salzburg, Eberhard II of Regensberg, on the islands of the Chiemsee in 1215. It followed the precedent set by his predecessor Gebhard, who had established the Bishopric of Gurk in 1072. This system of founding quite small suffragan dioceses was to be completed by the setting up of the bishoprics of Seckau in 1218 and Lavant in 1225. It was caused by the fact, that, after a large increase in size, stretching its borders from the Inn river in Bavaria to the Hungarian border, the archdiocese of Salzburg became hard to govern. Both the Holy Roman Emperor and the Pope gave their consent and support to the establishment of the bishopric in 1213.
Structure All bishops of Chiemsee were selected by the Archbishops, for the bishops were the most important supporters of the archbishops. The bishops usually served as auxiliary bishops or fulfilled other duties for the archbishops. Locally the ruling of the bishopric rested mostly with the archdeacons who, supported by the Dukes of Bavaria, prevented the bishops from residing in the bishopric. Therefore, the Bishops never became prince-bishops of the Empire, unlike most other ecclesiarchs. Thus the bishopric should not be considered as a state of the Holy Roman Empire, but as a territory within the state of the archbishopric. Accordingly, the bishops held a seat in the archbishoprics diet.
At first, the nuns monastery of Frauenchiemsee was to be the seat of the bishopric, but subsequently, the monks monastery church of the nearby Benedictine Abbey of Herrenchiemsee was chosen to be the diocesan cathedral. In fact, the seat of the bishopric was the so-called Chiemseehof in the city of Salzburg. This building nowadays is used by the parliament and the government of the State of Salzburg.
The bishopric was rather small, consisting of 10 parishes when it was created, and finally 11 in 1804, mostly consisting of exclaves in the vicinity of St. Johann in Tirol.
The best known bishop was Berthold Pürstinger (1508 - 1525) who twice used his influence to save innocent people from (the town-councillors in 1511, and the peasants in 1524); after retiring from office became a noted humanist.
Abolition Together with the secularisation of the archbishopric in 1803, the bishopric also lost its territorial function. In 1808 the diocese was abolished after the last bishop waived his rights. Temporarily under the rule of the Ordinariate of the Bishopric of Freising, the Austrian parts returned to Salzburg and were added to the Bishopric of Brixen in 1817/18, the rest becoming a regular part of the newly renamed Archbishopric of Munich-Freising.
List of Bishops of Chiemsee (1216 - 1808) numNameReignNotes1Rudiger of Bergheim-Radeck1216–12332Albert1233–1252 vacant1244–1246 Albert Suerbeer1246–1247Administrator; Archbishop of Riga, formerly Archbishop of Armagh Henry of Bilversheim1247–1252Administrator3Henry I1252–12664Henry II, Bishop of Chiemsee 1266–12745John I of Ennstal1274–12796Conrad I of Hintberg1279–12927Frederick I of Fronau1292–12938Albert of Bohnsdorf1293–13229Ulrich I of Montpreis1322–133010Conrad II of Liechtenstein1330–135511Gerhoh of Waldeck1356–135912Hugo of Schärfenberg1359–136013Lodwig I Raidhofer1360–136114Frederick II1361–138715George I of Neuberg1387–139516Eberhard of Berned1395–139917Engelmar kröl1399–142018Frederick III Theis of Thesingen1421–1429Bishop of Lavant19John II Ebser1429–143820Sylvester Pflieger1438–145321Ulrich II of Plankenfels1453–146722Bernard of Kraiburg1467–147723George II Altdorfer1477–149524Lodwig II Ebmer1495–1502251502–150826Berthold Pürstinger1508–152527Aegid Rehm1525–153628Hieronymus Meittinger1536–155729Christoph II Schlattl1557–158930Sebastian Cattaneus1589–160931Ernfried of Khünburg1610–161932Nicholas of Wolkenstein1619–162433 Christopher III John of Liechtenstein1624–164334Francis Vigil of Spaur1644–167035Franz of Preysing1670–168736Sigmund Ignatz of Wolkenstein1687–169637Sigmund Carl of Castel-Barco1696–170838John Sigmund Grag of Khünburg1708–1711Bishop of Lavant39Franz Adolph of Wagensberg1712–1723Bishop of Seckau40Carl Joseph of Khünburg1724–1729Bishop of Seckau41Joseph Francis Valerian of Arco1730–174642Franz Carl of Friedberg and Trauchburg1746–177243Ferdinand Christoph of Zeil and Trauchburg1772–178644Franz Xavier of Breuner1786–179745Sigmund Christoph of Zeil und Trauchburg1797–1805Archbishop of Salzburg vacant1805–1808
Notes
References
External links
Diocese of Chiemsee at catholic-hierarchy.org Titular Episcopal See of Chiemsee at gcatholic.org Article about the Bishopric of Chiemsee at Historisches Lexikon Bayerns (German)