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The imperial church system (German: ''Reichskirchensystem'', Dutch: ''rijkskerkenstelsel'') was a governance policy by the early
Holy Roman emperor The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans (disambiguation), Emperor of the Romans (; ) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period (; ), was the ruler and h ...
s and other medieval European rulers to entrust the secular governance of the state to as many
celibate Celibacy (from Latin ''caelibatus'') is the state of voluntarily being unmarried, sexually abstinent, or both. It is often in association with the role of a religious official or devotee. In its narrow sense, the term ''celibacy'' is applied on ...
members of the
clergy Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...
(especially
bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...
s and
abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the head of an independent monastery for men in various Western Christian traditions. The name is derived from ''abba'', the Aramaic form of the Hebrew ''ab'', and means "father". The female equivale ...
s) of the
Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
as possible instead of to the non-celibate
laity In religious organizations, the laity () — individually a layperson, layman or laywoman — consists of all Church membership, members who are not part of the clergy, usually including any non-Ordination, ordained members of religious orders, e ...
., ''Een kennismaking met de middeleeuwse wereld'' (2004) 76–77, 199. Bussum: Uitgeverij Coutinho. Rulers did this because celibate clergymen could not produce legitimate heirs who could claim their inheritance at death, and thus not establish regional
dynasties A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family, usually in the context of a monarchical system, but sometimes also appearing in republics. A dynasty may also be referred to as a "house", "family" or "clan", among others. Historians ...
that could threaten the power of the ruling family. Upon their deaths, the areas governed by celibate clerics automatically reverted to the ruler, who could then appoint their own new confidants to the position and thus retain control of all parts of the realm. A bishop thus bestowed with temporal (secular) power of a
prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The ...
, on top of his spiritual (religious) power as a bishop, was known as a
prince-bishop A prince-bishop is a bishop who is also the civil ruler of some secular principality and sovereignty, as opposed to '' Prince of the Church'' itself, a title associated with cardinals. Since 1951, the sole extant prince-bishop has been the ...
, and his domain as a prince-bishopric (German: ''Fürstbistum'', ''Stift'' or ''Hochstift''; Dutch: ''prinsbisdom'' or ''sticht''). Although the phenomenon is most often associated with the
Ottonian The Ottonian dynasty () was a Saxon dynasty of German monarchs (919–1024), named after three of its kings and Holy Roman emperors, especially Otto the Great. It is also known as the Saxon dynasty after the family's origin in the German stem du ...
emperors (and is therefore sometimes also called the Ottonian system), since
Otto I Otto I (23 November 912 – 7 May 973), known as Otto the Great ( ) or Otto of Saxony ( ), was East Francia, East Frankish (Kingdom of Germany, German) king from 936 and Holy Roman Emperor from 962 until his death in 973. He was the eldest son o ...
introduced the system in the
Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...
in the 10th century, the practice of appointing celibate Catholic clerics in worldly governing positions had already existed during the Merovingian and
Carolingian Empire The Carolingian Empire (800–887) was a Franks, Frankish-dominated empire in Western and Central Europe during the Early Middle Ages. It was ruled by the Carolingian dynasty, which had ruled as List of Frankish kings, kings of the Franks since ...
, and in Ottonian times also occurred in
France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
and
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
, albeit at a smaller scale. The system worked as long as the emperors and kings could control the appointment of the bishops. The Ottonians even managed to control the
bishops of Rome The pope is the bishop of Rome and the visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. He is also known as the supreme pontiff, Roman pontiff, or sovereign pontiff. From the 8th century until 1870, the pope was the sovereign or head of sta ...
, who were in the process of achieving
papal primacy Papal primacy, also known as the primacy of the bishop of Rome, is an ecclesiological doctrine in the Catholic Church concerning the respect and authority that is due to the pope from other bishops and their episcopal sees. While the doctri ...
inside Western Christendom. The popes, objecting to Imperial control in the church, called on the bishops to oppose the emperor, managed to strengthen their position in the 11th and 12th century during the
investiture controversy The Investiture Controversy or Investiture Contest (, , ) was a conflict between church and state in medieval Europe, the Church and the state in medieval Europe over the ability to choose and install bishops (investiture), abbots of monasteri ...
, and seized indirect control of the appointment of bishops in the Holy Roman Empire with the 1122
Concordat of Worms The Concordat of Worms (; ), also referred to as the ''Pactum Callixtinum'' or ''Pactum Calixtinum'', was an agreement between the Catholic Church and the Holy Roman Empire which regulated the procedure for the appointment of bishops and abbots i ...
. Initially, a system was introduced where local
cathedral chapter According to both Catholic and Anglican canon law, a cathedral chapter is a college of clerics ( chapter) formed to advise a bishop and, in the case of a vacancy of the episcopal see in some countries, to govern the diocese during the vacancy. In ...
s elected the new bishop, and their choice had to be confirmed by the
metropolitan bishop In Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, churches with episcopal polity, the rank of metropolitan bishop, or simply metropolitan (alternative obsolete form: metropolite), is held by the diocesan bishop or archbishop of a Metropolis (reli ...
.Encarta-encyclopedie Winkler Prins (1993–2002) s.v. "bisschop §5.1 Investituurstrijd". Microsoft Corporation/Het Spectrum. In the 14th century, the
Holy See The Holy See (, ; ), also called the See of Rome, the Petrine See or the Apostolic See, is the central governing body of the Catholic Church and Vatican City. It encompasses the office of the pope as the Bishops in the Catholic Church, bishop ...
began to reserve the appointment of certain bishops to itself, after which the popes gradually laid claim to the exclusive right to appoint all bishops everywhere. This enabled them to appoint their confidants, thus nullifying the emperors' advantages and thus interest in maintaining and enlarging the Imperial church system. Although some prince-bishoprics continued to exist until the French Revolution or even the
German mediatisation German mediatisation (; ) was the major redistribution and reshaping of territorial holdings that took place between 1802 and 1814 in Germany by means of the subsumption and Secularization (church property), secularisation of a large number of ...
(1803), they gradually declined in number and power in subsequent centuries.Encarta-encyclopedie Winkler Prins (1993–2002) s.v. "Investituurstrijd". Microsoft Corporation/Het Spectrum.


See also

*
Caesaropapism Caesaropapism is the idea of combining the social and political power of secular government with religious power, or of making secular authority superior to the spiritual authority of the Church, especially concerning the connection of the Chu ...
*
Church and state in medieval Europe Church and state in medieval Europe was the relationship between the Catholic Church and the various monarchies and other states in Europe during the Middle Ages (between the end of Roman authority in the West in the fifth century to their e ...
*
Diocesan feud A diocesan feud (Wilhelm Kohl. ''Die Bistümer der Kirchenprovinz Köln. Das Bistum Münster 7,1: Die Diözese.'' Berlin, 1999. ''Germania Sacra'', New Series, Vol. 37,1; (), pp. 170–184.) is either a warlike conflict between two contender ...
, (military) conflict that arose when the election of a prince-bishop was disputed *
Papal appointment Papal appointment was a medieval method of selecting the Pope. Popes have always been selected by a council of Church fathers; however, Papal selection before 1059 was often characterized by confirmation or nomination by secular European rulers ...


References

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Literature

* Timothy Reuter, ''The Imperial Church System of the Ottonian and Salian Rulers. A Reconsideration.'' In: ''Journal of Ecclesiastical History'', 33, 1982, p. 347–374. * Josef Fleckenstein, ''Problematik und Gestalt der Reichskirche.'' In: Karl Schmid (ed.), ''Reich und Kirche vor dem Investiturstreit. Festschrift Gerd Tellenbach.'' Sigmaringen 1985, p. 83–98. History of the Holy Roman Empire Church and state law Investiture Controversy Caesaropapism