The Prince-Bishopric of Worms was an ecclesiastical principality of 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 ...

. Located on both banks of the

Rhine The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...

around

Worms The World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) is a taxonomic database that aims to provide an authoritative and comprehensive catalogue and list of names of marine organisms. Content The content of the registry is edited and maintained by scien ...

just north of the union of that river with the

Neckar The Neckar () is a river in Germany, mainly flowing through the southwestern States of Germany, state of Baden-Württemberg, with a short section through Hesse. The Neckar is a major right tributary of the Rhine. Rising in the Schwarzwald-Baar ...

, it was largely surrounded by the

Electorate of the Palatinate The Electoral Palatinate was a Imperial State, constituent state of the Holy Roman Empire until it was annexed by the Electorate of Baden in 1803. From the end of the 13th century, its ruler was one of the Prince-electors who elected the Holy ...

. Worms had been the seat of a bishop from Roman times. From the High Middle Ages on, the prince-bishops' secular jurisdiction no longer included the city of Worms, which was an Imperial Free City (the

Free Imperial City of Worms Worms (; ) is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, situated on the Upper Rhine about south-southwest of Frankfurt am Main. It had about 84,646 inhabitants . A pre-Roman foundation, Worms is one of the oldest cities in northern Europe. It ...

) and which became officially Protestant during the Reformation. The prince-bishops however retained jurisdiction over the Cathedral of Worms inside the city. During the Worms massacre in 1096, Bishop Adalbert II attempted to protect the city’s Jewish community by sheltering them in his palace, but his attempt to protect them werre ultimately unsuccessful. In 1795 Worms itself, as well as the entire territory of the prince-bishopric on the left bank of the Rhine, was occupied and annexed by France. In the wake of the territorial reorganizations that came with the

German mediatization 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 ...

of 1802, the remaining territory of the bishopric, along with that of nearly all the other ecclesiastical principalities, was secularized. In this case, it was annexed by

Hesse-Darmstadt The Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt () was a State of the Holy Roman Empire, ruled by a younger branch of the House of Hesse. It was formed in 1567 following the division of the Landgraviate of Hesse among the four sons of Landgrave Philip I. ...

Bishops of Worms, 770—1802

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bishopric Of Worms

Worms, Germany Catholic League (German)

Dioceses established in the 9th century Former Roman Catholic dioceses in Germany States and territories established in the 860s States and territories disestablished in 1802 861 establishments 9th-century establishments in Germany 1802 disestablishments in the Holy Roman Empire Former countries Former monarchies of Europe