Prince-Archbishopric of Mainz | |||||||||||||||||
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| 780–1803 | |||||||||||||||||
 Flag | |||||||||||||||||
 Location of the Archbishopric of Mainz, 1729 | |||||||||||||||||
| Status | State of theHoly Roman Empire | ||||||||||||||||
| Capital | Mainz | ||||||||||||||||
| Common languages | German | ||||||||||||||||
| Religion | Catholic Church | ||||||||||||||||
| Government | Ecclesiastical principality | ||||||||||||||||
| Prince-elector and Archbishop | |||||||||||||||||
• 754–786 | Lullus (first) | ||||||||||||||||
• 1802–1803 | Karl Theodor von Dalberg (last) | ||||||||||||||||
| Historical era | |||||||||||||||||
• Gained territory, elevated to archbishopric | 780 | ||||||||||||||||
| 983 | |||||||||||||||||
| 1251 | |||||||||||||||||
| 1242–1462 | |||||||||||||||||
| 18 March – 23 July 1793 | |||||||||||||||||
| 17 October 1797 | |||||||||||||||||
| 1803 | |||||||||||||||||
| Population | |||||||||||||||||
• 1760[1] | 336,000 | ||||||||||||||||
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| Today part of | Germany | ||||||||||||||||
TheElectorate ofMainz (German:Kurfürstentum Mainz orKurmainz;Latin:Electoratus Moguntinus), previously known in English asMentz and by its French nameMayence, was one of the most prestigious and influential states of theHoly Roman Empire. In the hierarchy of theCatholic Church, theArchbishop-Elector of Mainz was also the Primate of Germany (primas Germaniae), a purely honorary dignity that was unsuccessfully claimed from time to time by other archbishops. There were only two other ecclesiasticalPrince-electors in the Empire: theElectorate of Cologne and theElectorate of Trier.
The Archbishop-Elector of Mainz was alsoarchchancellor ofGermany (one of the three component titular kingdoms of the Holy Roman Empire, the other two beingItaly andBurgundy) and, as such, ranked first among all ecclesiastical and secular princes of the Empire, and was second only to theEmperor. His political role, particularly as an intermediary between theEstates of the Empire and the Emperor, was considerable.[2]
The episcopal see was established inancient Roman times in the city of Mainz, which had been a Roman provincial capital, Moguntiacum. The first bishops before the 4th century have legendary names, beginning withCrescens. The first verifiable Bishop of Mainz was Martinus in 343. The ecclesiastical and secular importance of Mainz dates from the accession of St.Boniface to the see in 747. Boniface was previously an archbishop though without an assigned see, but that ecclesiastical status did not immediately devolve upon the see itself until his successorLullus; during his reign Mainz became an archdiocese, in 781.[3] Another early bishop of Mainz wasAureus of Mainz.
The territory of the Electorate included several non-contiguous blocks of territory: lands near Mainz on both the left and right banks of the Rhine; territory along the Main River above Frankfurt (including the district ofAschaffenburg); theEichsfeld region inLower Saxony andThuringia; and the territory aroundErfurt in Thuringia.
As was generally the case in the Holy Roman Empire, the territory of a prince-bishopric or archbishopric differed from that of the corresponding diocese or archdiocese, which was the purely spiritual jurisdiction of the prince-bishop or archbishop. During the early modern age, the archdiocese of Mainz (see map below) was the largest ecclesiastical province of Germany, covering Mainz and 10 suffragant dioceses.[4]
During the early modern period thecathedral chapter of Mainz controlled the election of the archbishop and used its power to ensure only its members were elevated. By this time membership in the chapter had been monopolized by a few families ofImperial Knights, securing their power within the Electorate.[5]
In 1802, Mainz lost its archiepiscopal character. In the secularizations that accompanied theReichsdeputationshauptschluss (German mediatization) of 1803, the seat of the elector,Karl Theodor von Dalberg, was moved toRegensburg, and the electorate lost its left bank territories toFrance, its right bank areas along the Main below Frankfurt toHesse-Darmstadt and theNassau princes, and Eichsfeld and Erfurt to theKingdom of Prussia. Dalberg retained the Aschaffenburg area as thePrincipality of Aschaffenburg. In 1810 Dalberg merged Aschaffenburg,Frankfurt,Wetzlar,Hanau, andFulda, to form the newGrand Duchy of Frankfurt in 1810. Dalberg resigned in 1813 and in 1815 theCongress of Vienna divided his territories between theKingdom of Bavaria, theElectorate of Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel), theGrand Duchy of Hesse and theFree City of Frankfurt.
The modernRoman Catholic Diocese of Mainz was founded in 1802 when Mainz lost its archdiocese status and its territory west of the Rhine River became a mere diocese within the territory ofFrance. In 1814 its jurisdiction was extended over the territory of Hesse-Darmstadt. Since then it has had two cardinals and via variousconcordats was allowed to retain the medieval tradition of thecathedral chapter electing a successor to the bishop.
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Circles est. 1500:Bavarian,Swabian,Upper Rhenish,Lower Rhenish–Westphalian,Franconian,(Lower) Saxon Circles est. 1512:Austrian,Burgundian,Upper Saxon,Electoral Rhenish · Unencircled territories | ||
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