Adiocesan feud (German:Stiftsfehde[1]) is either a warlike conflict between two contenders for the election of aprince-bishop, ruler of a bishopric or archbishopric in theHoly Roman Empire, or an armed conflict between two parties within such a territory. The introduction of theImperial Church System in the 10th century had intended the position of prince-bishops to be non-hereditary, as allCatholic clergymen were required to be celibate and thus could not producelegitimate offspring to inherit their possessions. Instead, theHoly Roman Emperor would appoint one of his confidants as prince-bishop, upon whose death he could choose a successor himself.[2] However, after the decline of imperial authority over clerical appointments due to theInvestiture Controversy (1076–1122), ending with theConcordat of Worms, thecathedral chapters started electing the bishops, and their choice had to be confirmed by themetropolitan bishop.[3] In the 14th century, theHoly See began to reserve the appointment of certain bishops to itself, after which the pope (himself the bishop of Rome) gradually laid claim to the exclusive right to appoint all bishops everywhere.[3]
In practice, all candidates to succeed a deceased prince-bishop, as well as the members of the cathedral chapters which were entitled to vote for these candidates, were either part of powerful aristocratic dynasties or, more commonly,[1] the lesser German nobility (by and large families ofImperial Knights) which sought tode facto add these prince-bishoprics to theirHausmacht.[4][5] In some cases, especially in the late Middle Ages (between 1300 and 1500), the result of the election did not satisfy one of the contending parties, and military conflicts ensued, which have become known as diocesan feuds, that bear a lot of similarities towars of succession.[1]
The best known examples in theHoly Roman Empire were the:
An example of a diocesan feud outside the Holy Roman Empire was theWar of the Priests (1467–1479) in thePrince-Bishopric of Warmia, a semi-independent state under the mixed protection of theState of the Teutonic Order and theKingdom of Poland.
