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Prince-Archbishopric of Salzburg | |||||||||
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| 1328–1803 | |||||||||
 Coat of arms | |||||||||
 Salzburg territory (blue) in 1648 | |||||||||
| Status | Prince-Archbishopric | ||||||||
| Capital | Salzburg | ||||||||
| Official languages | Medieval Latin Austro-Bavarian | ||||||||
| Religion | Roman Catholic | ||||||||
| Prince-Archbishop | |||||||||
• 1772–1803 | Count Hieronymus von Colloredo (last) | ||||||||
| Historical era | Middle Ages | ||||||||
• Diocese founded | 739 | ||||||||
• State constitution | 1328 | ||||||||
• JoinedBavarian Circle | 1500 | ||||||||
• Salzburg Cathedral consecrated | 1628 | ||||||||
| 1803 | |||||||||
| 1805 | |||||||||
| Currency | Salzburg Thaler | ||||||||
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ThePrince-Archbishopric of Salzburg (Latin:Archiepiscopatus Salisburgensis;German:Fürsterzbistum Salzburg; Erzstift Salzburg; Erzbistum Salzburg) was anecclesiastical principality andstate of theHoly Roman Empire. It comprised the secular territory ruled by the archbishops of Salzburg, as distinguished from the much largerCatholic diocese founded in 739 bySaint Boniface in the Germanstem duchy ofBavaria. The capital of the archbishopric wasSalzburg, the formerRoman city ofIuvavum.
From the late 13th century onwards, the archbishops gradually reached the status ofImperial immediacy and independence from the Bavarian dukes. Salzburg remained an ecclesiasticalprincipality until itssecularisation to the short-livedElectorate of Salzburg (laterDuchy of Salzburg) in 1803. Members of theBavarian Circle from 1500, the prince-archbishops bore the title ofPrimas Germaniae, though they never obtainedelectoral dignity; actually of the six German prince-archbishoprics (withMainz,Cologne andTrier),Magdeburg,Bremen and Salzburg received nothing from theGolden Bull of 1356. The last prince-archbishop exercising secular authority wasCount Hieronymus von Colloredo, who was a patron of the Salzburg-native composerWolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
The prince-archbishopric's territory was roughly congruent with the present-day Austrian state ofSalzburg. It stretched along theSalzach river from theHigh Tauern range—Mt.Großvenediger at 3,666 m (12,028 ft)—at themain chain of the Alps in the south down to theAlpine foothills in the north. Here it also comprised the present-dayRupertiwinkel on the western shore of the Salzach, which today is part ofBavaria. The former archepiscopal lands are traditionally subdivided into five historic parts (Gaue):Flachgau with the Salzburg capital and TarusTennengau aroundHallein are both located in the broad Salzach valley at the rim of theNorthern Limestone Alps; the mountainous (Innergebirg) southern divisions arePinzgau,Pongau aroundBischofshofen, and southeasternLungau beyond theRadstädter Tauern Pass.
In the north and east, the prince-archbishopric bordered on theDuchy of Austria, a former Bavarianmargraviate, which had become independent in 1156 and, raised to anarchduchy in 1457, developed as the nucleus of theHabsburg monarchy. TheSalzkammergut border region, today a UNESCOWorld Heritage Site, as an importantsalt trade region was gradually seized by the mightyHouse of Habsburg and incorporated into theUpper Austrian lands. In the southeast, Salzburg adjoined theDuchy of Styria, also ruled by the Habsburg (arch-)dukes inpersonal union since 1192. By 1335, the Austrian regents had also acquired the oldDuchy of Carinthia in the south, the Styrian and Carinthian territories were incorporated intoInner Austria in 1379. The Habsburg encirclement was nearly completed when in 1363 the archdukes also attained theCounty of Tyrol in the west. Only in the northwest did Salzburg border on the Duchy of Bavaria (raised to anElectorate in 1623), and the tinyBerchtesgaden Provostry, which was able to retain its independence until the Mediatisation in 1803.
TheVita Sancti Severini biography by the Early Christian chroniclerEugippius, reported that during theDecline of the Roman Empire about 450 AD the local capitalIuvavum in theNoricum ripense province was already home to two churches and a monastery. Very little is known of the early bishopric during theMigration Period, and the legendary SaintMaximus of Salzburg is the only abbot-bishop known by name. A disciple of Saint Severinus, he was martyred in the retreat from Noricum, after the GermanicWestern Roman officerOdoacer had deposed the last EmperorRomulus Augustulus and declared himselfKing of Italy in 476. In his conflict with theRugii tribes, Odoacer had his brotherOnoulphus evacuate theNoricum ripense province in 487/88, wherebyIuvavum was abandoned and with it the bishopric. Saint Severinus had already died in 482 in thecastrum ofFavianis (present-dayMautern inLower Austria), six years before the departure of the Roman legions from the region.[1]
From the sixth century onwards, the northern areas of the later archbishopric were resettled byGermanicBavarii tribes, who established themselves among the remainingRomance population, whileSlavic tribes moved into the southern Pongau and Lungau parts. About 696Saint Rupert, thenBishop of Worms in FrankishAustrasia and later called the apostle of Bavaria and Carinthia, came to the region from the Bavarian townRegensburg and laid the foundations for the re-establishment of the Salzburg diocese. After erecting a church at nearbySeekirchen he discovered the ruins ofIuvavum overgrown with brambles and remnants of the Romance population, who had maintained Christian traditions. The former theory that he arrived already in c. 543 during the time of the unsourced earlyBavarian dukes appears less likely than that he worked during the reign of theAgilolfing dukeTheodo II (c. 680–717), when the Bavarianstem duchy came underFrankish supremacy. The bishops of Salzburg traditionally marked the foundation of their diocese as being the year 582, and struck coins commemorating the 1,200-year anniversary of the event in 1782.[2] In any case, it was not until after 700 thatChristian civilisation re-emerged in the region.
Rupert established a monastery dedicated toSaint Peter at the site of a Late Antique church in the formerIuvavum.St Peter's Abbey received large estates in the Flachgau (Rupertiwinkel) and Tennengau regions from the hands of Duke Theodon II, including severalbrine wells andsalt evaporation ponds which earnedIuvavum its German nameSalzburg. In 711 Rupert also founded theCellaMaximiliana in the Pongau region, the later town ofBischofshofen. His nieceErentrude established aBenedictine nunnery at nearbyNonnberg about 713. In 739 ArchbishopBoniface, with the blessing ofPope Gregory III, completed the work of Saint Rupert and raised Salzburg to a bishopric, placed under the primatial see of theArchdiocese of Mainz.St. Vergilius, abbot of St. Peter's since about 749, had quarrelled with St. Boniface over the existence ofantipodes. He nevertheless became bishop about 767.
Arno, bishop since 785, enjoyed the respect of the Frankish kingCharlemagne who assigned to him the missionary territory between the riversDanube in the north, theRába(Raab) in the east and theDrava in the south, an area which had recently been conquered from theAvars. Monasteries were founded and all ofCarinthia was slowly Christianised. While Arno was inRome attending to some of Charlemagne's business in 798,Pope Leo III appointed him Archbishop over the other bishops inBavaria (Freising,Passau,Regensburg, andSäben). When the dispute over the ecclesiastical border between Salzburg and thePatriarchate of Aquileia broke out, Charlemagne declared the Drava to be the border.
Archbishop Adalwin (859–873) suffered great troubles when KingRastislav of Moravia attempted to remove his realm from the ecclesiastical influence ofEast Francia. In 870Pope Adrian II appointed the "Apostle of the Slavs"St. Methodius the Archbishop ofPannonia andMoravia atSirmium, entrusting him large territories under the overlordship of the Salzburg diocese. It was only when Rastislav and Methodius were captured by KingLouis the German that Adalwin could adequately protest the invasion of his rights.[clarification needed] Methodius appeared at theSynod of Salzburg where he was struck in the face and imprisoned in close confinement for two and a half years.
Soon after, theMagyars ravaged Great Moravia and not a church was left standing in Pannonia. ArchbishopDietmar I fell in battle in 907. It was not until theBattle of Lechfeld in 955 that the Magyars suffered a crushing defeat, and ecclesiastical life in Salzburg returned to normal. The following year after ArchbishopHerhold allied withLiudolf, Duke of Swabia and DukeConrad the Red of Lorraine, he was deposed, imprisoned, blinded, and banished. ArchbishopBruno of Cologne, called the Bishop-Maker, appointed Frederick I archbishop and declared theAbbacy of St. Peter independent.
In the era beginning withPope Gregory VII, the Latin Christendom entered a period of internal conflict. The first archbishop of the era wasGebhard, who during theInvestiture Controversy remained on the side of the Pope.[clarification needed] Gebhard thus suffered a nine-year exile, and was allowed to return shortly before his death and was buried inAdmont. After KingHenry IV abdicated andConrad I of Abensberg was elected Archbishop. Conrad lived in exile until theCalistine Concordat of 1122. Conrad spent the remaining years of his episcopate improving the religious life in the archdiocese.
Archbishop Eberhard II of Regensberg was made aprince of the Empire in 1213, and created three new sees:Chiemsee (1216),Seckau (1218) andLavant (1225). In 1241, at the Council ofRegensburg he denouncedPope Gregory IX as "that man of perdition, whom they call Antichrist, who in his extravagant boasting says, I am God, I cannot err."[3] During theGerman Interregnum, Salzburg suffered confusion.Philip of Spanheim, heir to the Dukedom of Carinthia, refused to take priestly consecrations, and was replaced byUlrich,Bishop of Seckau.
KingRudolph I ofHabsburg quarrelled with the archbishops through the manipulations of AbbotHenry of Admont, and after his death the archbishops and the Habsburgs made peace in 1297. The people and archbishops of Salzburgs remained loyal to the Habsburgs in their struggles against theWittelsbachs. When theBlack Death reached Salzburg in 1347, theJews were accused of poisoning the wells and suffered severe persecution.
In 1473, he summoned the first provincial diet in the history of the archbishopric, and eventually abdicated.[clarification needed] It was onlyLeonard of Keutschach (reigned 1495–1519) who reversed the situation. He had all theburgomasters and town councillors (who were levying unfair taxes) arrested simultaneously and imprisoned in the castle.[clarification needed] His last years were spent in bitter struggle againstMatthäus Lang of Wellenburg,Bishop of Gurk, who succeeded him in 1519.
Matthäus Lang was largely unnoticed in official circles, although his influence was felt throughout the archbishopric. He brought inSaxon miners, which brought with themProtestant books and teachings. He then attempted to keep the populace Catholic, and during the Latin War was besieged in theHohen-Salzburg, declared a "monster" byMartin Luther, and two later uprisings by the peasants lead to suffering to the entire archdiocese. Later bishops were wiser in the ruling and spared Salzburg the religious wars and devastation seen elsewhere in Germany.[clarification needed] ArchbishopWolf Dietrich von Raitenau gave the Protestants the choice of converting to Catholicism or leaving Salzburg. The cathedral was rebuilt in such splendour that it was unrivalled by all others north of theAlps.
ArchbishopParis of Lodron led Salzburg to peace and prosperity during theThirty Years' War in which the rest of Germany was thoroughly devastated. During the reign ofLeopold Anthony of Firmian, the remaining Protestants in Salzburg were expelled in 1731.[4] He invited theJesuits to Salzburg and asked for help from the emperor, and finally ordered the Protestants to recant their beliefs or emigrate. Over 20,000Salzburg Protestants were forced to leave their homes, most of whom accepted an offer of land by KingFrederick William I of Prussia.
The last Prince-Archbishop,Hieronymus von Colloredo, is probably best known for his patronage ofMozart. His reforms of the church and education systems alienated him from the people.[clarification needed]
In 1803, Salzburg was secularised as theElectorate of Salzburg for the former Grand DukeFerdinand III ofTuscany (brother ofEmperor Francis II), who had lost his throne. In 1805, it became part of Austria. In 1809, it became part of Bavaria which closed theUniversity of Salzburg, banned monasteries from accepting novices, and banned pilgrimages and processions. The archdiocese was reestablished as theRoman Catholic Archdiocese of Salzburg in 1818 without temporal power.
Up to today, the Archbishop of Salzburg has also borne the titlePrimas Germaniae ("FirstBishop of Germany"). The powers of this title – non-jurisdictional – are limited to being the Pope's first correspondent in the German-speaking world, but had once included the right to preside over thePrinces of the Holy Roman Empire. The Archbishop also has the title ofLegatus Natus ("born legate") to the Pope, which, although not acardinal, gives the Archbishop the privilege of wearing red vesture (which is much deeper than a cardinal's scarlet), even in Rome.
SeeRoman Catholic Archdiocese of Salzburg for archbishops since 1812.
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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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