Roman Catholic Diocese of Chiemsee

Bishopric of Chiemsee Bistum Chiemsee
1216 - 1808
Coat of arms
Capital Circle Bench	Herrenchiemsee Bavarian until ? none
Established	1216
Abolished	1808

Herrenchiemsee (left); Engraving by Merian, c. 1644

Chiemseehof, Salzburg

The Bishopric of Chiemsee was a Roman Catholic diocese. While based on the islands of the Chiemsee in Bavaria, Germany, most of its territory lay in the County of Tyrol, Austria. The bishopric was abolished in 1808. In 2009 it was reestablished as titular see by Benedict XVI., however the bishops seat is still vacant.

Establishment

The Bishopric of Chiemsee was established by the Archbishop of Salzburg, Eberhard II of Regensberg, on the islands of the Chiemsee in 1215. It followed the precedent set by his predecessor Gebhard, who had established the Bishopric of Gurk in 1072. This system of funding quite small suffragan dioceses was to be completed by the setting of the bishoprics of Seckau in 1218 and Lavant in 1225. It was caused by the fact, that, after a large increase in size, stretching its borders from the Inn river in Bavaria to the hungarian border, the archdiocese of Salzburg became hard to handle. Both the Holy Roman Emperor and the Pope gave their support to the establishment of the bishopric in 1213.

Structure

All bishops of Chiemsee were selected by the Archbishops, for the archbishop and the bishops formed some of the most important supporters of the archbishops. The bishops usually served as auxiliary bishops or fulfilled other duties for the archbishops. Locally the real power in the bishopric rested in the archdeacons who, supported by the Dukes of Bavaria, prevented the bishops from residing in the bishopric. Therefore the Bishops never became prince-bishops of the Empire, unlike most other ecclesiarchs. Thus the bishopric should not be considered as a state of the Holy Roman Empire, but as a territory within the state of the archbishopric. According to this, the bishops held a seat in the archbishoprics diet.

At first, the monastery of Frauenchiemsee was presumed to be the seat of the bishopry, but instead, the monastery church of the nearby Benectine Abbey of Herrenchiemsee was decided to be the bishops cathedral. In fact, the seat of the bishopric was the so called Chiemseehof in the city of Salzburg. This building nowadays is used by the parliament and the government of the State of Salzburg.

The bishopric was very small, consisting of 10 parishes when it was created and 11 in 1804, the most of being located as exclaves in the vicinity of St. Johann in Tirol.

The most famous bishop was Berthold Pürstinger (1508 - 1525) who twice used his influence to save innocent people from the bishops (the town-councillors in 1511, and peasants in 1524), and after retiring from office became a noted humanist.

Abolition

Together with the secularisation of the archbishopric in 1803, the bishropric lost its function as territory as well. In 1808 the diocese was abolished after the last bishop waived his rights. Temporary under the rule of the Ordinariate of the Bishopric of Freising, the austrian parts returned to Salzburg and got added to the Bishopric of Brixen in 1817/18, the rest becoming regular part of newly renamed Bishopric of Munich-Freising.

List of Bishops of Chiemsee (1216 - 1808)

Name	Reign	Notes
Rudiger of Bergheim-Radeck	1216–1233
Albert	1234–1244
vacant	1244 - 1246
Albert Suerbeer	1246 - 1247	Administrator; Archbishop of Armagh
Henry of Bilversheim	1247 - 1252	Administrator
Henry I	1252–1262
Henry II of Lützelburg	1263–1274
John I of Ennstal	1274–1279
Conrad I of Hintberg	1279–1292
Frederick I of Fronau	1292–1293
Adalbert of Fohnsdorf	1293–1322
Ulrich I of Montpreis	1322–1330
Conrad II of Liechtenstein	1330–1354
Gerhoh of Waldeck	1354–1359
Hugo of Schärfenberg	1359
Louis I Radelkofen	1360–1361
Frederick II	1361–1387
George I of Neuberg	1387–1393
Eckart of Pernegg	1393–1399
Engelmar Chrel	1399–1422
Frederick III Theis of Thesingen	1423–1429	Bishop of Lavant
John II Ebser	1429–1438
Sylvester Pflieger	1438–1453
Ulrich II of Plankenfels	1453–1467
Bernard of Kraiburg	1467–1477
George II Altdorfer	1477–1495
Louis II Ebmer	1495–1502
Christopher I Mendel of Steinfels	1502–1508
Berthold Pürstinger	1508–1525
Ägidius Rehm	1525–1536
Hieronymus Meittinger	1536–1557
Christopher II Schlattl	1557–1589
Sebastian Cattaneus	1589–1608
Ernfried of Khünburg	1608–1619
Nicholas of Wolkenstein	1619–1624
Christopher III John of Liechtenstein	1624–1643
Francis Vigilius of Spaur	1644–1670
John of Preysing	1670–1689
Sigismund Ignatius of Wolkenstein	1689–1696
Sigismund Charles of Castel-Barco	1696–1708
John Sigismund Grag of Khünburg	1708–1711	Bishop of Lavant
Francis Anthony Adolph of Wagensberg	1712–1723	Bishop of Seckau
Charles Joseph of Khünburg	1724–1729	Bishop of Seckau
Joseph Francis Valerian of Arco	1730–1746
Francis Charles Eusebius of Friedberg and Trauchburg	1746–1772
Ferdinand Christopher of Zeil and Trauchburg	1772–1786
Francis Xavier of Breuner	1786–1797
Sigismund Christopher of Zeil und Trauchburg	1797–1805	Archbishop of Salzburg
vacant	1805 - 1808

External links

• Diocese of Chiemsee at catholic-hierarchy.org
• Titular Episcopal See of Chiemsee at gcatholic.com
• Article about the Bishopric of Chiemsee at Historisches Lexikon Bayerns (german)