Bishopric of Minden
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Bishopric of Minden was a Roman Catholic diocese and a state of the Holy Roman Empire. Its capital was Minden.
The diocese was founded by Charlemagne in 803, after he had conquered the Saxons. It was subordinate to the archbishop of Cologne. Minden became a state in 1180, when the Duchy of Saxony was dissolved. In the 16th century, the Protestant Reformation was starting to take hold in the state under the influence of the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg. Minden was occupied by Sweden in the Thirty Years' War, and was secularized. The Peace of Westphalia of 1648 gave it to Brandenburg as the Principality of Minden.
Since 1719, Minden was administered by Brandenburg together with the adjacent County of Ravensberg. In 1807, it became part of the Kingdom of Westphalia. In 1814, it returned to Prussia (the former Brandenburg) and became part of the Province of Westphalia.
As of 1789, the Principality had an area of 1100 km². It was bordered by (from the north, clockwise): an exclave of the Landgraviate of Hesse-Cassel, the Electorate of Hanover, the County of Schaumburg-Lippe, another exclave of Hesse-Cassel, the Principality of Lippe, the County of Ravensberg, and the Prince-Bishopric of Osnabrück. Cities included Minden and Lübbecke.
[edit] Famous bishops
- Saint Erkanbert (803-813)
- Saint Hardward (813-853)
- Saint Theoderich (853-880)
- Saint Thietmar (1185-1206)
- Francis of Waldeck (1530-1553)
- Julius, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1553-1554)
- Henry Julius, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1582-1585, Protestant)
- Christian the Elder, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1599-1625, Protestant)
- Francis of Wartenberg (1631-1648)
[edit] References
- (German) At Meyers Konversationslexikon, 1888
- (German) At NRW-Geschichte.de (with map)
Aachen | Anholt | Beilstein | Bentheim | Berg | Blankenheim and Gerolstein | Cambrai | Cleves | Cologne | Corvey | Delmenhorst | Diepholz | Dortmund | East Frisia | Essen | Fagnolle | Gemen | Gimborn | Gronsfeld | Hallermund | Herford | Holzapfel | Hoya | Jülich | Kerpen-Lommersum | Kornelimünster | Liège | Lingen | Lippe | Malmedy | Mark | Minden | Moers | Münster | Myllendonk | Nassau-Diez | Nassau-Dillenburg | Nassau-Hadamar | Oldenburg | Osnabrück | Paderborn | Pyrmont | Ravensberg | Reckheim | Reichenstein | Rietberg | Sayn | Schaumburg | Schaumburg-Hesse | Schaumburg-Lippe | Schleiden | Spiegelberg | Stavelot | Steinfurt | Tecklenburg | Thorn | Verden | Virneburg | Werden | Wickrath | Wied | Winneburg | Wittem
Territories and Provinces of Prussia (1525 – 1947)
Before 1701: Prussia | Brandenburg | Farther Pomerania | Magdeburg | Halberstadt | Cleves | Mark | Ravensberg | Minden |
Colonies of Brandenburg-Prussia: Groß Friedrichsburg | Arguin | Crab Island | Tertholen
After 1701: Neuchâtel | Hither Pomerania | East Frisia | Silesia (1740) | Glatz (1763) | Polish Prussia, Netze District (1772) |
South Prussia (1793) | New East Prussia, New Silesia (1795)
Reorder after 1814–5: East Prussia & West Prussia (1824–78 joined to Prussia) | Brandenburg | Pomerania | Posen | Saxony | Silesia | Westphalia | Rhine Province (1822, Lower Rhine & Jülich-Cleves-Berg) | Hohenzollern (1850, Hohenzollern-Hechingen & Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen) | Schleswig-Holstein, Hanover, Hesse-Nassau (1866–8)
Later administrational reforms: Lower Silesia, Upper Silesia (1919) | Greater Berlin, West Prussia (district) (1920) | Posen-West Prussia (1922) |
Halle-Merseburg, Magdeburg, Electoral Hesse, Nassau (1944)
