Berchtesgaden Provostry

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Berchtesgaden Provostry or the Prince-Provostry of Berchtesgaden (German: Fürstpropstei Berchtesgaden) was a "reichsunmittelbar" canonry, or collegiate foundation, of the Augustinian Canons and its territory, in Berchtesgaden in Bavaria, Germany.

[edit] History

The territory of the principality comprised the communities of the Berchtesgaden valley, that is, the modern communities of Berchtesgaden, Bischofswiesen, Marktschellenberg, Ramsau and Schönau am Königssee, as well as a number of estates further afield.

The monastery, dedicated to Saint Peter and Saint John the Baptist, was founded as a community of Augustinian Canons by Count Berengar of Sulzbach in 1102 under the directions of the will of his mother, the late Countess Irmgard.

The site of the monastery was an extremely strategic one. Firstly, it is in an area possessing immensely valuable salt deposits, and was situated in such a way that it was able to act as a buffer state between its much larger neighbours, Bavaria and Salzburg, and to make this situation work to its advantage. Secondly, the Berchtesgaden valley is almost entirely enclosed by high mountains, except for a single point of access to the north, and is thus virtually impregnable. In these circumstances, the provosts had little difficulty in establishing the territorial independence of the monastery, which became an Imperial abbey in 1194. In 1380 the provosts became "Reichsfürste" and from 1559 sat in the Reichstag as Prince-Provosts, a rank comparable to that of a Prince-Bishop.

The position of Prince-Provost was frequently held in conjunction with other high ecclesiastical positions, and the provosts often lived elsewhere. For the whole of the 17th century and a few years into the 18th, the title and territories were held by members of the Bavarian royal family, the Wittelsbachs.

In 1802/1803 the provostry and its territories were secularised and passed first to the short-lived Electorate of Salzburg, then in 1805 to Austria, and finally in 1810 to Bavaria. The monastic buildings were used for a while as a barracks, but in 1818 the monastery was designated as a royal residence of the Wittelsbachs, who used it as a summer palace.

Since the end of the monarchy in Bavaria the buildings have belonged to the Wittelsbach Compensation Fund (Wittelsbacher Ausgleichsfond). Some of the rooms are open to the public, while other parts of the building are still used by the Wittelsbachs. The monastic church is now a parish church.