Diocese of Brandenburg

The diocese of Brandenburg existed between the 10th and 16th centuries. From the 12th century, its bishops also ruled the Hochstift Brandenburg.

History

The foundation charter of the Brandenburg diocese is dated 1 October 948, though the actual founding date remained disputed among historians. The medieval chronicler Thietmar of Merseburg mentions the year 938; the bishopric may also have been established in the course of the partition of the vast Marca Geronis and the emergence of the Northern March after Margrave Gero's death in 965. With the foundation, King Otto (Holy Roman Emperor from 962) aimed at the Christianization of the Polabian Slavs (Wends) and the incorporation of their territory into the East Frankish realm.

Brandenburg was originally a suffragan of the Archbishopric of Mainz, but in 968 it came under the jurisdiction of the Magdeburg archbishops. The Great Slav Rising of 983 practically annihilated it, when revolting Lutici tribes conquered Brandenburg and the neighbouring Bishopric of Havelberg. Brandenburg bishops continued to be appointed, but they were merely titular, residing in Magdeburg or acting as auxiliary bishops in the western territories of the Empire. Not until the final subjugation of the Wends in the 12th century by Margrave Albert the Bear, the German eastward settlement (Ostsiedlung) in the diocesan region revived the bishopric.

Bishop Wigers of Brandenburg (acting 1138–60), an adherent of Norbert of Xanten, was the first of a series of bishops of the Premonstratensian Order, which chose the occupants of the episcopal see until 1447; in that year a bull of Pope Nicholas V gave the right of nomination to the Brandenburg elector, with whom the bishops stood in a close feudal relation. Bishop Wigers also established a Premonstratensian convent at Leitzkau (today part of Gommern, Saxony-Anhalt). Probably at the request of the Hevellian prince Pribislav-Henry, he established another convent at the Slavic Parduin settlement in present-day Brandenburg an der Havel, which became the nucleus of the revived Brandenburg cathedral chapter. The incorporation into the Premonstratensian Order was confirmed by Pope Clement III in 1188.

List of bishops

Early bishops

949–968: Dietmar
968–980: Dodilo
980–1004: Volkmar
992–1018: Wigo
1022–1032: Luizo
1032-1048: Rudolf
1048–1051: Dankwart
1068–1080: Dietrich I
1080–1092: Volkmar II
1100–1122: Hartbert
1124–1137: Ludolf
1137–1138: Landbert

Prince-bishops

1138–1160: Wiggar
1160–1173: Wilman
1173–1179: Sigfried I
1179–1190: Baldran
1190–1192: Alexius
1192–1205: Norbert
1205–1216: Baldwin
1216–1220: Siegfried II
1221–1222: Ludolf von Schanebeck, claimant, but not enthroned
1221–1222: Wichmann von Arnstein, counter-claimant, also not enthroned
1222–1241: Gernot
1241–1251: Ruotger von Kerkow [de]
1251–1261: Otto von Mehringen
1261–1278: Heinrich I von Osthenen (or Ostheeren)
1278–1287: Gebhard
1287–1290: Heidenreich
1290–1291: Richard, refused the appointment
1291–1296: Dietrich, not enthroned
1296–1302: Vollrad von Krempa
1303–1316: Friedrich von Plötzkau
1316–1324: Johann I von Tuchen
1324–1327: Heinrich II Count of Barby, not enthroned
1327–1347: Ludwig Schenk von Reindorf (or Neuendorf)
1347–1365: Dietrich II Kothe
1366–1393: Dietrich III von der Schulenburg
1393–1406: Heinrich III von Bodendiek (or Bodendieck)
1406–1414: Henning von Bredow
1414: Friedrich von Grafeneck, Prince-Bishop of Augsburg 1413–1414
1415–1420: Johann von Waldow, Bishop of Lebus 1420–1423
1420: Friedrich von Grafeneck, again
1421–1459: Stephan Bodecker
1459–1472: Dietrich IV von Stechow
1472–1485: Arnold von Burgsdorff
1485–1507: Joachim I von Bredow
1507–1520: Hieronymus Schulz (or Scultetus), Bishop of Havelberg 1521–1522
1520–1526: Dietrich V von Hardenberg

Lutheran bishops

1526–1544: Matthias von Jagow
1544–1546: Sede vacante
1546–1560: Joachim of Münsterberg-Oels
1560–1569/71: John George of Brandenburg, regent (Verweser)
1569/71: Joachim Frederick of Brandenburg