BAMBERG, ARCHDIOCESE OF. - In Bavaria; it comprises Upper Franconia, the north of Middle Franconia, part of Lower Franconia and of the Upper Palatinate, and the old duchy of Coburg. It has 1,910,000 inhabitants, of whom 717,000 are Catholics, and is divided into 2 urban deaneries (Bamberg and Nuremberg-Fürth) and 20 rural deaneries; it has a metropolitan chapter, and an auxiliary bishop, 285 parishes, 561 secular priests and 124 regulars. Patrons: St. George and St. Henry the Emperor. The city of Bamberg, predominantly Catholic, built on the banks of the Regnitz, is first mentioned in 902 and depended on the lords of Babenberg. In 906 it passed under the direct dependence of the Crown. In 973 Otto II ceded it to Henry I, Duke of Bavaria. It then passed to the latter's son, the Emperor Henry II, who, intending to make it a center of evangelization toward the Slavs, obtained from John XVIII, on Nov. 1, 1007, its erection as an episcopal see. Benedict VIII consecrated the church of St. Stephen there on the occasion of his journey to Germany in 1020, and Henry wished the new diocese to be placed under the immediate dependence and lordship of the Holy See; this bond was however dissolved by St. Leo IX in 1052. It had to endure the opposition of the bishop of Würzburg, from whose territory it had been detached, and this opposition was overcome only by granting that bishop certain territories in the Mark of Meiningen and the right of jurisdiction over certain parishes (cf. Hefele-Leclercq, IV, pp. 909 and 915). The diocese quickly acquired considerable importance, thanks to the rich donations of its founder, who secured its economic position: already its first bishop enjoyed the privilege of minting coin and of exacting tolls; it became a prince of the kingdom of Germany in 1230 by the will of Frederick II, and in the 16th century it had the direction of the Franconian Circle. Because of their mild and peaceful character, the bishops George III Schenk von Limburg (1505-22) and Weigand von Redtwitz (1522-56) were unable to offer resistance to the resistance to the Reformation. In 1528 Nuremberg and the Margraviate of Ansbach-Bayreuth broke away from B. by accepting the new faith. Of the 190 independent parishes, 105 with their suffragan churches passed to Protestantism during the 16th century. The diocese then suffered greatly from the Thirty Years' and Seven Years' Wars and from the Napoleonic campaigns. In 1802 the ecclesiastical principality of B. was secularized and incorporated into the kingdom of Bavaria. In 1808 the diocese was enlarged by 42 parishes formerly belonging to the bishopric of Würzburg, and subsequently, by the Concordat between the Holy See and Bavaria of June 5, 1817, it was elevated to an archbishopric having as suffragans the dioceses of Eichstätt, Speyer and Würzburg.
Among the bishops of B. the following are to be remembered: Eberhard I (1007-40), who was chancellor of Henry II (1005), founded the collegiate Chapter of St. Stephen (1009) and converted the pagan Wends; Suidger (1041-47), who became pope under the name Clement II (1046), but retained the government of his diocese; St. Otto I (1102-39), who was a true renewer of the diocese, founding and restoring about 30 monasteries; his name became famous for the conversion of the Pomeranians (1124-27); Johann Gottfried von Aschhausen (1609-1622), under whom the Catholic Reformation made good progress; he called the Jesuits into the diocese (1611), who took over the direction of the higher schools and of the seminary; he had pastoral visitations carried out, introduced popular missions and Marian sodalities, and was at the same time also bishop of Würzburg (1619); Friedrich Karl von Schönborn (1729-40), vice-chancellor of the empire, who was also bishop of Würzburg; he is famous for the magnificent buildings he had executed (palace of the Chapter, municipal hospital, seminary, restoration of the Town Hall, residential palace at Würzburg, Werneck castle) and for his generosity toward all cultural works; under his government the diocese enjoyed a period of true religious prosperity; Franz Ludwig von Erthal (1779-95), one of the greatest princes of his time, likewise united in his hands the two bishoprics of B. and of Würzburg. He visited all the parishes and founded several institutions of a cultural and social character, proving himself a precursor of modern welfare services.
THE SYNODS OF BAMBERG
The most effective expression of ecclesiastical government were the assemblies and synods held up to 1200. Two popes attended them: Benedict VII (1020) and Leo IX (1052). In 1135 the emperor Lothair was reconciled during the Synod with the Hohenstaufen and thereby secured the unity of the empire. During the Synod of 1147 the body of St. Henry II was transported to the Cathedral, and in 1200 the canonization of St. Cunegunda was celebrated. In 1451 Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa (v.) attended the Synod to settle the disputes between the secular clergy and the Mendicant Orders concerning Easter confessions.
ABBEYS AND MONASTERIES
Noteworthy are: Michaelsberg, a Benedictine abbey founded by Eberhard I (1015), which was famous in the 11th century for its school of painting. Secularized in 1803, it now serves as a municipal hospital. Banz, a Benedictine abbey founded by Margravine Alberada (1069), destroyed in the Thirty Years' War, was rebuilt under Abbot Otto de La Bourde (1664-67). After secularization it was sold to the Dukes of Bavaria (1814). From 1920-26 the German Trappists, driven out of Alsace, found refuge there. Michaelfeld, a Benedictine abbey founded by St. Otto I (1119), has today become an institute for the deaf and mute. Vierzehnheiligen, one of the most famous pilgrimage sites in Germany (120,000-150,000 pilgrims a year), founded in 1448. The present church was built (1743-72) to a design by Balthasar Neumann.
CULTURAL INSTITUTES AND MONUMENTS
As a center of culture B. had a university founded by Bishop Melchior Otto Voit von Salzburg (1648). Bishop Frederick Charles von Schönborn added to it the faculty of Jurisprudence and Francis Louis von Erthal that of Medicine. It was suppressed in 1803. The principal monument is the Cathedral which, situated at the top of a hill, dominates the whole city and its surroundings with its four bell towers 81 meters high. Together with the old and new episcopal palace (Renaissance of the sixteenth century and Baroque of 1704) and the old houses of the canons, it forms a harmonious whole. Founded by Henry II, it was consecrated in 1019. After the fires of 1031 and 1185 it was rebuilt in its present form, in the transitional style between Romanesque and Gothic, and consecrated again in 1237. In 1924, the ninth centenary of the death of St. Henry, it was elevated to a minor basilica. It has two choirs and is very rich in sculptures. Notable is the so-called Knight of B., an equestrian statue in the choir of St. George, of which neither the author nor the name of the person represented is known. The monument for the founder of the Cathedral and his consort St. Cunegunda is the work of Tilman Riemenschneider. Among the many sepulchral monuments one notes the tomb of Emperor Conrad II and that of Clement II, the only Pope buried in Germany. - See Pl. L.
Bibliography5 works
Erminia Kühn-Steinhäusen