Trier, as the important Roman provincial capital…

Trier, as the important Roman provincial capital of Augusta Treverorum, had been the seat of a bishop since Roman times.

The bishops of Trier were already virtually independent territorial magnates in Merovingian times.

Charlemagne in 772 had granted Bishop Wiomad complete immunity from the jurisdiction of the ruling count for all the churches and monasteries, as well as villages and castles that belonged to the Church of St. Peter at Trier.

Later during the reign of Charlemagne, Trier had been raised to archiepiscopal status.

Louis the Pious in 816 had confirmed to Archbishop Hetto the privileges of protection and immunity granted by his father.

At the partition of the Carolingian empire at Verdun in 843, Trier had fallen to Lothair; at the partition of Lotharingia at Mersen in 870, it had fallen to the East Frankish kingdom, which has developed into Germany.

Archbishop Ratbod receives in 898 complete immunity from all taxes for the entire Episcopal territory, granted by Zwentibold, the natural son of Emperor Arnulf of Carinthia, who reigns briefly as King of Lotharingia and, under great pressure from his independent nobles, desperately needs a powerful ally.

The gift cements the position of the archbishops as territorial lords in their own right.