Magdeburg, Prince-Archbishopric of

The Archbishopric of Magdeburg is a Roman Catholic archdiocese (969–1552) and Prince-Archbishopric (1180–1680) of the Holy Roman Empire centered on the city of Magdeburg on the Elbe River.Planned since 955 and established in 968, the Roman Catholic archdiocese de facto turns void in 1557, when the last papally confirmed prince-archbishop, the Lutheran Sigismund of Brandenburg, comes of age and ascends to the see and the Magdeburg cathedral chapter had adopted Lutheranism in 1567, with most parishioners having preceded in their conversion.

All his successors are only administrators of the prince-archbishopric and Lutheran too, except of the Catholic layman Leopold William of Austria (1631–1635).

In ecclesiastical respect, the remaining Catholics and their parishes and abbeys in the former archdiocese are put under supervision of the Archdiocese of Cologne in 1648 and under the jurisdiction of the Apostolic Vicariate of the Northern Missions in 1670.In political respect, the Erzstift, the archiepiscopal and capitular temporalities, gain imperial immediacy as a prince-archbishopric in 1180.

Its territory comprises only some parts of the archdiocesan area, such as the city of Magdeburg, the bulk of the Magdeburg Börde, and the Jerichow Land as an integral whole and exclaves comprising about the Saalkreis including Halle upon Saale, Oebisfelde and environs as well as Jüterbog and environs.

The prince-archbishopric maintains its statehood as an elective monarchy until 1680, when Brandenburg-Prussia acquires Magdeburg prince-archbishopric, and after being secularized, transforms it into the Duchy of Magdeburg, a hereditary monarchy in personal union with Brandenburg.The 1994-founded modern Diocese of Magdeburg is a diocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic church located in the German states of Saxony-Anhalt (bulk), Brandenburg and Saxony (smaller fringes each).

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