Archbishopric of Warmia
Encyclopedia
The Prince-Bishopric of Warmia was a semi independent ecclesiastical state
, a Prussian bishopric under the jurisdiction of the Archbishopric of Riga that was a protectorate of the Monastic state of the Teutonic Knights
(1243–1466) and a protectorate of Kingdom of Poland
, later part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
after the Peace of Thorn (1466-1772)
Originally founded as the Bishopric of Ermland, it was created by William of Modena
in 1243 in the territory of Prussia
after its conquest by the Teutonic Knights
during the Northern Crusades
. The diocesan cathedral chapter
constituted in 1260. While in the 1280s the Teutonic Order succeeded to impose the simultaneous membership of all capitular canons in the Order in the other three Prussian bishoprics, Ermland's chapter maintained its independence. So the Ermland's chapter could repel outside influence when electing its bishops. Thus the Golden Bull
of Emperor Charles IV
names the bishops as prince-bishop
s, a rank not awarded to the other three Prussian bishops (Culm, Pomesania
, and Samland
).
By the Second Peace of Thorn (1466) the prince-bishopric - like other western areas of Teutonic Prussia - seceded and formed a part of Royal Prussia
, which adopted the King of Poland as sovereign in a personal union
. After in 1569 Royal Prussia joint the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
Ermland's autonomy gradually faded.
After the First Partition of Poland
in 1772, the annexing Kingdom of Prussia
secularised the prince-bishopric as a state. Its territory, Warmia , was incorporated into the Prussian province of East Prussia
. King Frederick II of Prussia
confiscated the landed property of the prince-bishopric and assigned it to the Kriegs- und Domänenkammer in Königsberg
. In return he made up for the enormous debts of then Prince-Bishop Ignacy Krasicki
.
By the Treaty of Warsaw
(18 September 1773), King Frederick II guaranteed the free exercise of religion for the Catholics, so the religious body of the Roman Catholic diocese continued to exist, known today as the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Warmia
.
, and Samland (Sambia)
, Warmia was one of four dioceses in Prussia created in 1243 by the papal legate
William of Modena
. All four dioceses came under the rule of the appointed Archbishop of Prussia
Albert Suerbeer
who came from Cologne
and was the former Archbishop of Armagh
in Ireland
. He choose Riga as his residence in 1251, which was confirmed by Pope Alexander IV
in 1255. Heinrich of Strateich, the first elected Bishop of Warmia, was unable to claim his office, but in 1251 Anselm of Meissen
entered the see of Warmia, which resided at Braunsberg (Braniewo) until it moved to Frauenburg (Frombork)
in 1280 after attacks by heathen Old Prussians
. The bishop ruled one-third of the bishopric as a secular ruler which was confirmed by the Golden Bull of 1356
. The other two third of the diocese were under the secular rule of the Teutonic Order.
The Bishops of Warmia generally defended their privileges and tried to put down all attempts to cut the prerogatives and the autonomy the bishopric enjoyed.
After the Battle of Grunwald
in 1410, both the Sambian and Warmian bishops paid homage to Jogaila
of Poland and Lithuania, a maneuver to protect the territory from complete destruction.
When in the 1460s it became clear that the Teutonic Order would negotiate the Second Peace of Thorn, Bishop Paul of Lengendorf (1458–1467) joined the seceding Prussian Confederation
.
was disentangled from Teutonic Prussia, while the other two thirds of the diocese proper remained within the Order State.
The bishops insisted on keeping their imperial privileges and ruled the territory as de-facto prince-bishop
s although the Polish king did not share this point of view. This led to conflict when the Polish king claimed the right to name the bishops, as he did in the Kingdom of Poland
. The chapter did not accept this and elected Nicolaus von Tüngen
as bishop, which led to the War of the Priests
(Warmia Stift Feud, 1467–1479) between King Casimir IV Jagiellon
(1447–1492) and Nikolaus von Tüngen (1467–89) who was supported by the Teutonic Order and King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary
.
The Polish king accepted Tüngen as prince-bishop in the First Treaty of Piotrków Trybunalski, while Tüngen inversely accepted the Polish king as protector and obliged the chapter to elect only candidates approved by the Polish king. However, when Tüngen died in 1489, the chapter elected Lucas Watzenrode
as bishop and Pope Innocent VIII
supported Watzenrode against the wishes of Casimir IV Jagiellon
, who preferred his son Frederic. This problem finally led to the Exempt Status of the bishopric in 1512 by Pope Julius II
based on the Ermland status as part of German Nation. In the Second Treaty of Piotrków Trybunalski (December 7, 1512) Warmia conceded to King Alexander Jagiellon
a limited right to propose four candidates to the chapter for the election, who however had to be native Prussians.
The Diocese of Warmia lost the two thirds of its diocese within Teutonic Prussia after 1525 when the Order's Grand Master Albert of Brandenburg-Ansbach converted the monastic state into Ducal Prussia
, himself ruling as duke. On 10 December 1525, at their session in Königsberg, the Prussian estates
established the Lutheran Church in Ducal Prussia by deciding the Church Order
.
Thus Bishop Georg von Polenz of Pomesania and Samland, who had converted to Lutheranism in 1523, took over and introduced the Protestant Reformation
also in the ducal two thirds of Warmia diocese, territorially surrounding the actual prince-episcopal third. With the formal abolition of the now Lutheran bishopric of Samland in 1587 the now Lutheran Warmian parishes became subject to the Sambian Consistory
(later moved to Königsberg). As a result, even within ducal Warmia, the vast majority of burghers had become Lutherans.
After the Council of Trent
the later cardinal Stanislaus Hosius
(1551–79) held a diocesan synode (1565) and the same year the Jesuits
came to Braunsberg. While nearly all of Ducal Prussia took on Lutheranism, the prince-bishops Hosius and Cromer and the Jesuits were instrumental in keeping much of the prince-episcopal Warmians Catholic. The Congregation of St. Catherine, founded at Braunsberg by Regina Protmann
, engaged in education, especially schooling for girls. However even Hosius and Cromer strongly defended the exempt status of Ermland against the many attempts of the Polish kings to annex it to Poland-Lithuania after 1569.
In this period the cathedral chapter
mostly elected bishops of Polish nationality. The faithful in the northern part of the diocese were by large majority ethnic Germans. Following King Sigismund III
's contract on regency in Ducal Prussia (1605) with Joachim Frederick of Brandenburg, and his Treaty of Warsaw
(1611) with John Sigismund of Brandenburg
, confirming the co-enfeoffment of the Berlin Hohenzollern with Ducal Prussia, these two rulers guaranteed free practice of Catholic religion in all of prevailingly Lutheran Ducal Prussia.
So some churches were reconsecrated to or newly built for Catholic worship (e.g. St. Nicholas, Elbing
, St. John the Baptist, Königsberg). Those new Catholic churches located in the ducal two thirds of Ermland diocese and in diocesan territory of the suppressed Samland see were then subordinated to the Warmian Frombork see. This development was recognised by the Holy See in 1617 by de jure extending Ermland's jurisdiction over Samland's former diocesan territory, only containing few immigrated Catholics. In practice the ducal government obstructed Catholic exercise in many ways.
Until the late 18th century, the prince-bishop was also a Ober-President of all of Prussia combined as part of the Senate Conventus generalus Terrarum Prussiae.
As a result of the First Partition of Poland
in 1772, Warmia was incorporated into the Kingdom of Prussia
's province of East Prussia
as bishopric of Ermland.
multi-state-kingdom , referred to as First Partition of Poland
in 1772, Ermland was incorporated into the Kingdom of Prussia
's province of East Prussia
.
The bishopric ceased to be an independend governmental unit, and King Frederick II
confiscated its property. The prince-bishop, a personal friend of Frederick the Great, the noted Polish author Ignacy Krasicki
, though deprived of temporal
authority, retained influence at the Prussian court before his reappointment as Archbishop of Gniezno in 1795.
Although the population of the bishopric Ermland remained largely Roman Catholic, religious schools were suppressed. Although there had been schools teaching in Lithuanian and Polish language since the 16th c., Lithuanian and Polish language was forbidden in all schools in East Prussia by decree of 1873.
By the bull De salute animum (July 16, 1820) the Catholic Church in Prussia was reorganised. The diocesan territory of the former Diocese of Samland (Sambia
) and part of the former Diocese of Pomesania, both with few remaining Catholics there since Reformation, were added to the Diocese of Warmia.
In 1901, the total population in the area of the diocese was about 2,000,000, with 327,567 being Catholic. In 1925, Marienwerder (Kwidzyn
) and surroundings, defore part of Culm Diocese, were attached to Ermland, while the Klaipėda Region
was dissected in 1926 as territorial prelature of its own. The diocese of Ermland remained an exempt see until 1930, when it became suffragan to the Breslau See within the Eastern German Ecclesiastical Province.
was forced to leave his office by the Nazi
Schutzstaffel
for his safety in February 1945 during World War II
, as the Soviet Red Army
advanced into East Prussia
. During the last months of the Second World War, the Potsdam Agreement
went along with the Soviet conquests and the southern portion of the diocese was administered by Poland, while the northern part found itself in the Soviet Union
as part of the Kaliningrad Oblast
; the German population was subject to expulsion
along with the last Ermland bishop Maximilian Kaller.
Kaller returned to the region to resume his office as bishop, but by then a Polish administration and population had moved in and were cleansing the territory of its German population. Cardinal August Hlond prevented Kaller from continuing his duties, and Kaller took refuge in what would become West Germany
but never resigned. In 1946 he received "Special Authority as Bishop for the Deported Germans
" from Pope Pius XII
.
The office of Bishop of Warmia, traditionally at the cathedral of Frauenburg (Frombork), was left vacant after 1945. A new Polish bishopric was installed with the appointment of Józef Drzazga in 1972, who relocated the office to Olsztyn
.
On March 25, 1992, the Bishopric of Warmia was raised to an archbishopric. Its suffragans are the dioceses Elbląg and Ełk belonging also to the 12,000 km² area and its 703,000 Catholics, 33 deans
, 253 church districts, 446 diocese priest
s, 117 order priests, and 231 order nuns.
The current archbishop is Wojciech Ziemba, supported by an auxiliary bishop.
Sovereign state
A sovereign state, or simply, state, is a state with a defined territory on which it exercises internal and external sovereignty, a permanent population, a government, and the capacity to enter into relations with other sovereign states. It is also normally understood to be a state which is neither...
, a Prussian bishopric under the jurisdiction of the Archbishopric of Riga that was a protectorate of the Monastic state of the Teutonic Knights
Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights
The State of the Teutonic Order, , also Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights or Ordensstaat , was formed in 1224 during the Northern Crusades, the Teutonic Knights' conquest of the pagan West-Baltic Old Prussians in the 13th century....
(1243–1466) and a protectorate of Kingdom of Poland
Kingdom of Poland (1385–1569)
The Kingdom of Poland of the Jagiellons was the Polish state created by the accession of Jogaila , Grand Duke of Lithuania, to the Polish throne in 1386. The Union of Krewo or Krėva Act, united Poland and Lithuania under the rule of a single monarch...
, later part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was a dualistic state of Poland and Lithuania ruled by a common monarch. It was the largest and one of the most populous countries of 16th- and 17th‑century Europe with some and a multi-ethnic population of 11 million at its peak in the early 17th century...
after the Peace of Thorn (1466-1772)
Originally founded as the Bishopric of Ermland, it was created by William of Modena
William of Modena
William of Modena , also known as William of Sabina, Guglielmo de Chartreaux, Guglielmo de Savoy, Guillelmus, was an Italian clergyman and papal diplomat. He was frequently appointed a legate, or papal ambassador by the popes Honorius III and Gregory IX, especially in Livonia in the 1220s and in...
in 1243 in the territory of Prussia
Prussia (region)
Prussia is a historical region in Central Europe extending from the south-eastern coast of the Baltic Sea to the Masurian Lake District. It is now divided between Poland, Russia, and Lithuania...
after its conquest by the Teutonic Knights
Teutonic Knights
The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem , commonly the Teutonic Order , is a German medieval military order, in modern times a purely religious Catholic order...
during the Northern Crusades
Northern Crusades
The Northern Crusades or Baltic Crusades were crusades undertaken by the Christian kings of Denmark and Sweden, the German Livonian and Teutonic military orders, and their allies against the pagan peoples of Northern Europe around the southern and eastern shores of the Baltic Sea...
. The diocesan cathedral chapter
Cathedral chapter
In accordance with canon law, a cathedral chapter is a college of clerics formed to advise a bishop and, in the case of a vacancy of the episcopal see in some countries, to govern the diocese in his stead. These councils are made up of canons and dignitaries; in the Roman Catholic church their...
constituted in 1260. While in the 1280s the Teutonic Order succeeded to impose the simultaneous membership of all capitular canons in the Order in the other three Prussian bishoprics, Ermland's chapter maintained its independence. So the Ermland's chapter could repel outside influence when electing its bishops. Thus the Golden Bull
Golden Bull
A Golden Bull or chrysobull was a golden ornament representing a seal , attached to a decree issued by Byzantine Emperors and later by monarchs in Europe during the Middle Ages and Renaissance. The term was originally coined for the golden seal itself but came to be applied to the entire decree...
of Emperor Charles IV
Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles IV , born Wenceslaus , was the second king of Bohemia from the House of Luxembourg, and the first king of Bohemia to also become Holy Roman Emperor....
names the bishops as prince-bishop
Prince-Bishop
A Prince-Bishop is a bishop who is a territorial Prince of the Church on account of one or more secular principalities, usually pre-existent titles of nobility held concurrently with their inherent clerical office...
s, a rank not awarded to the other three Prussian bishops (Culm, Pomesania
Bishopric of Pomesania
The Bishopric of Pomesania was a diocese in the Prussian regions of Pomesania and Pogesania. It was founded as a Roman Catholic diocese in 1243 by the papal legate William of Modena. The bishops, whose seat was Riesenburg , possessed one-third of the bishopric's territory...
, and Samland
Bishopric of Samland
The Bishopric of Samland was a bishopric in Samland in medieval Prussia. It was founded as a Roman Catholic diocese in 1243 by papal legate William of Modena. Its seat was Königsberg, until 1523 the episcopal residence was in Fischhausen. The bishopric became Lutheran in the 16th century during...
).
By the Second Peace of Thorn (1466) the prince-bishopric - like other western areas of Teutonic Prussia - seceded and formed a part of Royal Prussia
Royal Prussia
Royal Prussia was a Region of the Kingdom of Poland and of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth . Polish Prussia included Pomerelia, Chełmno Land , Malbork Voivodeship , Gdańsk , Toruń , and Elbląg . It is distinguished from Ducal Prussia...
, which adopted the King of Poland as sovereign in a personal union
Personal union
A personal union is the combination by which two or more different states have the same monarch while their boundaries, their laws and their interests remain distinct. It should not be confused with a federation which is internationally considered a single state...
. After in 1569 Royal Prussia joint the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was a dualistic state of Poland and Lithuania ruled by a common monarch. It was the largest and one of the most populous countries of 16th- and 17th‑century Europe with some and a multi-ethnic population of 11 million at its peak in the early 17th century...
Ermland's autonomy gradually faded.
After the First Partition of Poland
First Partition of Poland
The First Partition of Poland or First Partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth took place in 1772 as the first of three partitions that ended the existence of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth by 1795. Growth in the Russian Empire's power, threatening the Kingdom of Prussia and the...
in 1772, the annexing Kingdom of Prussia
Kingdom of Prussia
The Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918. Until the defeat of Germany in World War I, it comprised almost two-thirds of the area of the German Empire...
secularised the prince-bishopric as a state. Its territory, Warmia , was incorporated into the Prussian province of East Prussia
Province of East Prussia
The Province of East Prussia was a province of Prussia from 1773–1829 and 1878-1945. Composed of the historical region East Prussia, the province's capital was Königsberg ....
. King Frederick II of Prussia
Frederick II of Prussia
Frederick II was a King in Prussia and a King of Prussia from the Hohenzollern dynasty. In his role as a prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire, he was also Elector of Brandenburg. He was in personal union the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel...
confiscated the landed property of the prince-bishopric and assigned it to the Kriegs- und Domänenkammer in Königsberg
Königsberg
Königsberg was the capital of East Prussia from the Late Middle Ages until 1945 as well as the northernmost and easternmost German city with 286,666 inhabitants . Due to the multicultural society in and around the city, there are several local names for it...
. In return he made up for the enormous debts of then Prince-Bishop Ignacy Krasicki
Ignacy Krasicki
Ignacy Krasicki , from 1766 Prince-Bishop of Warmia and from 1795 Archbishop of Gniezno , was Poland's leading Enlightenment poet , a critic of the clergy, Poland's La Fontaine, author of the first Polish novel, playwright, journalist, encyclopedist, and translator from French and...
.
By the Treaty of Warsaw
Treaty of Warsaw
Treaty of Warsaw may refer to* Treaty of Warsaw , a Polono-Lithuanian-Swedish alliance during the Great Northern War* Treaty of Warsaw , an alliance between Britain, Austria, the Dutch Republic and Poland-Saxony agreeing to uphold the Pragmatic Sanction* Treaty of Warsaw , granting rights to...
(18 September 1773), King Frederick II guaranteed the free exercise of religion for the Catholics, so the religious body of the Roman Catholic diocese continued to exist, known today as the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Warmia
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Warmia
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Warmia is an archdiocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in present Poland.The Archdiocese contains a population of around 700,000...
.
Within the State of the Teutonic Order
Along with Culm, PomesaniaBishopric of Pomesania
The Bishopric of Pomesania was a diocese in the Prussian regions of Pomesania and Pogesania. It was founded as a Roman Catholic diocese in 1243 by the papal legate William of Modena. The bishops, whose seat was Riesenburg , possessed one-third of the bishopric's territory...
, and Samland (Sambia)
Bishopric of Samland
The Bishopric of Samland was a bishopric in Samland in medieval Prussia. It was founded as a Roman Catholic diocese in 1243 by papal legate William of Modena. Its seat was Königsberg, until 1523 the episcopal residence was in Fischhausen. The bishopric became Lutheran in the 16th century during...
, Warmia was one of four dioceses in Prussia created in 1243 by the papal legate
Papal legate
A papal legate – from the Latin, authentic Roman title Legatus – is a personal representative of the pope to foreign nations, or to some part of the Catholic Church. He is empowered on matters of Catholic Faith and for the settlement of ecclesiastical matters....
William of Modena
William of Modena
William of Modena , also known as William of Sabina, Guglielmo de Chartreaux, Guglielmo de Savoy, Guillelmus, was an Italian clergyman and papal diplomat. He was frequently appointed a legate, or papal ambassador by the popes Honorius III and Gregory IX, especially in Livonia in the 1220s and in...
. All four dioceses came under the rule of the appointed Archbishop of Prussia
Archbishop of Riga
The Archbishopric of Riga was an archbishopric in Medieval Livonia, a subject to the Holy See. It was established in 1186 as the bishopric of Livonia at Üxküll, then after moving to Riga it became the bishopric of Riga in 1202 and was elevated to an archbishopric in 1255.- Archbishops of Riga :The...
Albert Suerbeer
Albert Suerbeer
Albert Suerbeer was the first Archbishop of Riga in Livonia.Suerbeer was an aggressive supporter of papal power and tried to take over the whole eastern Baltic area for the Holy See. His efforts failed, however, and he was forced to submit to the Livonian branch of the Teutonic Knights.- Biography...
who came from Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
and was the former Archbishop of Armagh
Armagh
Armagh is a large settlement in Northern Ireland, and the county town of County Armagh. It is a site of historical importance for both Celtic paganism and Christianity and is the seat, for both the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of Ireland, of the Archbishop of Armagh...
in Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
. He choose Riga as his residence in 1251, which was confirmed by Pope Alexander IV
Pope Alexander IV
Pope Alexander IV was Pope from 1254 until his death.Born as Rinaldo di Jenne, in Jenne , he was, on his mother's side, a member of the de' Conti di Segni family, the counts of Segni, like Pope Innocent III and Pope Gregory IX...
in 1255. Heinrich of Strateich, the first elected Bishop of Warmia, was unable to claim his office, but in 1251 Anselm of Meissen
Anselm of Meissen
Anselm of Meissen ) was a priest of the Teutonic Order and the first actual Bishop of Warmia .As his name suggests, Anselm originated from Meißen...
entered the see of Warmia, which resided at Braunsberg (Braniewo) until it moved to Frauenburg (Frombork)
Frombork
Frombork is a town in northern Poland, on the Vistula Lagoon, in Braniewo County, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship. It had a population of 2,528 as of 2005....
in 1280 after attacks by heathen Old Prussians
Old Prussians
The Old Prussians or Baltic Prussians were an ethnic group, autochthonous Baltic tribes that inhabited Prussia, the lands of the southeastern Baltic Sea in the area around the Vistula and Curonian Lagoons...
. The bishop ruled one-third of the bishopric as a secular ruler which was confirmed by the Golden Bull of 1356
Golden Bull of 1356
The Golden Bull of 1356 was a decree issued by the Reichstag assembly in Nuremberg headed by the Luxembourg Emperor Charles IV that fixed, for a period of more than four hundred years, important aspects of the constitutional structure of the Holy Roman Empire...
. The other two third of the diocese were under the secular rule of the Teutonic Order.
The Bishops of Warmia generally defended their privileges and tried to put down all attempts to cut the prerogatives and the autonomy the bishopric enjoyed.
After the Battle of Grunwald
Battle of Grunwald
The Battle of Grunwald or 1st Battle of Tannenberg was fought on 15 July 1410, during the Polish–Lithuanian–Teutonic War. The alliance of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, led respectively by King Jogaila and Grand Duke Vytautas , decisively defeated the Teutonic Knights, led...
in 1410, both the Sambian and Warmian bishops paid homage to Jogaila
Jogaila
Jogaila, later 'He is known under a number of names: ; ; . See also: Jogaila : names and titles. was Grand Duke of Lithuania , king consort of Kingdom of Poland , and sole King of Poland . He ruled in Lithuania from 1377, at first with his uncle Kęstutis...
of Poland and Lithuania, a maneuver to protect the territory from complete destruction.
When in the 1460s it became clear that the Teutonic Order would negotiate the Second Peace of Thorn, Bishop Paul of Lengendorf (1458–1467) joined the seceding Prussian Confederation
Prussian Confederation
The Prussian Confederation was an organization formed in 1440 by a group of 53 gentry and clergy and 19 cities in Prussia to oppose the monastic state of the Teutonic Knights. It was based on the basis of an earlier similar organization, the Lizard Union...
.
Within the Territory of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
The Second Peace of Thorn (1466) removed the bishopric from the protectorate of the Teutonic Knights and the same protector role went to the crown of Poland. So the third of its diocesan territory forming the prince-episcopal temporalitiesTemporalities
Temporalities are the secular properties and possessions of the Christian Church. It is most often used to describe those properties that were used to support a bishop or other religious person or establishment. Its opposite description would be the spiritualities.In the Middle Ages, the...
was disentangled from Teutonic Prussia, while the other two thirds of the diocese proper remained within the Order State.
The bishops insisted on keeping their imperial privileges and ruled the territory as de-facto prince-bishop
Prince-Bishop
A Prince-Bishop is a bishop who is a territorial Prince of the Church on account of one or more secular principalities, usually pre-existent titles of nobility held concurrently with their inherent clerical office...
s although the Polish king did not share this point of view. This led to conflict when the Polish king claimed the right to name the bishops, as he did in the Kingdom of Poland
Kingdom of Poland (1385–1569)
The Kingdom of Poland of the Jagiellons was the Polish state created by the accession of Jogaila , Grand Duke of Lithuania, to the Polish throne in 1386. The Union of Krewo or Krėva Act, united Poland and Lithuania under the rule of a single monarch...
. The chapter did not accept this and elected Nicolaus von Tüngen
Nicolaus von Tüngen
Nicolaus of Tüngen was bishop of Warmia from 1467 until 1489....
as bishop, which led to the War of the Priests
War of the Priests
The War of the Priests was a drawn-out dispute with Poland over the independence of the Royal Prussian Prince-Bishopric of Ermland . The Second Treaty of Thorn that had been sealed in 1466 at Toruń affected also the Bishopric of Warmia, which claimed to have received Prince-Bishopric status a...
(Warmia Stift Feud, 1467–1479) between King Casimir IV Jagiellon
Casimir IV Jagiellon
Casimir IV KG of the House of Jagiellon was Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1440, and King of Poland from 1447, until his death.Casimir was the second son of King Władysław II Jagiełło , and the younger brother of Władysław III of Varna....
(1447–1492) and Nikolaus von Tüngen (1467–89) who was supported by the Teutonic Order and King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary
Matthias Corvinus of Hungary
Matthias Corvinus , also called the Just in folk tales, was King of Hungary and Croatia from 1458, at the age of 14 until his death...
.
The Polish king accepted Tüngen as prince-bishop in the First Treaty of Piotrków Trybunalski, while Tüngen inversely accepted the Polish king as protector and obliged the chapter to elect only candidates approved by the Polish king. However, when Tüngen died in 1489, the chapter elected Lucas Watzenrode
Lucas Watzenrode the Younger
Lucas Watzenrode the Younger was Prince-Bishop of Warmia and patron to his nephew, astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus.-Early life:...
as bishop and Pope Innocent VIII
Pope Innocent VIII
Pope Innocent VIII , born Giovanni Battista Cybo , was Pope from 1484 until his death.-Early years:Giovanni Battista Cybo was born at Genoa of Greek extraction...
supported Watzenrode against the wishes of Casimir IV Jagiellon
Casimir IV Jagiellon
Casimir IV KG of the House of Jagiellon was Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1440, and King of Poland from 1447, until his death.Casimir was the second son of King Władysław II Jagiełło , and the younger brother of Władysław III of Varna....
, who preferred his son Frederic. This problem finally led to the Exempt Status of the bishopric in 1512 by Pope Julius II
Pope Julius II
Pope Julius II , nicknamed "The Fearsome Pope" and "The Warrior Pope" , born Giuliano della Rovere, was Pope from 1503 to 1513...
based on the Ermland status as part of German Nation. In the Second Treaty of Piotrków Trybunalski (December 7, 1512) Warmia conceded to King Alexander Jagiellon
Alexander Jagiellon
Alexander of the House of Jagiellon was the Grand Duke of Lithuania and later also King of Poland. He was the fourth son of Casimir IV Jagiellon...
a limited right to propose four candidates to the chapter for the election, who however had to be native Prussians.
The Diocese of Warmia lost the two thirds of its diocese within Teutonic Prussia after 1525 when the Order's Grand Master Albert of Brandenburg-Ansbach converted the monastic state into Ducal Prussia
Ducal Prussia
The Duchy of Prussia or Ducal Prussia was a duchy in the eastern part of Prussia from 1525–1701. It was the first Protestant duchy with a dominant German-speaking population, as well as Polish and Lithuanian minorities...
, himself ruling as duke. On 10 December 1525, at their session in Königsberg, the Prussian estates
Prussian estates
The Prussian estates were representative bodies of Prussia, first created by the Monastic state of Teutonic Prussia in the 14th century but later becoming a devolved legislature for Royal Prussia within the Kingdom of Poland...
established the Lutheran Church in Ducal Prussia by deciding the Church Order
Church Order (Lutheran)
The Church Order or Church Ordinance means the general ecclesiastical constitution of a State.The early Evangelical Church attached less importance to ecclesiastical ritual than the pre-Reformation Church had done...
.
Thus Bishop Georg von Polenz of Pomesania and Samland, who had converted to Lutheranism in 1523, took over and introduced the Protestant Reformation
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
also in the ducal two thirds of Warmia diocese, territorially surrounding the actual prince-episcopal third. With the formal abolition of the now Lutheran bishopric of Samland in 1587 the now Lutheran Warmian parishes became subject to the Sambian Consistory
Consistory
-Antiquity:Originally, the Latin word consistorium meant simply 'sitting together', just as the Greek synedrion ....
(later moved to Königsberg). As a result, even within ducal Warmia, the vast majority of burghers had become Lutherans.
After the Council of Trent
Council of Trent
The Council of Trent was the 16th-century Ecumenical Council of the Roman Catholic Church. It is considered to be one of the Church's most important councils. It convened in Trent between December 13, 1545, and December 4, 1563 in twenty-five sessions for three periods...
the later cardinal Stanislaus Hosius
Stanislaus Hosius
Stanislaus Hosius was a cardinal, since 1551 Prince-Bishop in Bishopric of Warmia, Poland since 1558 papal legate to the Holy Roman Emperor's Imperial Court in Vienna, Austria and since 1566 a papal legate to Poland.Hosius was born in Kraków as the son of Ulrich Hos of Pforzheim and studied law...
(1551–79) held a diocesan synode (1565) and the same year the Jesuits
Society of Jesus
The Society of Jesus is a Catholic male religious order that follows the teachings of the Catholic Church. The members are called Jesuits, and are also known colloquially as "God's Army" and as "The Company," these being references to founder Ignatius of Loyola's military background and a...
came to Braunsberg. While nearly all of Ducal Prussia took on Lutheranism, the prince-bishops Hosius and Cromer and the Jesuits were instrumental in keeping much of the prince-episcopal Warmians Catholic. The Congregation of St. Catherine, founded at Braunsberg by Regina Protmann
Regina Protmann
Regina Protmann was a pioneer in the establishment of community hospitals as well as starting schools for girls. She was beatified in 1999 by Pope John Paul II....
, engaged in education, especially schooling for girls. However even Hosius and Cromer strongly defended the exempt status of Ermland against the many attempts of the Polish kings to annex it to Poland-Lithuania after 1569.
In this period the cathedral chapter
Cathedral chapter
In accordance with canon law, a cathedral chapter is a college of clerics formed to advise a bishop and, in the case of a vacancy of the episcopal see in some countries, to govern the diocese in his stead. These councils are made up of canons and dignitaries; in the Roman Catholic church their...
mostly elected bishops of Polish nationality. The faithful in the northern part of the diocese were by large majority ethnic Germans. Following King Sigismund III
Sigismund III Vasa
Sigismund III Vasa was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, a monarch of the united Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth from 1587 to 1632, and King of Sweden from 1592 until he was deposed in 1599...
's contract on regency in Ducal Prussia (1605) with Joachim Frederick of Brandenburg, and his Treaty of Warsaw
Treaty of Warsaw
Treaty of Warsaw may refer to* Treaty of Warsaw , a Polono-Lithuanian-Swedish alliance during the Great Northern War* Treaty of Warsaw , an alliance between Britain, Austria, the Dutch Republic and Poland-Saxony agreeing to uphold the Pragmatic Sanction* Treaty of Warsaw , granting rights to...
(1611) with John Sigismund of Brandenburg
John Sigismund, Elector of Brandenburg
John Sigismund was a Prince-elector of the Margraviate of Brandenburg from the House of Hohenzollern. He also served as a Duke of Prussia.-Elector of Brandenburg and Duke of Prussia:...
, confirming the co-enfeoffment of the Berlin Hohenzollern with Ducal Prussia, these two rulers guaranteed free practice of Catholic religion in all of prevailingly Lutheran Ducal Prussia.
So some churches were reconsecrated to or newly built for Catholic worship (e.g. St. Nicholas, Elbing
St. Nicholas Cathedral, Elblag
St. Nicholas Cathedral is a 13th century Gothic church in Elbląg, Poland.-History:When the burghers of Elbing first attempted to adopt the Protestant Reformation in 1525, the provost of St. Nicholas Church maintained Catholic practice. Since 1539 the city council tacitly tolerated and gradually...
, St. John the Baptist, Königsberg). Those new Catholic churches located in the ducal two thirds of Ermland diocese and in diocesan territory of the suppressed Samland see were then subordinated to the Warmian Frombork see. This development was recognised by the Holy See in 1617 by de jure extending Ermland's jurisdiction over Samland's former diocesan territory, only containing few immigrated Catholics. In practice the ducal government obstructed Catholic exercise in many ways.
Until the late 18th century, the prince-bishop was also a Ober-President of all of Prussia combined as part of the Senate Conventus generalus Terrarum Prussiae.
As a result of the First Partition of Poland
First Partition of Poland
The First Partition of Poland or First Partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth took place in 1772 as the first of three partitions that ended the existence of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth by 1795. Growth in the Russian Empire's power, threatening the Kingdom of Prussia and the...
in 1772, Warmia was incorporated into the Kingdom of Prussia
Kingdom of Prussia
The Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918. Until the defeat of Germany in World War I, it comprised almost two-thirds of the area of the German Empire...
's province of East Prussia
Province of East Prussia
The Province of East Prussia was a province of Prussia from 1773–1829 and 1878-1945. Composed of the historical region East Prussia, the province's capital was Königsberg ....
as bishopric of Ermland.
As part of East Prussia
At the time of the break-up of the Polish-LithuanianPolish-Lithuanian
Polish–Lithuanian can refer to:* Polish–Lithuanian union * Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth * Polish-Lithuanian as used to describe groups, families, or individuals with histories in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth...
multi-state-kingdom , referred to as First Partition of Poland
First Partition of Poland
The First Partition of Poland or First Partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth took place in 1772 as the first of three partitions that ended the existence of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth by 1795. Growth in the Russian Empire's power, threatening the Kingdom of Prussia and the...
in 1772, Ermland was incorporated into the Kingdom of Prussia
Kingdom of Prussia
The Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918. Until the defeat of Germany in World War I, it comprised almost two-thirds of the area of the German Empire...
's province of East Prussia
Province of East Prussia
The Province of East Prussia was a province of Prussia from 1773–1829 and 1878-1945. Composed of the historical region East Prussia, the province's capital was Königsberg ....
.
The bishopric ceased to be an independend governmental unit, and King Frederick II
Frederick II of Prussia
Frederick II was a King in Prussia and a King of Prussia from the Hohenzollern dynasty. In his role as a prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire, he was also Elector of Brandenburg. He was in personal union the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel...
confiscated its property. The prince-bishop, a personal friend of Frederick the Great, the noted Polish author Ignacy Krasicki
Ignacy Krasicki
Ignacy Krasicki , from 1766 Prince-Bishop of Warmia and from 1795 Archbishop of Gniezno , was Poland's leading Enlightenment poet , a critic of the clergy, Poland's La Fontaine, author of the first Polish novel, playwright, journalist, encyclopedist, and translator from French and...
, though deprived of temporal
State (polity)
A state is an organized political community, living under a government. States may be sovereign and may enjoy a monopoly on the legal initiation of force and are not dependent on, or subject to any other power or state. Many states are federated states which participate in a federal union...
authority, retained influence at the Prussian court before his reappointment as Archbishop of Gniezno in 1795.
Although the population of the bishopric Ermland remained largely Roman Catholic, religious schools were suppressed. Although there had been schools teaching in Lithuanian and Polish language since the 16th c., Lithuanian and Polish language was forbidden in all schools in East Prussia by decree of 1873.
By the bull De salute animum (July 16, 1820) the Catholic Church in Prussia was reorganised. The diocesan territory of the former Diocese of Samland (Sambia
Sambia
Sambia or Samland is a peninsula in the Kaliningrad Oblast of Russia, on the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea. The Curonian Lagoon and the Vistula Lagoon demarcate the peninsula. Prior to 1945 it formed an important part of East Prussia.-Names:Sambia is named after the Sambians, an extinct...
) and part of the former Diocese of Pomesania, both with few remaining Catholics there since Reformation, were added to the Diocese of Warmia.
In 1901, the total population in the area of the diocese was about 2,000,000, with 327,567 being Catholic. In 1925, Marienwerder (Kwidzyn
Kwidzyn
Kwidzyn is a town in northern Poland on the Liwa river, with 40,008 inhabitants . It has been a part of the Pomeranian Voivodeship since 1999, and was previously in the Elbląg Voivodeship . It is the capital of Kwidzyn County.-History:...
) and surroundings, defore part of Culm Diocese, were attached to Ermland, while the Klaipėda Region
Klaipėda Region
The Klaipėda Region or Memel Territory was defined by the Treaty of Versailles in 1920 when it was put under the administration of the Council of Ambassadors...
was dissected in 1926 as territorial prelature of its own. The diocese of Ermland remained an exempt see until 1930, when it became suffragan to the Breslau See within the Eastern German Ecclesiastical Province.
World War II and after
Bishop Maximilian KallerMaximilian Kaller
Maximilian Kaller was Roman Catholic Bishop of Ermland in East Prussia from 1930–1947, however, de facto expelled since mid-August 1945 he served as special bishop for the homeland-expellees until his death.-Early life:...
was forced to leave his office by the Nazi
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
Schutzstaffel
Schutzstaffel
The Schutzstaffel |Sig runes]]) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under Heinrich Himmler's command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II...
for his safety in February 1945 during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, as the Soviet Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
advanced into East Prussia
East Prussia
East Prussia is the main part of the region of Prussia along the southeastern Baltic Coast from the 13th century to the end of World War II in May 1945. From 1772–1829 and 1878–1945, the Province of East Prussia was part of the German state of Prussia. The capital city was Königsberg.East Prussia...
. During the last months of the Second World War, the Potsdam Agreement
Potsdam Agreement
The Potsdam Agreement was the Allied plan of tripartite military occupation and reconstruction of Germany—referring to the German Reich with its pre-war 1937 borders including the former eastern territories—and the entire European Theatre of War territory...
went along with the Soviet conquests and the southern portion of the diocese was administered by Poland, while the northern part found itself in the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
as part of the Kaliningrad Oblast
Kaliningrad Oblast
Kaliningrad Oblast is a federal subject of Russia situated on the Baltic coast. It has a population of The oblast forms the westernmost part of the Russian Federation, but it has no land connection to the rest of Russia. Since its creation it has been an exclave of the Russian SFSR and then the...
; the German population was subject to expulsion
Expulsion of Germans after World War II
The later stages of World War II, and the period after the end of that war, saw the forced migration of millions of German nationals and ethnic Germans from various European states and territories, mostly into the areas which would become post-war Germany and post-war Austria...
along with the last Ermland bishop Maximilian Kaller.
Kaller returned to the region to resume his office as bishop, but by then a Polish administration and population had moved in and were cleansing the territory of its German population. Cardinal August Hlond prevented Kaller from continuing his duties, and Kaller took refuge in what would become West Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
but never resigned. In 1946 he received "Special Authority as Bishop for the Deported Germans
Heimatvertriebene
Heimatvertriebene are those around 12 million ethnic Germans who fled or were expelled after World War II from parts of Germany annexed by Poland and Russia, and from other countries, who found refuge in both West and East Germany, and Austria...
" from Pope Pius XII
Pope Pius XII
The Venerable Pope Pius XII , born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli , reigned as Pope, head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City State, from 2 March 1939 until his death in 1958....
.
The office of Bishop of Warmia, traditionally at the cathedral of Frauenburg (Frombork), was left vacant after 1945. A new Polish bishopric was installed with the appointment of Józef Drzazga in 1972, who relocated the office to Olsztyn
Olsztyn
Olsztyn is a city in northeastern Poland, on the Łyna River. Olsztyn has been the capital of the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship since 1999. It was previously in the Olsztyn Voivodeship...
.
On March 25, 1992, the Bishopric of Warmia was raised to an archbishopric. Its suffragans are the dioceses Elbląg and Ełk belonging also to the 12,000 km² area and its 703,000 Catholics, 33 deans
Dean (religion)
A dean, in a church context, is a cleric holding certain positions of authority within a religious hierarchy. The title is used mainly in the Anglican Communion and the Roman Catholic Church.-Anglican Communion:...
, 253 church districts, 446 diocese priest
Priest
A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...
s, 117 order priests, and 231 order nuns.
The current archbishop is Wojciech Ziemba, supported by an auxiliary bishop.