Bishopric of Lebus
Encyclopedia
The Bishopric of Lebus was a Roman Catholic
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...

 diocese
Diocese
A diocese is the district or see under the supervision of a bishop. It is divided into parishes.An archdiocese is more significant than a diocese. An archdiocese is presided over by an archbishop whose see may have or had importance due to size or historical significance...

 and later an ecclesiastical territory of the Holy Roman Empire
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...

. It existed from 1125 until 1598. The diocese encompassed areas on both sides of the Oder River around the town of Lebus
Lebus
Lebus is a town in the southeast of the Märkisch-Oderland District in Brandenburg, Germany. It had a population of 3,375 as of 2005. It was the center of the historical region known as Lubusz Land.-Location:...

 later called Lubusz Land
Lubusz Land
Lubusz Land is a historical region and cultural landscape in Poland and Germany, on both sides of the Oder river.Originally the settlement area of the West Slavic Leubuzzi, a Veleti tribe, the swampy area was located east of Mark Brandenburg and west of Greater Poland, south of Pomerania and north...

.

History

The diocese was established about 1125 by the Piast
Piast dynasty
The Piast dynasty was the first historical ruling dynasty of Poland. It began with the semi-legendary Piast Kołodziej . The first historical ruler was Duke Mieszko I . The Piasts' royal rule in Poland ended in 1370 with the death of king Casimir the Great...

 Duke Bolesław III Wrymouth of Poland in the lands west of Greater Poland
Greater Poland
Greater Poland or Great Poland, often known by its Polish name Wielkopolska is a historical region of west-central Poland. Its chief city is Poznań.The boundaries of Greater Poland have varied somewhat throughout history...

 settled by pagan Polabian Slavs
Polabian Slavs
Polabian Slavs - is a collective term applied to a number of Lechites tribes who lived along the Elbe river, between the Baltic Sea to the north, the Saale and the Limes Saxoniae to the west, the Ore Mountains and the Western Sudetes to the south, and Poland to the east. They have also been known...

, in order to counter the eastward expansion of the Holy Roman Empire
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...

 expedited by Emperor Henry V
Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor
Henry V was King of Germany and Holy Roman Emperor , the fourth and last ruler of the Salian dynasty. Henry's reign coincided with the final phase of the great Investiture Controversy, which had pitted pope against emperor...

 and the Archbishopric of Magdeburg
Archbishopric of Magdeburg
The Archbishopric of Magdeburg was a Roman Catholic archdiocese and Prince-Bishopric of the Holy Roman Empire centered on the city of Magdeburg on the Elbe River....

. Duke Bolesław prompted the construction of St. Adalbert Cathedral in Lebus, consecrated to the diocesan patron saint Adalbert of Prague
Adalbert of Prague
This article is about St Adalbert of Prague. For other uses, see Adalbert .Saint Adalbert, Czech: ; , , Czech Roman Catholic saint, a Bishop of Prague and a missionary, was martyred in his efforts to convert the Baltic Prussians. He evangelized Poles and Hungarians. St...

, which was later destroyed. Lebus was a suffragan diocese
Suffragan Diocese
A suffragan diocese is a diocese in the Catholic Church that is overseen not only by its own diocesan bishop but also by a metropolitan bishop. The metropolitan is always an archbishop who governs his own archdiocese...

 of the Archbishopric of Gniezno, a first bishop Bernard is documented in 1133, who is identical with Bernard of Spain, a missionary among the Pomeranians.

With the fragmentation of Poland among Bolesław's sons the influence of the Empire increased. Lebus fell to the Duchy of Silesia
Duchy of Silesia
The Duchy of Silesia with its capital at Wrocław was a medieval duchy located in the historic Silesian region of Poland. Soon after it was formed under the Piast dynasty in 1138, it fragmented into various Duchies of Silesia. In 1327 the remaining Duchy of Wrocław as well as most other duchies...

 held by the heirs of Bolesław's first-born son Władysław II the Exile, and the area became a destination of the German Ostsiedlung
Ostsiedlung
Ostsiedlung , also called German eastward expansion, was the medieval eastward migration and settlement of Germans from modern day western and central Germany into less-populated regions and countries of eastern Central Europe and Eastern Europe. The affected area roughly stretched from Slovenia...

. After the Silesian Duke Henry II the Pious
Henry II the Pious
Henry II the Pious , of the Silesian line of the Piast dynasty was Duke of Silesia at Wrocław and Duke of Kraków and thus High Duke of all Poland as well as Duke of Southern Greater Poland from 1238 until his death. During 1238–1239 he also served as a regent of two other Piast duchies: Sandomierz...

 had died at the 1241 Battle of Legnica
Battle of Legnica
The Battle of Legnica , also known as the Battle of Liegnitz or Battle of Wahlstatt , was a battle between the Mongol Empire and the combined defending forces of European fighters that took place at Legnickie Pole near the city of Legnica in Silesia on 9 April 1241.A combined force of Poles,...

, his son Bolesław II the Bald in 1248 finally lost the Lubusz Land to the Magdeburg archbishopric and the Ascanian margraves of Brandenburg
Margraviate of Brandenburg
The Margraviate of Brandenburg was a major principality of the Holy Roman Empire from 1157 to 1806. Also known as the March of Brandenburg , it played a pivotal role in the history of Germany and Central Europe....

, who began to attach the territories east of the Oder to their possessions as the Neumark
Neumark
Neumark comprised a region of the Prussian province of Brandenburg, Germany.Neumark may also refer to:* Neumark, Thuringia* Neumark, Saxony* Neumark * Nowe Miasto Lubawskie or Neumark, a town in Poland, situated at river Drwęca...

 ("New March") region. While the Ascanians and the Wettin archbishops competed to win influence, the diocese itself remained subordinate to Gniezno and the Lebus bishops maintained the interests of the Polish Piast rulers. In view of the pressure exerted by Brandenburg, the bishops in 1276 moved the episcopal seat to Göritz
Górzyca, Lubusz Voivodeship
Górzyca is a village on the Oder river in Słubice County, Lubusz Voivodeship, in western Poland, close to the German border at Reitwein. It is the seat of the gmina called Gmina Górzyca...

 (Górzyca) east of the Oder.

When in 1320 the last Ascanian margrave Henry II died with no heirs the dispute rekindled. Bishop Stefan II supported King Władysław I the Elbow-high of Poland, when he campaigned the Brandenburgian Neumark. In revenge the new Wittelsbach margrave Louis I of Brandenburg
Louis V, Duke of Bavaria
Louis V, Duke of Bavaria, called the Brandenburger was Duke of Bavaria and as Louis I also Margrave of Brandenburg and Count of Tyrol. Louis V was the eldest son of Emperor Louis IV and his first wife Beatrix of Świdnica...

 in 1325 raided Górzyca and demolished the cathedral. Bishop Stephan II fled to Poland and not until 1354 an agreement was settled between Bishop Henry II Bencz and Margrave Louis II the Roman
Louis VI the Roman
Louis the Roman was the eldest son of Emperor Louis IV the Bavarian by his second wife, Margaret II, Countess of Hainault, and a member of the House of Wittelsbach. Louis was Duke of Bavaria as Louis VI and Margrave of Brandenburg as Louis II...

 upon the reinstallation of the bishopric at Lebus.

Nevertheless in 1373 the newly erected cathedral was devastated again by the troops 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....

 in the conflict between the Imperial Houses of Wittelsbach and Luxemburg
House of Luxembourg
The House of Luxembourg was a late medieval German dynasty, which between 1308 and 1437 ruled the Holy Roman Empire, twice interrupted by the rivaling House of Wittelsbach.-History:...

 over the Brandenburgian heritage. The bishop took residency in Fürstenwalde and in 1385 the cathedral chapter was moved there too. Not before 1424 the Brandenburg Elector Frederick I of Hohenzollern
Frederick I, Elector of Brandenburg
Frederick was Burgrave of Nuremberg as Frederick VI and Elector of Brandenburg as Frederick I. He was a son of Burgrave Frederick V of Nuremberg and Elisabeth of Meissen, and was the first member of the House of Hohenzollern to rule the Margraviate of Brandenburg.- Biography :Frederick entered...

 managed to separate the bishopric from Gniezno and to assign it as a suffragan to the Magdeburg archdiocese. In 1518 the bishops of Lebus acquired the Lower Lusatia
Lower Lusatia
Lower Lusatia is a historical region stretching from the southeast of the Brandenburg state of Germany to the southwest of the Lubusz Voivodeship in Poland. Important towns beside the historic capital Lübben include Calau, Cottbus, Guben , Luckau, Spremberg, Finsterwalde, Senftenberg and Żary...

n lordships of Beeskow
Beeskow
Beeskow is a town in Brandenburg, Germany, and capital of the Oder-Spree district. It is situated on the river Spree, 30 km southwest of Frankfurt an der Oder....

 and Storkow.

As since 1513 the House of Hohenzollern
House of Hohenzollern
The House of Hohenzollern is a noble family and royal dynasty of electors, kings and emperors of Prussia, Germany and Romania. It originated in the area around the town of Hechingen in Swabia during the 11th century. They took their name from their ancestral home, the Burg Hohenzollern castle near...

 also had held the office of the Magdeburg archbishops, Lebus finally turned Protestant
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...

 and was secularized
Secularization
Secularization is the transformation of a society from close identification with religious values and institutions toward non-religious values and secular institutions...

 in 1555. The former bishopric was finally incorporated into Brandenburg, when in 1598 the last Lutheran administrator Joachim Frederick of Hohenzollern
Joachim Frederick, Elector of Brandenburg
Joachim III Frederick , of the House of Hohenzollern, was Prince-elector of the Margraviate of Brandenburg from 1598 until his death.-Biography:...

 became elector.

Legacy

When in 1930 the former Lebus diocesan area became part of the new Diocese of Berlin the latter considered itself in the tradition of Lebus – and three more defunct dioceses – and adopted Lebus' diocesan crest as part of Berlin's diocesan coat of arms. Between 1951 and 1972 the Catholic jurisdiction in the Polish-annexed areas of former Lebus diocese, also comprising further areas, was officially titled the Apostolic Administration of Cammin, Lebus and Schneidemühl Prelature
Roman Catholic Territorial Prelature of Schneidemühl
The Territorial Prelature of Schneidemühl was a Roman Catholic territorial prelature in first Germany and then Poland. It was located first in the Prussian Province of the Frontier March of Posen-West Prussia, but also including the Pomeranian Lauenburg and Bütow Land...

.

Composition

Though the considerably small though quite affluent diocese consisted only of one archdeacon
Archdeacon
An archdeacon is a senior clergy position in Anglicanism, Syrian Malabar Nasrani, Chaldean Catholic, and some other Christian denominations, above that of most clergy and below a bishop. In the High Middle Ages it was the most senior diocesan position below a bishop in the Roman Catholic Church...

ry, its 172 parishes were divided into eight main rectories: Falkenhagen
Falkenhagen
Falkenhagen is a municipality in the district Märkisch-Oderland, in Brandenburg, Germany.-External links:...

, Frankfurt (Oder)
Frankfurt (Oder)
Frankfurt is a town in Brandenburg, Germany, located on the Oder River, on the German-Polish border directly opposite the town of Słubice which was a part of Frankfurt until 1945. At the end of the 1980s it reached a population peak with more than 87,000 inhabitants...

, Kostrzyn (Küstrin)
Kostrzyn nad Odra
Kostrzyn nad Odrą is a town in western Poland, at the confluence of the Oder and Warta rivers, on the border with Germany. Located in the Lubusz Voivodeship, in Gorzów County, it had 19,952 inhabitants as of 2007.- History :...

, Müncheberg
Müncheberg
Müncheberg is a small town in Märkisch-Oderland, Germany approximately half-way between Berlin and the border with Poland.-Geography:Prior to 2003 the area today covered by Müncheberg was organized as the so-called "Amt Müncheberg"...

, Ośno (Drossen)
Osno Lubuskie
Ośno Lubuskie is a town in Lubusz Voivodeship, Poland, with 3,800 inhabitants ....

, Rzepin (Reppen)
Rzepin
Rzepin is a town in north-western Poland with 6,500 inhabitants .Situated in the Lubusz Voivodeship , in Słubice County it is a seat of the urban-rural Rzepin Gmina. From 1975 till 1998 the town, from an administrative point of view, belonged to the Gorzów Wielkopolski Voivodeship...

, Seelow
Seelow
Seelow is a German town, seat of the Märkisch-Oderland, a district of Brandenburg.-Geography:It is situated in the extreme east of Germany, 70 km east of Berlin, 16 km west of the boundary with Poland.-History:...

 and Sulęcin (Zielenzig)
Sulecin
Sulęcin is a town in western Poland with 10638 inhabitants , the capital of Sulecin County, since 1999 in Lubusz Voivodeship.-Geography:...

. The territory of the 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...

ric was made up of the three Ämter Lebus, Fürstenwalde and Beeskow
Beeskow
Beeskow is a town in Brandenburg, Germany, and capital of the Oder-Spree district. It is situated on the river Spree, 30 km southwest of Frankfurt an der Oder....

.

Bishops of Lebus

  • 1133–1141 Bernard
  • 1148–1158 Stefan I
  • ?−1180 Gaudenty
  • ?−1189 Przecław
  • 1193 Arnold of Mogilno
    Mogilno
    Mogilno is a town in central Poland, situated in the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship , previously in Bydgoszcz Voivodeship .-History:...

  • 1196–1201 Cyprian (Bishop of Wrocław 1201-1207)
  • 1201–1233 Laurence
  • 1233–1244 Henry I
  • 1248–1250 Nanker
  • 1252–1273 William I
  • 1274–1284 William II, moved the episcopal see to Górzyca in 1276

  • 1284–1299 Conrad
  • 1300- ? John I
  • 1311–1313 Frederick I
  • 1326–1345 Stefan II (bishop-elect from 1317)
  • 1345–1352 Apeczko of Ząbkowice
    Zabkowice Slaskie
    Ząbkowice Śląskie is a town in Lower Silesian Voivodeship in south-western Poland. It is the seat of Ząbkowice Śląskie County, and of the smaller administrative district called Gmina Ząbkowice Śląskie....

  • 1353–1366 Henry II Bencz
  • 1366–1375 Peter I of Opole
    Opole
    Opole is a city in southern Poland on the Oder River . It has a population of 125,992 and is the capital of the Upper Silesia, Opole Voivodeship and, also the seat of Opole County...

  • 1375–1382 Wenceslaus of Liegnitz (also Bishop of Wrocław)
  • 1382–1392 John II of Kittlitz (Bishop of Meissen
    Bishop of Dresden-Meissen
    The Bishop of Dresden-Meissen is the Ordinary of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Dresden-Meissen in the Archdiocese of Berlin.The diocese covers an area of 16,934 km² and was erected as the Diocese of Meissen on 24 June 1921...

     1393-1398, moved the episcopal see to Fürstenwalde in 1385)

  • 1393–1397 John III Frost (Bishop of Olomouc 1397-1403)
  • 1397–1418 John IV of Borsnitz (Archbishop of Esztergom from 1420)
  • 1420–1423 John V of Waldow (Bishop of Brandenburg
    Bishop of Brandenburg
    The Bishopric of Brandenburg was a Roman Catholic diocese established by Otto the Great in 948, including the territory between the Elbe on the west, the Oder on the east, and the Schwarze Elster on the south, and taking in the Uckermark to the north. Its seat was Brandenburg upon Havel...

     1415-1420)
  • 1423–1436 John VI of Waldow
  • 1424–1436 Christoph von Rotenhan
  • 1437–1439 Peter II von Burgsdorff
  • 1440–1443 Conrad II Kron
  • 1443–1455 John VII von Dreher
  • 1455–1483 Frederick II Sesselmann
  • 1484–1486 Liborius von Schlieben
  • 1487–1490 Ludwig von Burgsdorff
  • 1490–1523 Dietrich von Bülow
  • 1524–1550 Georg von Blumenthal
    Georg von Blumenthal
    Georg von Blumenthal was a German Prince-Bishop of Ratzeburg and Prince-Bishop of Lebus. He also served as a Privy Councillor of the Margraviate of Brandenburg and Chancellor of the University of Frankfurt , commonly called the Viadrina.Bishop von Blumenthal negotiated the second marriage of ...

  • 1550–1555 John VIII Horneburg
  • 1555–1598 Joachim Frederick of Hohenzollern
    Joachim Frederick, Elector of Brandenburg
    Joachim III Frederick , of the House of Hohenzollern, was Prince-elector of the Margraviate of Brandenburg from 1598 until his death.-Biography:...

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