Bishopric of Merseburg was a former episcopal see in Saxony with the center in Merseburg, founded at the same time in the same manner as those of Meissen and Zeitz, as part of the plan for binding more closely to the Holy Roman Empire the territory of the Wends on the right bank of the Saale (967). The Merseburg Cathedral was the main church within the diocese.
The first bishop was Boso, a monk of Ratisbon, distinguished by his missionary labors amongs the Wends. His successor Gisiler procured the suppression of the see through Otto II's power over Pope Benedict VII in 981; but this step was so clearly against the interests of the Church that it was revoked in 998 or early in 999 at a Romansynod. The diocese did not, however, recover all its former territory, and was now almost exclusively a missionary jurisdiction among the Wends, who were not fully converted to Christianity until the middle of the 12th century.
By the decision of the Congress of Vienna, three-fourths of the diocesan territory was assigned to the Kingdom of Prussia, the rest remaining Saxon; the religious attitude of the people was by that time almost entirely Lutheran.
