Bishopric of Halberstadt
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The Bishopric of Halberstadt (German: Bistum Halberstadt) was a Roman Catholic diocese from 804 until 1648 and a state of the Holy Roman Empire from the late Middle Ages. Its capital was Halberstadt in central Germany and it was located around the Harz mountain range.

History

The diocese was founded by Charlemagne in 804 in order to missionize Saxons and Polabian Slavs. Its capital was initially Osterwieck, but was soon moved to Halberstadt. When the Archbishopric of Magdeburg was founded in 968, Halberstadt lost the eastern half of its district to it, and was made subordinate to Magdeburg.

The bishopric became Lutheran in 1540 during the Protestant Reformation. In the Peace of Westphalia of 1648, it was secularized as the Principality of Halberstadt, and given to the electors of Brandenburg.

Bishops of Halberstadt

Bishops of Halberstadt include:

• Hildegrim I (809-827), supposed first bishop
• Thiatgrim (827-840)
• Haymo (840-853)
• Burchard II (1059-1088), warrior-prelate
• Albert III (1366-1390)
• Albert of Mainz (1513-1545)
• Henry Julius, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1566-1613), Protestant
• Christian the Younger, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1616-1623), Protestant
• Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria (1628-1648), Catholic, last bishop

v • d • e Holy Roman Empire – Lower Saxon Circle (1500–1806) Ecclesiastical princes Bremen* | Halberstadt* | Hildesheim | Lübeck | Magdeburg* | Ratzeburg (until 1701) | Schwerin* Secular princes Bremen† | Brunswick: Blankenburg (until 1731), Calenberg‡, Celle, Grubenhagen‡, Lüneburg‡, Wolfenbüttel | Hanover (from 1708)| Holstein: Glückstadt, Gottorp | Mecklenburg: Güstrow (until 1695), Schwerin, Strelitz | Rantzau (until 1734) | Regenstein | Saxe-Lauenburg‡ Imperial cities Bremen | Goslar | Hamburg | Lübeck | Mühlhausen | Nordhausen * until 1648     † from 1648     ‡ until 1708