Diocese of Eichstätt

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The Diocese of Eichstätt is a Roman Catholic diocese in Bavaria. Its seat is Eichstätt, and it is subordinate to the archbishop of Bamberg. The diocese covers an area of 6,025 km² and was erected in 745; from the Middle Ages until 1805, it was a state of the Holy Roman Empire. Currently the see of Eichstätt is vacant.

1 History
2 State
- 2.1 Secular Princes of Eichstätt
3 List of bishops
4 References

[edit] History

The diocese was erected by Saint Boniface in 745; it was subordinate to the archbishop of Mainz. By the Bavarian Concordat of 1817, the diocese was reorganized and made subordinate to the archbishop of Bamberg.

[edit] State

The Bishopric of Eichstätt was a small ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire. Centered on the city of Eichstätt, it lies in Bavaria, somewhat to the west of Regensburg, to the north of Neuburg an der Donau and Ingolstadt, to the south of Nuremberg, and to the southeast of Ansbach. The bishopric was secularized and was in 1803, along with the Archbishopric of Salzburg, given to Archduke Ferdinand, brother of Emperor Francis II and former Grand Duke of Tuscany, as part of the massive secularizations following the French Revolutionary Wars. Three years later, following Austria's defeat by Napoleon at Austerlitz, the area was given to Bavaria by the Treaty of Pressburg. From 1817 to 1855, the Principality was recreated as a fief of Bavaria for the benefit of Eugène de Beauharnais.

The Principality of Eichstätt had an area of 1100 km² and a population of 58,000 (as of 1855).

As of 1789, Eichstätt consisted of two main parts that were geographically separated. The main part was bordered by Bavaria in the north, east, and south, and by the Lordship of Pappenheim and the Margraviate of Brandenburg-Ansbach in the west. The second part was surrounded by the Margraviate of Brandenburg-Ansbach.