Bishopric of Worms

Prince-Bishopric of Worms
Fürstbistum Worms
State of the Holy Roman Empire

861–1801

Coat of arms

Capital Worms until 1400; thereafter Ladenburg
Language(s) Ripuarian Franconian
Government Principality
Historical era Middle Ages
 - Bishopric founded 614
 - Gained Reichsfreiheit 861
 - Occupied by France 1789–1816
 - Secularised to
    Hesse-Darmstadt
 
1801 1801

The Bishopric of Worms was an ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire. Located on both banks of the Rhine around Worms just north of the union of that river with the Neckar, it was largely surrounded by the Palatinate. Worms had been the seat of a bishop from Roman times. From the High Middle Ages on, the Bishopric's secular jurisdiction notably did not include the city of Worms, which was an Imperial Free City.

In 1795 Worms itself, as well as the entire territory of the bishopric on the left bank of the Rhine, was occupied and annexed by the French. In the wake of the territorial reorganizations that followed, the remaining territory of the bishopric, along with that of most of the other ecclesiastical principalities, was secularized in 1801. In this case, it was annexed by the Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt.

Bishops of Worms, 770-1801