The Bishopric of Minden ca. 1500
The
Bishopric of Minden () was a
Roman Catholic diocese and a state of the
Holy Roman Empire. Its capital was
Minden.
The diocese was founded by
Charlemagne in 803, after he had conquered the
Saxons. It was subordinate to the
Archbishopric of Cologne. It became the
Prince-Bishopric of Minden (
Fürstbistum Minden) in 1180, when the
Duchy of Saxony was dissolved. In the 16th century, the
Protestant Reformation was starting to take hold in the state under the influence of the Duchy of
Brunswick-Lüneburg. Minden was occupied by
Sweden in the
Thirty Years' War, and was secularized. The
Peace of Westphalia of 1648 gave it to the
Margraviate of Brandenburg as the
Principality of Minden (
Fürstentum Minden).
Since 1719, Minden was administered by
Brandenburg-Prussia together with the adjacent
County of Ravensberg as
Minden-Ravensberg. In 1807, it became part of the
Kingdom of Westphalia. In 1814, it returned to Prussia and became part of the
Province of Westphalia.
As of 1789, the principality had an area of 1,100 km². It was bordered by (from the north, clockwise): an exclave of the Landgraviate of
Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel), the
Electorate of Hanover,
the County of
Schaumburg-Lippe, another exclave of
Hesse-Kassel, the
Principality of Lippe, the County of Ravensberg, and the
Prince-Bishopric of Osnabrück. Cities included
Minden and
Lübbecke.
Famous bishops
