The term
Prince of the Church is nowadays used nearly exclusively for
Catholic Cardinals. However the term is historically more important as a generic term for clergymen whose offices hold the secular rank and privilege of a
prince (in the widest sense) or are considered its equivalent. In the case of Cardinals, they are always treated in protocol as equivalents of royal princes.
By analogy with secular
princes, in the broad sense of the ruler of any principality regardless of the style, it made perfect sense in a
feudal class society to regard the highest members of the
clergy, mainly
prelates, as a privileged class ('estate') similar to the
nobility, ranking just below or even above it in the social order; often high clerical ranks, such as
bishops, were given high protocolary precedence amongst the nobility, and seats in the highest assemblies, including courts of justice and legislatures, such as
Lord Bishops in the English (later British)
House of Lords and
Prince primates in the
Kingdom of Hungary.
In Europe, as it became common for younger sons of dynastic houses to seek careers in the church hierarchy, especially when they were expected to be excluded from the succession, members of royal families and the
aristocracy began to occupy many of the highest prelatures; examples include
Henry, Cardinal-Duke of York, the second grandson of
James II of England, and
Henry, Cardinal-King of Portugal, the fifth son of
Manuel I of Portugal. Even popes openly created
Cardinal nephews from their own family. However, these are individual cases; the term Prince of the church applies rather to the following institutionalised cases.
Clerics as European territorial princes
Especially in the
Holy Roman Empire, a large number of
Prince-bishops,
Prince-archbishops and superiors of the regular clergy (mainly
Prince-abbots, but also -abbesses,
Prince-Provosts and Grand masters) obtained for their seats, concurrent with the ecclesiastical office, one or more secular feudal estates of various status and importance (from tiny mere lordships to fairly great principalities such as duchies), that would otherwise be hereditary and often had been; in other cases territories were carved out especially by a higher authority, such as the empire, notably for an (arch)diocese or monastery, under such names as
Stift (German; in the case of a diocese rather
Hochstift, for an archdiocese rather
Erzstift) or
Sticht (Dutch), both meaning foundation, e.g. to set up a close relative as its first prelate; occasionally a normal secular style principality was created but immediately awarded to a prelate, such as the
duchy of Westphalia for the Archbishop and Prince-elector of Cologne.
Many of them were at some point formally granted the rank of
Reichsfürst, literally "Prince of the Empire", in itself entitling them to representation in the
Reichstag (Imperial Diet). For example, the
bishop of Liège was a
Fürst on account of several secular principalities merged into the bishopric (including the countships of
Loon/Looz and
Ho(o)rn,
marquisate of Franchimont and
duchy of Bouillon) ruling a vast area, the prince-bishopric, but much smaller than his ecclesiastic diocese, the
Bishopric of Liège in feudal times this territory was the only part of the
Low Countries not counted among the "
Seventeen Provinces" but seen as an integral part of
Germany.
However the principalities of some of the highest prelates were not known as prince-(arch)bishopric, which they effectively were, but rather by a term corresponding to a more prestigious ecclesistial or temporal rank: the three German archbishoprics of Prince-electors (Cologne, Mainz and Trier) were styled
Kurfürstentum 'Electorate', the patriarchate (an archbishopric) of Aquileia just that, the (Arch)Bishop of Rome's Italian principalities the
Papal State(s); on the other hand the papal principality in France, the
Countship of Venaissin, where the papacy had resided in 'Babylonian exile' in
Avignon, but which remained a papal state, separate from the Italian states, even after Avignon had been raised to archbishopric, was simply known by its temporal status, no reference to the highest of all princes of the church.
An
exclusively religious category of Princes were the
Grand Masters, by somewhat different styles, of those
military orders that had been granted statehood over a territory to defend it against the infidels and/or in recognition of the order's military merit in crusading and conquests, notably against the (mainly
Slavonic and
Baltic) peoples in the north and east —notably the
Teutonic Knights'
Ordensstaat became the major power in the Baltic region, for example, absorbing its counterparts— and against the
Muslim Moors in
Iberia. While the Grand masters and their fighting
knights were usually professed nobles, the orders included clergy and were as a whole recognized as a truly "militant" form of devotion with papal recognition just as a normal monastic order. An existing example to this day would be that of the head of the
Sovereign Military Order of Malta.
By the twentieth century only the
Bishop of Rome (the
Pope, as Sovereign
Monarch of
Vatican City, formerly of the
Papal States, a major power on the
Italian peninsula until 1870) and the
Bishop of Urgell (as
Co-Prince of
Andorra) were still reigning, territorial "princes of the church". For all other clergymen prince-like worldly power is now considered as conflicting with the prescriptions of the church.
Papal electors
Every
Cardinal of the
Roman Catholic Church is still called a
Prince of the Church because their
College of Cardinals elects a new
pope (de facto from their number) during a period
sede vacante in a special session called a
conclave, where an age-limit applies. The Cardinals thus are an ecclesiastical equivalent to the
Prince-electors of the former
Holy Roman Empire, the other major elective monarchy. Similarly at present, the seven
Emirs of the
United Arab Emirates elect the federation's President, traditionally the ruler of Abu Dhabi.
Likewise, in
Malaysia, seven
Sultans, Negri Sembilan's Yang di-Pertuan Besar (himself an elective ruler) and the
Raja of Perlis elect amongst themselves the
Yang di-Pertuan Agong, federal
Paramount Ruler, a non-executive
head of state often translated as King. However, in this case the election is only for a five years term and is essentially ceremonial, while a pope mainly governs absolute for life.
Improper use and Counterparts
Informally, other members of the higher hierarchic echelons of the Catholic church are in recent times also occasionally called "Princes of the church", in which case this title can sometimes be intended more or less ironically by the speaker.
For analogous positions in non-Roman Catholic, and especially non-Christian contexts, the term
Prince of the Faith is used.
In the
Hindu realms of the
Indian Sub-Continent, the priestly
caste of
Brahmans ranks higher than the noble caste of
Kshatriyas. As a result, princes of the faith can be considered the
de jure superiors to princes of the blood. However, the two groups often competed with one another for
de facto sovereignty, and some historic figures in Indian history have held both sacred and secular titles. As real power usually lay with the secular rulers, many brahmins sought social promotion by serving them, e.g. as spiritual advisers at court, and even (non-Hindu) occupying colonial powers, often in administrative positions where their intellectual qualities could be appreciated.
Sources and references
(incomplete)*
- Westermann, Großer Atlas zur Weltgeschichte (in German)
Category:College of CardinalsCategory:Ecclesiastical titlesCategory:Episcopacy in Roman CatholicismCategory:Heads of state no:Kirkefyrstept:Príncipe da Igrejaru:Князь Церкви 
