Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index

Archbishop of Cologne

The Archbishopric of Cologne was one of the major ecclesiastical principalities of the Holy Roman Empire. Cologne itself became a free city in 1288, and the seat of the Archbishop was moved from Cologne Cathedral to Bonn. Its territories included a strip of territory along the Left Bank of the Rhine east of Jülich, as well as the Duchy of Westphalia on the other side of the Rhine, beyond Berg and Mark. The Archbishop was traditionally one of the Imperial Electors and the Archchancellor of Italy.

In the early 1580s the Archbishop converted to Lutheranism and attempted to secularize the Archbishopric. He was quickly ousted by a Bavarian army which installed the Bavarian prince Ernst as Archbishop. From then until the mid 18th century the Archbishopric was effectively a secundogeniture of the Wittelsbach rulers of Bavaria. As the Archbishop in this period usually also held the Bishopric of Münster, he was one of the most substantial princes of northwestern Germany.

After 1795, the Archbishopric's territories on the Left Bank of the Rhine were occupied by France, and were formally annexed in 1801. The Reichsdeputationshauptschluss of 1803 secularized the rest of the Archbishopric, giving the Duchy of Westphalia to the Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt. Cologne has, however, remained the seat of a Catholic Archbishop up to the present.

Archbishops of Cologne, 784-1803

Modern Archbishops of Cologne