prince bishopric · Germany and Central Europe

Prince-Bishopric of Basel

1032 CE – 1803 CE (approx.) · capital Porrentruy

A prince-bishopric on the upper Rhine whose bishops, driven out of Protestant Basel, ruled the Jura from Porrentruy until 1792.

Origins

Basel had been a bishopric since the 7th century. In 999 King Rudolf III of Burgundy gave the bishop the abbey of Moutier-Grandval in the Jura, the basis of later territory. When Burgundy fell to the Empire in 1032, Basel's bishops became imperial princes, later gaining further lands in the Jura and Alsace.

Rule and society

The bishops ruled the city of Basel until its citizens won self-government, and Basel joined the Swiss Confederacy in 1501. The Council of Basel met there from 1431, and the university was founded in 1460. With the Reformation in 1529 the bishop moved to Porrentruy, ruling a mainly French-speaking territory.

Decline and legacy

French revolutionary troops occupied the territory in 1792, creating the short-lived Rauracian Republic, which France annexed in 1793. The prince-bishopric was formally dissolved in 1803. In 1815 most of its lands were given to Bern, and the Canton of Jura was created from part of them in 1979.

Connections (5)

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Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Prince-Bishopric of Basel. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/prince-bishopric-of-basel
MLA
“Prince-Bishopric of Basel.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/prince-bishopric-of-basel. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Prince-Bishopric of Basel.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/prince-bishopric-of-basel.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Prince-Bishopric of Basel’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/prince-bishopric-of-basel (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻