prince bishopric · Germany and Central Europe
Prince-Bishopric of Constance
Origins
Constance became a bishopric around 600, serving the Alemanni, and grew into the largest diocese of the German lands, stretching from the Alps to the Neckar. In 1155 Frederick Barbarossa confirmed the bishop's possessions and rights, the basis of a small secular territory around Lake Constance.
Rule and society
The city of Constance became an imperial city independent of its bishop and hosted the Council of Constance from 1414 to 1418, which ended the Western Schism and burned Jan Hus. The bishops acquired the Reichenau abbey in 1540. After Constance became Protestant in 1527, they moved to Meersburg, where they built a baroque New Palace.
Decline and legacy
In 1803 the prince-bishopric was secularised and its lands went to Baden. The diocese itself was dissolved in 1821, its parts divided between the new Archdiocese of Freiburg and Swiss dioceses.
Lineage
On the connections map
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- Prince-Bishopric of Constance was part of Holy Roman Empire1155 CE – 1803 CE
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Cite this page
- APA
- The Epoch Institute. (2026). Prince-Bishopric of Constance. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/prince-bishopric-of-constance
- MLA
- “Prince-Bishopric of Constance.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/prince-bishopric-of-constance. Accessed .
- Chicago
- The Epoch Institute. “Prince-Bishopric of Constance.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/prince-bishopric-of-constance.
- Harvard
- The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Prince-Bishopric of Constance’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/prince-bishopric-of-constance (Accessed: ).
Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻