Prince-Bishopric of Worms

Origins

Worms had been a bishopric since Roman times. Bishop Burchard of Worms, who issued a famous collection of canon law around 1020, gained wide rights over the city. In 1156 Frederick Barbarossa confirmed the bishop's possessions, and the bishops became princes of a small territory.

Rule and society

The bishops lost control of Worms itself, which became a free imperial city; the Concordat of Worms in 1122 and Luther's appearance at the Diet of Worms in 1521 took place there. The bishops ruled scattered lands, sharing Ladenburg with the Electoral Palatinate. The see was often held together with Mainz.

Decline and legacy

France annexed the left-bank lands in the 1790s, and in 1803 the remaining territories were secularised and given to Hesse-Darmstadt and Baden. The diocese itself was dissolved in 1801 and later merged into the diocese of Mainz.