View source for Electorate of Mainz

{{Short description|Territory in the Holy Roman Empire}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2024}}
{{Infobox country
|native_name  = {{native name|de|Kurfürstentum Mainz}}<br/>{{native name|la|Electoratus Moguntinus}}
| conventional_long_name = Prince-Archbishopric of Mainz
| status       = [[States of the Holy Roman Empire|State]] of the [[Holy Roman Empire]]
| common_name  = Mainz
| empire       = the [[Holy Roman Empire]]
| religion      = [[Catholic Church]]
| common_languages = [[German language|German]]  
| image_flag   = Banner of the Electorate of Mainz.svg
| image_coat   = Wappen Erzbistum Mainz.png
| image_map    = Electorate of Mainz, Homann 1729.jpg
| image_map_caption = Location of the Archbishopric of Mainz, 1729
| capital      = [[Mainz]]
| era          = {{plainlist}}
* [[Middle Ages]]
* [[Early modern period|Early Modern]]
{{endplainlist}}
| government_type = [[Hochstift|Ecclesiastical principality]]
| year_start   = 780
| year_end     = 1803
| leader1      = [[Lullus]] (first)
| year_leader1 = 754–786
| leader2      = [[Karl Theodor Anton Maria von Dalberg|Karl Theodor von Dalberg]] (last)
| year_leader2 = 1802–1803
| title_leader = [[Elector of Mainz|Prince-elector and Archbishop]]
| event_pre    = Bishopric established
| event_start  = [[Prince-Bishop|Gained territory]], elevated to archbishopric
| date_start   = 
| event1       = [[Prince-Bishop|Gained territory]]
| date_event1 = 983
| event2       = [[Prince-Elector#High offices|Arch-chancellor]]
| date_event2  = 1251
| event3       = [[Mainz]] made [[Imperial Free City|Free City]]
| date_event3  = 1242–1462
| event4       = [[Republic of Mainz]]
| date_event4  = 18 March – 23 July 1793
| event5       = [[Treaty of Campo Formio]]
| date_event5  = 17 October 1797
| event_end    = [[German Mediatisation]]
| date_end     = 
| p1           = Duchy of Franconia
| image_p1     = 
| s1           = Mont-Tonnerre
| flag_s1      = Flag of France.svg
| s2           = Principality of Aschaffenburg
| flag_s2     = Banner of the Electorate of Mainz.svg
| s3           = Grand Duchy of Hesse
| flag_s3      = Flagge Großherzogtum Hessen ohne Wappen.svg
| s4           = Duchy of Nassau
| flag_s4      = Flagge Herzogtum Nassau (1806-1866).svg
| s5           = Kingdom of Prussia
| flag_s5      = Flag of the Kingdom of Prussia (1803-1892).svg
| today        = [[Germany]]
| stat_year1             = 1760<ref>Wilson, Peter (1998). ''German Armies: War and German Society, 1648–1806.'' London: UCL Press. Page 278.</ref>
| stat_pop1              = 336,000
}}
The '''Electorate of [[Mainz]]''' ({{langx|de|Kurfürstentum Mainz}} or ''{{lang|de|Kurmainz}}''; {{langx|la|Electoratus Moguntinus}}), previously known in English as '''Mentz''' and by its French name '''Mayence''', was one of the most prestigious and influential states of the [[Holy Roman Empire]]. In the hierarchy of the [[Catholic Church]], the [[Elector of Mainz|Archbishop-Elector of Mainz]] was also the Primate of Germany (''{{lang|la|[[primas Germaniae]]}}''), a purely honorary dignity that was unsuccessfully claimed from time to time by other archbishops. There were only two other ecclesiastical [[Prince-elector]]s in the Empire: the [[Electorate of Cologne]] and the [[Electorate of Trier]].

The Archbishop-Elector of Mainz was also [[archchancellor]] of [[Kingdom of Germany|Germany]] (one of the three component titular kingdoms of the Holy Roman Empire, the other two being [[Kingdom of Italy (Holy Roman Empire)|Italy]] and [[Kingdom of Burgundy|Burgundy]]) and, as such, ranked first among all ecclesiastical and secular princes of the Empire, and was second only to the [[Holy Roman Emperor|Emperor]]. His political role, particularly as an intermediary between the [[Imperial State|Estates of the Empire]] and the Emperor, was considerable.<ref>Lafage, p. 69</ref>

== History ==
[[File:Kirchenprovinzen Deutschland 1500.jpg|thumb|left|The archdioceses of Central Europe, 1500. After the [[Peace of Westphalia]], the archdiocese of Mainz still remained the largest of Germany, covering 10 suffragant dioceses. The territory of dioceses and archdioceses (spiritual) was usually much larger than the prince-bishoprics and archbishoprics/electorates (temporal), ruled by the same individual.]]
The episcopal see was established in [[Roman Empire|ancient Roman times]] in the city of Mainz, which had been a Roman provincial capital, Moguntiacum. The first bishops before the 4th century have legendary names, beginning with [[Crescens]]. 
The first verifiable Bishop of Mainz was Martinus in 343. The ecclesiastical and secular importance of Mainz dates from the accession of St. [[Boniface]] to the see in 747. Boniface was previously an archbishop though without an assigned see, but that ecclesiastical status did not immediately devolve upon the see itself until his successor [[Lullus]]; during his reign Mainz became an archdiocese, in 781.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Sante |first=Georg Wilhelm |year=1937 |title=Bonifatius und die Begründung des Mainzer Bistums |journal=[[Historisches Jahrbuch]] |volume=57 |pages=157–97 |language=de}}</ref> Another early bishop of Mainz was [[Aureus of Mainz]].

The territory of the Electorate included several non-contiguous blocks of territory: lands near Mainz on both the left and right banks of the Rhine; territory along the Main River above Frankfurt (including the district of [[Aschaffenburg (district)|Aschaffenburg]]); the [[Eichsfeld]] region in [[Lower Saxony]] and [[Thuringia]]; and the territory around [[Erfurt]] in Thuringia.

As was generally the case in the Holy Roman Empire, the territory of a prince-bishopric or archbishopric differed from that of the corresponding diocese or archdiocese, which was the purely spiritual jurisdiction of the prince-bishop or archbishop. During the early modern age, the archdiocese of Mainz (see map below) was the largest ecclesiastical province of Germany, covering Mainz and 10 suffragant dioceses.<ref>Augsburg, Coire, Constance, Eichstätt, Hildersheim, Paderborn, Speyer, Strasbourg, Worms, Würtzburg; Franck Lafage, ''Les comtes Schönborn, 1642–1756'', L'Harmattan, Paris, 2008, vol 1, p. 69</ref>

During the early modern period the [[cathedral chapter]] of Mainz controlled the election of the archbishop and used its power to ensure only its members were elevated. By this time membership in the chapter had been monopolized by a few families of [[Imperial Knight|Imperial Knights]], securing their power within the Electorate.<ref>{{Cite web |title=KURMAINZ: ADMINISTRATIVE POLITY AND POLITICAL CHANGE IN THE ELECTORATE OF MAINZ, 1647-1729 - ProQuest |url=https://www.proquest.com/openview/491b93bd1c151a9c97b3e87f520f2dea/1?cbl=18750&diss=y&pq-origsite=gscholar |access-date=2025-04-24 |website=www.proquest.com |language=en}}</ref>

In 1802, Mainz lost its archiepiscopal character. In the secularizations that accompanied the ''{{lang|de|[[Reichsdeputationshauptschluss]]}}'' ([[German mediatization]]) of 1803, the seat of the elector, [[Karl Theodor von Dalberg]], was moved to [[Archbishopric of Regensburg|Regensburg]], and the electorate lost its left bank territories to [[French First Republic|France]], its right bank areas along the Main below Frankfurt to [[Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt|Hesse-Darmstadt]] and the [[Nassau (duchy)|Nassau]] princes, and Eichsfeld and Erfurt to the [[Kingdom of Prussia]]. Dalberg retained the Aschaffenburg area as the [[Principality of Aschaffenburg]]. In 1810 Dalberg merged Aschaffenburg, [[Principality of Frankfurt|Frankfurt]], [[County of Wetzlar|Wetzlar]], [[Hanau]], and [[Fulda]], to form the new [[Grand Duchy of Frankfurt]] in 1810. Dalberg resigned in 1813 and in 1815 the [[Congress of Vienna]] divided his territories between the [[Kingdom of Bavaria]], the [[Electorate of Hesse|Electorate of Hesse-Kassel]] (or Hesse-Cassel), the [[Grand Duchy of Hesse]] and the [[Free City of Frankfurt]].

The modern [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Mainz]] was founded in 1802 when Mainz lost its archdiocese status and its territory west of the Rhine River became a mere diocese within the territory of [[First French Empire|France]]. In 1814 its jurisdiction was extended over the territory of Hesse-Darmstadt. Since then it has had two cardinals and via various [[concordat]]s was allowed to retain the medieval tradition of the [[cathedral chapter]] electing a successor to the bishop.
<gallery mode=packed heights=100>
File:Kurfuerstliches Schloss Mainz Innenhof.jpg|[[Electoral Palace, Mainz]]
File:Schloss Johannisburg Aschaffenburg.jpg|[[Schloss Johannisburg]] in Aschaffenburg
File:ThüringerStaatskanzlei.jpg|Palace of the Mainz Governors in [[Erfurt]]
File:Mainzer Dom von Nordosten.jpg|[[Mainz Cathedral]]
File:Erfurt cathedral and severi church.jpg|[[Erfurt Cathedral]] and St. Severus Church in [[Erfurt]]
</gallery>

== See also ==
* [[Electorate of Cologne]]
* [[Electorate of Trier]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{Official website|http://www.bistum-mainz.de}} of the modern Diocese
* [http://www.hoeckmann.de/germany/hesse-south.htm Map of the Archbishopric of Mainz in 1789]

{{Electors of the Holy Roman Empire after 1356}}
{{Swabian League}}
{{Electoral Rhenish Circle}}
{{Catholic League}}

{{Portal bar|Catholic Church|Holy Roman Empire|Middle Ages|Modern history}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Mainz, Electorate Of}}
[[Category:Electorate of Mainz| ]]
[[Category:780 establishments]]
[[Category:1803 disestablishments in the Holy Roman Empire]]
[[Category:Dioceses established in the 8th century]]
[[Category:Electoral Rhenish Circle]]
[[Category:Electorates of the Holy Roman Empire]]
[[Category:Former states and territories of Bavaria]]
[[Category:Former states and territories of Hesse]]
[[Category:Former states and territories of Rhineland-Palatinate]]
[[Category:History of Catholicism in Germany]]
[[Category:History of Mainz|Electorate]]
[[Category:Prince-bishoprics of the Holy Roman Empire in Germany]]
[[Category:Former monarchies of Europe]]
[[Category:States and territories disestablished in 1803]]