The Bishopric of Merseburg was an episcopal see on the eastern border of the medieval Duchy of Saxony with its centre in Merseburg, where Merseburg Cathedral was constructed.
The see was founded in 967 by Emperor Otto I at the same time in the same manner as those of Meissen and Zeitz (from 1029: Naumburg), all suffragan dioceses of the Archbishopric of Magdeburg as part of a plan to bind the adjacent Slavic ("Wendish") lands in the Saxon Eastern March beyond the Saale River more closely to the Holy Roman Empire.
The prince-bishopric was re-established by King Henry II of Germany in 1004.
It then covered a considerable small territory stretching from the Saale up to the Mulde River and the Margraviate of Meissen in the east.
History
thumb|left|Merseburg Cathedral About 919 Otto's father King Henry the Fowler had a Kaiserpfalz erected in Merseburg in the Eastphalian Hassegau, hometown of his first wife Hatheburg of Merseburg.
The establishment of the diocese traced back to a vow Otto took before his victory against the Hungarians at the Battle of Lechfeld on Saint Laurence day, 10 August 955.
Confirmed by Pope John XIII at the 968 synod in Ravenna, the first Merseburg bishop was Boso, a Bavarian monk descending from St. Emmeram's Abbey in Regensburg (Ratisbon), already distinguished by his missionary labours among the pagan Sorbs.
Boso's successor Gisilher, a confidant of the new Emperor Otto II, from 971 procured the suppression of the see in favour of his aims to become Archbishop of Magdeburg, finally reached through the Emperor's power over Pope Benedict VII in 981.
However this step was clearly against the interests of the Church and the position of Magdeburg archbishopric was decisively enfeebled after the Great Slav Rising of 983, therefore the dissolution was revoked by the papacy in 998 or early in 999 at a Roman synod.
Upon Archbishop Gisilher's death in 1004, King Henry II re-established the prince-bishopric; the diocese did not, however, recover all its former territory, and was now almost exclusively a missionary jurisdiction among the Sorbs, who were not fully converted to Christianity until the middle of the 12th century.
Under Bishop Thietmar (1009-1018) the erection of Merseburg Cathedral began, it was consecrated in 1021 in presence of Emperor Henry II.
During the Investiture Controversy the Merseburg bishops sided with Pope Gregory VII and also joined the Great Saxon Revolt, which, however, could not stop the dwindling importance of the small diocese.
From the 13th century onwards, the bishops had to deal with rising power of the Meissen margraves of the Wettin dynasty, from  1423 Electors of Saxony, who by denying Merseburg's Imperial immediacy attempted to acquire the overlordship.
By the 1485 Treaty of Leipzig the Wettins allocated the protectorate over Merseburg to Duke Albert III of Saxony.
The bishopric's fate was sealed with the Protestant Reformation, which was enforced here during the episcopate of Prince Adolph II of Anhalt, who was driven out of office by his uprising subjects during the German Peasants' War in 1525.
In 1544 Elector Augustus of Saxony finally assumed the rule as Protestant administrator, with Prince George III of Anhalt as Coadjutor bishop.
In 1561 the Saxon elector installed his minor son Alexander as administrator, who nevertheless died four years later, whereafter the Bishopric of Merseburg was finally incorporated by the Saxon electorate.
From 1652 to 1738 the descendants of the Wettin duke Christian I held the title of a "Duke of Saxe-Merseburg".
At the 1815 Congress of Vienna, three-fourths of the former diocesan territory was assigned to the Kingdom of Prussia, the rest remaining Saxon; the religious attitude of the people was by that time almost entirely Lutheran.
Incumbents of the see of Merseburg
Bishops of Merseburg
967–970: Boso
971–981: Gisilher
981–1004: diocese dissolved
Prince-Bishops of Merseburg
1004–1009: Wigbert
1009–1018: Thietmar of Walbeck
1019–1036: Bruno of Merseburg
1036–1050: Hunold
1050–1053: Alberich
1053: Winther
1053–1057: Ezzelin I
1057–1062: Offo (also Uffo, Onuphrius, or Woffo)
1062–1063: Günther (also Winithar)
1063–1093: Werner of Wolkenburg
1075: Eberhard (anti-bishop)
1093–1097: sede vacante
1097–1112: Albuin
1112–1120: Gerard (Gerhard)
1120–1126: Arnold
1126–1140: Megingoz (also Meingod)
1140–1140: Henry I
1140–1143: Ezzelin II (also Eckhelm)
1143–1151: Raynard (Reinhard) of Querfurt
1151–1170: John I (Johann)
1171–1201: Count Eberhard of Seeburg
1201–1215: Derek of Meissen (Dietrich von Meißen)
1215–1240: Ekkehard Rabil (also Engelhard)
1240–1244: Rudolph of Webau
1244–1265: Henry II of Waren
1265: Albert I of Borna (Albrecht)
1265–1283: Frederick I of Torgau
1283–1300: Henry III von Ammendorf
1300–1319: Henry IV
1320–1340: Gebhard of Schrapelau (or Schraplau)
1341–1357: Henry V, Count of Stolberg
1357–1382: Frederick II of Hoym
1382–1384: Burkhard of Querfurt
1382–1385: Andreas Dauba (anti-bishop)
1384–1393: Henry VI, Count of Stolberg
1393–1403: Henry VII, treasurer from Orlamünde
1403–1406: Otto of Honstein
1406: Bishop Elect Henry (VIII), Count of Stolberg
1407–1411: Walter von Köckeritz
1411–1431: Nicholas Lubich
1431–1463: John II of Bose (Johannes; 23 May 1431 - 3 October 1463)
1464–1466: John III of Bose (Johannes; January 1464 - 11 July 1466)
1466–1514: Thilo of Trotha (21 Jul 1466 - 5 Mar 1514)
1514–1526: Adolph of Anhalt (5 March 1514 - 23 March 1526)
1526–1535: Vincent of Schleinitz (Vinzenz; 9 April 1526 - 21 March 1535)
1535–1544: Sigismund of Lindenau (3 April 1535 - 4 January 1544)
Lutheran Administrator and coadjutor
1544–1548: Augustus of Saxony, as administrator
1544–1549: George of Anhalt, as Lutheran coadjutor
Prince-Bishop
1549–1561: Michael Helding (28 May 1549 - 30 September 1561)
Lutheran Administrator
1561–1565: Alexander of Saxony
In 1565 the prince-bishopric was annexed to the Electorate of Saxony
References
Merseburg Category:Merseburg Merseburg Merseburg Merseburg Merseburg
