1652-1729 Prussia 1814-1848






Princebishopric Trier, 1729-1815



The Archbishop of Trier was one to the Empire's 7 electors; as one of the 4 Catholic electors he was essential for the Habsburg Dynasty in securing the imperial crown. Because of the many wars of Louis XIV., the archbishops resided in the fortress EHRENBREITSTEIN opposite Koblenz.
Under Archbishop Franz Georg, the city of Trier, after a lot of destruction caused by war, saw reconstruction, most notably the Paulinus Church, after a plan by BALTHASAR NEUMANN. However, Trier continued to see French occupation in wars (WAR OF AUSTRIAN SUCCESSION 1741-1748), SEVEN YEARS WAR (1756-1763)). Archbishop Clemens Wenzel had the KOBLENZ SCHLOSS constructed (1780-1786), the costs of which threatened to exceed the financial capability of the princebishopric.
In the latter half of the 18th century, under Archbishop CLEMENS WENZEL VON SACHSEN (1768-1802, also bishop of Augsburg) the Archbishop of Trier took up a position of distance to Rome, a position referred to as FEBRONIANISM after Johann Nikolaus von Hontheim, auxiliary bishop of Trier, who had published his concept of a German national church within the Catholic church (an adaptation of Gallicanism) under the pseudonym JUSTINUS FEBRONIUS (1763). In 1769 the KOBLENZ RESOLUTIONS, based on Febronianism, were signed on Trier territory. In 1773 the PRIESTS SEMINAR (Seminarium Clementinum) was founded. In 1785 the Archbishop was among the signatories of the EMS PUNCTATION establishing an independence of Rome of the German church, similar to the one claimed by the French church.
In 1787 the THREATER in Koblenz was opened. In the 1780es the head of the School Commission, JOHANN VON DALBERG, reformed education, based on the ideas of JOHANN IGNAZ FELBIGER.

In 1794 Trier was occupied by French troops; the Archbishop fled. After a brief period under the CISRHENANIAN REPUBLIC, Trier was annexed into France. In 1815 it was allocated to Prussia.



Princebishops of Trier
Franz-Georg von Schoenborn-Puckheim (1729-1756)
Johann Philipp von Walderdorf (1756-1768)
Clemens Wenzel von Sachsen (1768-1802)



EXTERNAL
FILES 		Bistum Trier: Geschichte : Stadt und Bistum vom 16. bis zum 18. Jahrhundert, from Bistum Trier, in German
Chronologischer Abriss der Geschichte von Koblenz, from Koblenz Online
Article Trier from Catholic Encyclopedia
Article Febronianism, from Catholic Encyclopedia
Biography of Johann Friedrich Hugo Nepomuk Eckenbert von Dalberg, from BBKL, in German
DOCUMENTS Flag of the Archdiocesis of Trier, from FOTW
List of Princebishops, from World Statesmen by Ben Cahoon; also from Regnal Chronologies
Map featuring the Princebishopric of Trier (referred to as Abp. of Treves) in 1792, from Gardiner's Atlas of English History, 1892
REFERENCE Coins of Trier, 1701-1800, in : Krause, Mishler, Standard Catalog of World Coins : Eighteenth Century 1701-1800, 2nd ed., 1997, pp.534-540



This page is part of World History at KMLA
First posted on January 3rd 2002, last revised on November 11th 2004

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