Free City Of Mainz

It has been suggested that this article be merged into Mainz. (Discuss) Proposed since February 2024.

|

Free City of Mainz

Freie Stadt Mainz

1244–1462
Status| Imperial city
Capital| Mainz
Historical era| Middle Ages

• City established

| c. 13 BC

• City charter granted
by Abp Siegfried III

| 1244

• Rival archbishops

| 1461

• Charter revoked by
Abp Adolph II

| 1462

• German Mediatisation

| 1803

Preceded by | Succeeded by

|

|  | Archbishopric of Mainz

|

| Archbishopric of Mainz |

|

The Free City Of Mainz was a city state that existed in the early Middle Ages, between 13 BC to 1803.

In the Middle Ages, Mainz was a centre for the Christianisation of the German and Slavic peoples. The first archbishop in Mainz, Boniface, was killed in 754 while trying to convert the Frisians to Christianity and is buried in Fulda.[1] Boniface held a personal title of archbishop; Mainz became a regular archbishopric see in 781, when Boniface's successor Lullus[2] was granted the pallium by Pope Adrian I.[3] Harald Klak, king of Jutland, his family and followers, were baptized at Mainz in 826, in the abbey of St. Alban's.[4] Other early archbishops of Mainz include Rabanus Maurus,[5] the scholar and author, and Willigis (975–1011), who began construction on the current building of the Mainz Cathedral and founded the monastery of St. Stephan.[6]

From the time of Willigis until the end of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, the Archbishops of Mainz were archchancellors of the Empire and the most important of the seven Electors of the Holy Roman Emperor. Besides Rome, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Mainz today is the only diocese in the world with an episcopal see that is called a Holy See (sancta sedes). The Archbishops of Mainz traditionally were primas germaniae.[7]

In 1244, Archbishop Siegfried III granted Mainz a city charter, which included the right of the citizens to establish and elect a city council.[8] The city saw a feud between two archbishops in 1461, namely Diether von Isenburg, who was elected Archbishop by the cathedral chapter and supported by the citizens, and Adolf II von Nassau, who had been named archbishop of Mainz by the pope. In 1462, Archbishop Adolf raided the city of Mainz, plundering and killing 400 inhabitants. At a tribunal, those who had survived lost all their property, which was then divided between those who promised to follow Adolf. Those who would not promise to follow Adolf (amongst them Johannes Gutenberg) were driven out of the town or thrown into prison. The new archbishop revoked the city charter of Mainz and put the city under his direct rule. Ironically, after the death of Adolf II his successor was again Diether von Isenburg, now legally elected by the chapter and named by the Pope.[9]

* Mainz Cathedral, western main tower

* Monument to St. Boniface before Mainz Cathedral

* St. Martin's Cathedral in Mainz, by Wenzel Hollar; pen-and-ink drawing 1632

## See Also[edit]

### General[edit]

* Electorate of Mainz
* Mainz
* Germany

## References[edit]

1. ^ "Mainz". Sankt Bonifatius. 1 October 2012. Archived from the original on 31 January 2023. Retrieved 31 January 2023.
2. ^ "Lullus von Mainz". Ökumenisches Heiligenlexikon (in German). Archived from the original on 31 January 2023. Retrieved 31 January 2023.
3. ^ "Lullus". Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS) (in German). Archived from the original on 31 January 2023. Retrieved 31 January 2023.
4. ^ Rosamond McKitterick, The Frankish Kingdoms under the Carolingians, (Longman Group, 1999), 229.
5. ^ Herkens, Monika (4 February 2020). "Rabanus Maurus". Die Mainzer Heiligen Bistum Mainz (in German). Archived from the original on 31 January 2023. Retrieved 31 January 2023.
6. ^ Herkens, Monika (23 February 2020). "Willigis". Die Mainzer Heiligen Bistum Mainz (in German). Archived from the original on 31 January 2023. Retrieved 31 January 2023.
7. ^ "Primas". katholisch.de (in German). Archived from the original on 31 January 2023. Retrieved 31 January 2023.
8. ^ "50 1230–1249 Siegfried III. von Eppstein". Institut für Mainzer Kirchengeschichte Bistum Mainz (in German). Archived from the original on 31 January 2023. Retrieved 31 January 2023.
9. ^ "Diether von Isenburg". regionalgeschichte.net. Archived from the original on 31 January 2023. Retrieved 31 January 2023.