Bishopric of Ratzeburg

Prince-Bishopric of Ratzeburg
Hochstift Ratzeburg also: Fürstbistum Ratzeburg
State of the Holy Roman Empire
1236–1648
Coat of arms
The Prince-Bishopric of Ratzeburg shown within Mecklenburg c. 1250
Capital		Ratzeburg
Languages		Low Saxon, German
Religion		Roman Catholic, Lutheran after 1554
Government		Elective monarchy, ruled by the bishop or administrator holding the episcopal see, elected by the chapter or, exceptionally, appointed by the Pope
Historical era		Middle Ages
•	Diocese founded	c. 1050
•	Pagan Wends     destroyed bishopric   -Diocese refounded	July 15, 1066 1154 1236
•	Saxo-Bavarian Duke     Henry the Lion defeated     ensued by break-up of     the Duchy of Saxony	1180/1181
•	Acquired territory	1236
•	Lutheran Reformation	1554
•	Secularised to     Mecklenburg-Güstrow	1648
•	Became exclave of     Mecklenburg-Strelitz	1701
Preceded by Succeeded by Duchy of Saxony Mecklenburg-Güstrow

Coat of arms

The Bishopric of Ratzeburg (German: Bistum Ratzeburg), centered on Ratzeburg in Northern Germany, was originally a suffragan to the Archdiocese of Hamburg, which transformed into the Archdiocese of Bremen in 1072.

Ratzeburg was one of the dioceses formed c. 1050 by Archbishop Adalbert of Hamburg, who appointed St. Aristo, who had just returned from Jerusalem, to the new see. Aristo seems to have been but a wandering missionary bishop. In 1066, the pagan Wends rose against their German masters, and on 15 July 1066, St. Ansverus, Abbot of St. George's, Ratzeburg (not the later monastery bearing that name), and several of his monks are said to have been stoned to death. It was not until 1154, however, that Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony, and Hartwich I, Archbishop of Hamburg, refounded the episcopal see of Ratzeburg, and Evermodus became its first bishop. A disciple of St Norbert and provost of the Monastery of Our Lady at Magdeburg, Evermodus was, like many of his successors, a Premonstratensian canon. In 1157, a chapter was attached to Ratzeburg cathedral by Pope Adrian IV.