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Prince-Bishop of Liège

Prince-Bishopric of Liège
  • Principauté de Liège  (French)
  • Prinsbisdom Luik  (Dutch)
  • Fürstbistum Lüttich  (German)
  • Principåté d' Lidje  (Walloon)
Ecclesiastic state of the Holy Roman Empire
980–1789
1791–1792
1793–1795
Flag Coat of arms
The Prince-Bishopric of Liège around 1350.
Capital Liège
Languages French, Dutch, German, Walloon
Religion Roman Catholicism
Government Elective principality
Prince-Bishop
 •  340s–384 Saint Servatius (first bishop, at Tongeren)
 •  approximately 670-700 Saint Lambert (at Maastricht)
 •  972–1008 Notger (first prince-bishop)
 •  1792–94 François-Antoine-Marie de Méan (last)
Historical era Middle Ages
 •  Creation of diocese 340s
 •  Secular powers obtained 980
 •  Purchased Lordship
    of Bouillon

1096
 •  Annexed County of Loon 1366
 •  Acquired County of Horne 1568
 •  Liège Revolution 1789–91
 •  Annexed by France 1795
 •  Concordat accepts dissolution of Bishopric
10 September 1801
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Republic of Liège
Republic of Liège
French First Republic
Today part of  Belgium
 France
 Germany
 Netherlands

The Prince-Bishopric of Liège was a state of the Holy Roman Empire in the Low Countries, situated for the most part in present Belgium, which was ruled by the Bishop of Liège who held an Imperial Estate and had seat and voice at the Imperial Diet. The Prince-Bishopric of Liège should not be confused with the diocese of Liège, which was larger.

The bishops of Liège acquired their status as a Prince-bishop between 980 and 985 when Bishop Notger, who had been the bishop of Liege since 972, received secular control of the County of Huy from Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor.

The Prince-Bishopric belonged from 1500 on to the Lower Rhenish–Westphalian Circle. Its territory included most of the present Belgian provinces of Liège and Limburg, and some exclaves in other parts of Belgium and the Netherlands.

It briefly became a republic (the Republic of Liège) from 1789 to 1791, before reverting to a Prince-Bishopric in 1791. The role of Prince-Bishop permanently ended when the state was annexed by France in 1795. In 1815 it became part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, and in 1830 it was within the part of that kingdom which split off to become Belgium.

The principality ruled by the bishops of Liège was never part of the Seventeen Provinces or the Spanish and Austrian Southern Netherlands, but from the 16th century onwards its politics were strongly influenced by the dukes of Burgundy and later the Habsburgs, though remaining under the sovereignty of the family de la Marck (Dutch: van der Marck).


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