Bishopric of Ösel–Wiek

The Bishopric of Ösel–Wiek (Estonian: Saare-Lääne piiskopkond; German: Bistum Ösel–Wiek; Low German: Bisdom Ösel–Wiek; contemporary Latin: Ecclesia Osiliensis) was a Roman Catholic diocese and a semi-independent prince-bishopric — part of Terra Mariana (Old Livonia) in the Holy Roman Empire. The bishopric covered what are now Saare, Hiiu, Lääne counties and the western part of Pärnu county of Estonia.

The bishopric was created on 1 October 1228 as a Latin rite, and initially possibly exempt, diocese by papal legate William of Modena and simultaneously as a state of Holy Roman Empire—making it a prince-bishopric—by Henry, King of the Romans (1220-1242; not Emperor). Due to the repeated shift of the seat of the bishops, it was also successively known as bishopric of Leal (Lihula) from 1234, Perona (Vana-Pärnu) from 1251, Hapsal (Haapsalu) Castle from 1279, and the seat shifted (alone) to the castle of Arensburg (Kuressaare) on the island of Ösel (Saaremaa); the cathedral and cathedral chapter (canons) remained in Hapsal. It was a suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the Metropolitan Archbishopric of Riga from 1253.

One of the five members of the Livonian Confederation, the state was administratively divided into two bailiwicks (Latin advocaciae, German Vogteien). The bishop was also the lord of the Teutonic Order over its fiefs on the bishopric's territory. From 1241 until 1343, Ösel (Saaremaa) Island was an autonomous part of Ösel-Wiek prince-bishopric (autonomy renewed 27 August 1255).

The principality ceased to exist in 1560 when its last prince-bishop, Johannes V von Münchhausen, sold it to Denmark, which vested executive power in royally appointed Governors (styled Lensmænd to 1654, then Statthalter). King Frederick II of Denmark's brother Magnus of Livonia, Duke of Holstein, obtained it as an appanage on 15 April 1560 and was elected bishop on 13 May 1560; the Danish dynasty being Lutheran, he abolished the diocese and assumed the secular feudal style Lord of Ösel (Stieffte Ozel und Wieck Herr) on 20 March 1567.

Denmark ceded Wiek (Lääne County) to the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in exchange for parts of Ösel belonging to the Livonian Order. Later Ösel became a Danish possession.

• Gottfried, Cistercian Order (O. Cist.) (1227, elected 29 June 1228; approved August 1228 – death after 1257)
• vacancy & interregnum 1229 - 1234, ruled by the Bishop of Riga and the Livonian Swordbrothers Order.
• Heinrich I, Dominican Order (O.P.) (1234 – death 1260年03月10日)
• Hermann I de Becheshovede (Buxhoevden) (1262– death 1285?)
• Heinrich II (1290年05月10日 – death 1294)
• Konrad I (1294? – death 1307)
• Vacancy & Interregnum
• Hartung (Garttungus) (1310 – death 1321)
• Jakob II (1322年03月03日 – 1337)
• Hermann II Osenbrügge (de Osenbrygge), (1338 – death 1362?63)
• Konrad II (1363年07月24日 – death 1374)
• Heinrich III (1374年10月23日 – assassinated before 1381年07月05日), previously Bishop of Schleswig (1370年01月30日 – 1374年10月23日)
• Vacancy & Interregnum
• Winrich von Kniprode (1385年03月28日 – death 1419年11月05日)
• Caspar Schuwenflug (1420年01月08日 – death 1423年08月10日)
• Christian Kuband, Norbertines (O. Praem.) (1423年08月10日 – death 1432年07月21日)
• Johannes I Schutte (1432年10月22日 – 1438年09月12日)
• Johannes II Creul (Kreuwel), Teutonic Order (O.T.) (1439年03月20日 de jure – 1457 de facto since 1449 in Wiek as the younger Bishop - death 1454年09月23日)
• Ludolf Grove (1457 de jure – death 1458年03月11日) (de facto since 1439, since 1449 as the older Bishop in Saaremaa and Dagö)
• Jodokus Hoenstein (1458年07月24日 – death 1471年01月17日)
• Peter Wetberg (1471年06月17日 – death before 1491年11月14日)
• Johannes III Orgas (Johann Orgies) (1492年03月26日 – death 1515年03月19日)
• Johannes IV Kyvel (Kievel) (1515年03月19日 – death 1527年04月22日), succeeded as former Coadjutor Bishop of Ösel-Wiek (? – 1515年03月19日)
• Georg von Tiesenhausen (1527年05月20日 – death 1530年10月02日), previously Bishop of Reval (Estonia) (1525年07月21日 – 1530年10月12日)
• Reinhold von Buxhoeveden (1532年07月03日 – retired before 1541年07月13日), died 1557
• Johannes V von Münchhausen (1542年01月09日 – 1560 sold the see)
• Magnus of Livonia (also Prince of Denmark and Duke of Holstein), 1560–1572 (Protestant bishop, died 1583)

• List of Catholic dioceses in Estonia

• Pius Bonifacius Gams, Series episcoporum Ecclesiae Catholicae, Leipzig 1931, p. 297
• Konrad Eubel, Hierarchia Catholica Medii Aevi, vol. 1, p. 379; vol. 2, p. 207; vol. 3, p. 264
• Ernst Friedrich Mooyer, Verzeichnisse der deutschen Bischöfe seit dem Jahr 800 nach Chr. Geb., Minden 1854, p. 75

• GCatholic
• WorldStatesmen - Estonia - Ösel
• Catholic-hierarchy.org

• States and territories established in 1228
• 1560 disestablishments
• Former Roman Catholic dioceses in Europe
• Pre-Reformation dioceses in Nordic Europe
• Historical geography of Estonia
• Prince-bishoprics in Livonia
• Haapsalu
• Roman Catholic dioceses in the Holy Roman Empire
• Kuressaare
• Roman Catholic dioceses established in the 13th century
• 13th-century establishments in Estonia

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