Bishopric of Minden

The Bishopric of Minden (German: Bistum Minden) was a Roman Catholic diocese and a state of the Holy Roman Empire. Its capital was Minden.

The diocese was founded by Charlemagne in 803, after he had conquered the Saxons. It was subordinate to the Archbishopric of Cologne. It became the Prince-Bishopric of Minden (Fürstbistum Minden) in 1180, when the Duchy of Saxony was dissolved. In the 16th century, the Protestant Reformation was starting to take hold in the state under the influence of the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg. Minden was occupied by Sweden in the Thirty Years' War, and was secularized. The Peace of Westphalia of 1648 gave it to the Margraviate of Brandenburg as the Principality of Minden (Fürstentum Minden).

Since 1719, Minden was administered by Brandenburg-Prussia together with the adjacent County of Ravensberg as Minden-Ravensberg. In 1807, it became part of the Kingdom of Westphalia. In 1814, it returned to Prussia and became part of the Province of Westphalia.

As of 1789, the principality had an area of 1,100 km². It was bordered by (from the north, clockwise): an exclave of the Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel, the Electorate of Hanover, the County of Schaumburg-Lippe, another exclave of Hesse-Cassel, the Principality of Lippe, the County of Ravensberg, and the Prince-Bishopric of Osnabrück. Cities included Minden and Lübbecke.

Saint Erkanbert (803-813)
Saint Hardward (813-853)
Saint Theoderich (853-880)
Saint Thietmar (1185-1206)
Francis of Waldeck (1530-1553)
Julius, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1553-1554)
Henry Julius, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1582-1585, Protestant)
Christian the Elder, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1599-1625, Protestant)
Francis of Wartenberg (1631-1648)

v • d • e Holy Roman Empire — Lower Rhenish–Westphalian Circle (1500–1806)
Ecclesiastical princes	Cambrai \| Corvey \| Liège \| Minden* \| Münster \| Stavelot–Malmedy \| Osnabrück \| Paderborn \| Utrecht (until 1548) \| Verden (until 1648)
Imperial prelates	Corvey* \| Essen \| Herford \| Kornelimünster \| Stavelot–Malmedy* \| Thorn \| Werden
Secular princes	Cleves with Mark \| East Frisia \| Jülich–Berg \| Guelders (until 1548) \| Minden** \| Moers \| Nassau-Dillenburg \| Verden
Counts and Lords	Bentheim \| Bronkhorst (until 1719) \| Diepholz \| East Frisia (until 1667) \| Horne† (until 1614) \| Hoya \| Lingen† \| Lippe \| Manderscheid (until 1546) \| Moers (until 1541) \| Nassau-Dillenburg (until 1664) \| Oldenburg (until 1777) \| Pyrmont \| Ravensberg† \| Reichenstein \| Rietberg \| Salm-Reifferscheid \| Sayn \| Schaumburg \| Tecklenburg \| Virneburg \| Wied \| Winneburg and Beilstein \| Zimerauff
Counts and Lords (from 1792)	Anholt \| Blankenheim and Gerolstein \| Gemen \| Gimborn \| Gronsfeld \| Hallermund \| Holzapfel \| Kerpen-Lommersum \| Myllendonk \| Reckheim \| Schleiden \| Wickrath \| Wittem
Counts and Lords, status uncertain	Delmenhorst \| Fagnolle \| Nassau: Diez, Hadamar \| Schaumburg: Hesse, Lippe \| Spiegelberg \| Steinfurt
Free Imperial Cities	Aachen \| Cologne \| Dortmund \| Duisburg^? \| Herford^? \| Verden (from 1648) \| Warburg^?
* until 1792 ** from 1792 † without a seat in the Reichstag ? status uncertain

v • d • e Territories and Provinces of Prussia (1525 – 1947)
Before 1701	Duchy of Prussia · Margraviate of Brandenburg Farther Pomerania · Cleves (1614) · Mark · Ravensberg Minden (1648) · Halberstadt · Magdeburg Colonies of Brandenburg-Prussia: Groß Friedrichsburg · Arguin · Crab Island · Tertholen
After 1701	Neuchâtel · Minden-Ravensberg · Hither Pomerania · East Frisia · Silesia (1740) · Glatz (1763) · Polish Prussia (1772), Netze District (1772) · South Prussia (1793) · New East Prussia, New Silesia (1795)
Reorder after 1814–5	East Prussia & West Prussia (1824–78 joined to Province of Prussia) · Brandenburg · Pomerania · Grand Duchy of Posen (in 1848 transformed to Province of Posen) · Saxony · Silesia · Westphalia · Rhine Province (1822, Lower Rhine & Jülich-Cleves-Berg) · Hohenzollern (1850) · Schleswig-Holstein, Hanover, Hesse-Nassau (1866–8)
Territorial reforms after 1918	Lower Silesia, Upper Silesia (1919) · Greater Berlin (1920) · Posen-West Prussia (1922) Halle-Merseburg, Magdeburg, Kurhessen, Nassau (1944)

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