List of bishops of Freising and archbishops of Munich and Freising

The following people were bishops, prince-bishops or archbishops of Freising or Munich and Freising in Bavaria:

The bear miracle — Saint Corbinian of Freising, as a bishop, crossing the Alps on his way to Rome in 710, Jan Polack, oil on pinewood, 1489

Bishops of Freising

• St. Corbinian (724–730); founded the Benedictine abbey in Freising, although the diocese was not organised until 739)

Establishment of episcopal organisation in Old Bavaria by Saint Boniface in 739.

• Erembert (739–747/748; sometimes referred to as Corbinian's half brother)
• Joseph of Freising, also known as Joseph of Verona (747/748–764)
• Arbeo (764–784)
• Atto (784–811)
• Hitto (811–835)
• Erchanbert (835/836–854)
• Anno (854/855–875)
• Arnold (875–883)
• Waldo (883/884–903/906)
• Utto (904/906–907)
• Dracholf (907–926)
• Wolfram (926–937)
• St. Lantpert (937/938–957)
• Abraham (957–993)
• Gottschalk of Hagenau (993–1006)
• Egilbert of Moosburg (1006–1039)
• Nitker (1039–1052)
• Ellenhard, Count of Meran (1052–1078)
• Meginward, Count of Scheyarn (1078–1098)
• Henry I of Freising, also known as Henry I of Ebersdorf (1098–1137)
• Otto I (1138–1158)
• Albert I of Harthausen (1158–1184)
• Otto II (1184–1220)
• Gerold of Waldeck (1220–1230)
• Conrad I of Tölz and Hohenburg (1230–1258)
• Conrad II Wildgraf of Dhaun (1258–1278)
• Frederick of Montalban (1280–1282)

Prince-bishops of Freising

Prince-bishop Philip of the Palatinate (portrait around 1525/1527)

Prince-bishop Albert Sigismund of Bavaria (1675 painting)

The bishop became a prince in 1294.

• Emicho of Wittelsbach (1283–1311)
• Gottfried of Hexenagger (1311–1314)
• Conrad III the Sendlinger (1314–1322)
• John I Wulfing (1323–1324)
• Conrad IV of Klingenberg (1324–1340)
• John II Hake (1340–1349)
• Albert II of Hohenberg (1349–1359)
• Paul of Jägerndorf (1359–1377)
• Leopold of Sturmberg (1377–1381)
• Berthold of Wehingen (1381–1410)
• Conrad of Hebenstreit (1411–1412)
• Hermann of Cilli (1412–1421)
• Nicodemus della Scala (1421–1443)
• Henry II of Schlick (1443–1448)
• John III Grünwald (elected 15 January 1448; died 2 December 1452)
• Johann Tulbeck (elected January 1453; resigned November 1473)
• Sixtus of Tannberg (elected 12 January 1474; died 14 July 1495)
• Ruprecht of the Palatinate (elected 1 August 1495; resigned 3 December 1498)
• Philip of the Palatinate (elected 1498; died 5 January 1541)
• Henry of the Palatinate (succeeded 5 January 1541; died 3 January 1552)
• Leo Lösch of Hilkertshausen (elected 15 February 1552; died 8 April 1559)
• Moritz von Sandizell (elected 12 June 1559; died 18 October 1566)
• Ernest of Bavaria (elected 18 October 1566; died 17 February 1612)
• Stephan of Seiboldsdorf (elected 7 May 1612; died 18 January 1618)
• Veit Adam of Gepeckh von Arnsbach (elected 12 February 1618; died 8 December 1651)
• Albert Sigismund of Bavaria (8 December 1651 – 5 November 1685)
• Joseph Clemens of Bavaria (succeeded 5 November 1685 – 29 September 1694)
• Johann Francis Eckher of Kapfing and Liechteneck (elected 29 January 1695; died 23 February 1727)
• Johann Theodor of Bavaria (succeeded 23 February 1727; died 27 January 1763)
• Clemens Wenceslaus of Saxony (elected 18 April 1763; resigned 20 August 1768)
• Louis Joseph of Welden on Laupheim and Hohenaltingen (elected 23 January 1768; died 15 March 1788)
• Maximilian Prokop of Toerring-Jettenbach elected 26 May 1788; died 30 December 1789)
• Joseph Conrad of Schroffenberg-Mös, C.R.S.A. (elected 1 March 1790; died 4 April 1803). After his death, the temporal authority of the bishop was mediatised and abolished by the Elector of Bavaria.

Sede vacante as a result of the secularisation under Napoleonic rule (1803–1821)

• Joseph James of Heckenstaller, priest, vicar capitular (appointed 14 April 1803); was also named first a vicar general and, later, a papal delegate as "vicar capitular apostolic", but never raised to the episcopacy; resigned 16 February 1818. The episcopal functions were exercised by auxiliary bishop, Johann Nepomuk Wolf.

Archbishops of Munich and Freising

Cardinal Döpfner at Munich's Corpus Christi procession in 1971

Elevation to an archdiocese in 1817/1821

• Lothar Anselm von Gebsattel (appointed 5 February 1818; confirmed soon, but at first only apostolic administrator; archbishop 1 November 1821; died 1 October 1846)
• Karl-August von Reisach (succeeded 1 October 1846; cardinal 17 December 1855; resigned 19 June 1856)
• Gregor von Scherr, O.S.B. (appointed 6 January 1856; died 24 October 1877)
• Antonius von Steichele (appointed 30 April 1878; died 9 October 1889)
• Antonius von Thoma (appointed 23 October 1889; died 24 November 1897)
• Franz Joseph von Stein (appointed 24 December 1897; died 4 May 1909)
• Franziskus von Bettinger (appointed 23 May 1909; cardinal 25 May 1914; died 12 April 1917)
• Michael von Faulhaber (appointed 26 May 1917; cardinal 7 March 1921; died 12 June 1952)
• Joseph Wendel (appointed 9 August 1952; cardinal 12 January 1953; died 31 December 1960)
• Julius Döpfner (appointed 3 July 1961, already a cardinal; died 24 July 1976)
• Joseph Ratzinger (appointed 24 March 1977; cardinal 27 June 1977; resigned 15 February 1982), subsequently Pope Benedict XVI
• Friedrich Wetter (appointed 28 October 1982; cardinal 25 May 1985; retired 2 February 2007)
• Reinhard Marx (appointed 30 November 2007; cardinal 20 November 2010)

See also

• Archdiocese of Munich and Freising

Bibliography

• Alois Weissthanner (ed.), Die Regesten der Bischöfe von Freising, Vol. I, 739–1184. Continued and completed by Gertrud Thoma and Martin Ott (= registers of Bavarian history), C.H. Beck, Munich, 2009 . (Recension).