Prince-Bishopric of Speyer

Prince-Bishopric of Speyer
*Episcopatus Spirensis* (Latin)
*Fürstbistum Speyer* (German)
Prince-Bishopric of Speyer Episcopatus Spirensis (Latin); Fürstbistum Speyer (German)
888–1803
	Coat of arms
	The Prince-Bishopric of Speyer circa 1700
Status	Prince-Bishopric
Capital	Speyer (to 1379); Udenheim2 (1379–1723); Bruchsal (from 1723)
Common languages	Rhine Franconian, South Franconian
Government	Ecclesiastical principality
Historical era	Middle Ages
• Established	3rd or 4th century
• Gained territory	888
• Speyer became; Imperial Free City	; 1294
• Lost territory to France	1681–97
• Partitioned and; secularised to; France and Baden	; ; 1801–03 1803
Preceded by	Succeeded by
	Duchy of Franconia
Mont-Tonnerre
Margraviate of Baden

The Prince-Bishopric of Speyer, formerly known as Spires in English, (German: Hochstift Speyer, Fürstbistum Speyer, Bistum Speyer) was an ecclesiastical principality in what are today the German states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Baden-Württemberg. It was secularized in 1803. The prince-bishop resided in Speyer, a Free Imperial City, until the 14th century, when he moved his residence to Uddenheim (Philippsburg), then in 1723 to Bruchsal. There was a tense relationship between successive prince-bishops, who were Roman Catholic, and the civic authorities of the Free City, officially Protestant since the Reformation. The prince-provostry of Wissemburg in Alsace was ruled by the prince-bishop of Speyer in a personal union.