Berchtesgaden Provostry

Coordinates: 47°38′00″N 13°00′13″E / 47.63333°N 13.00361°E / 47.63333; 13.00361
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

47°38′00″N 13°00′13″E / 47.63333°N 13.00361°E / 47.63333; 13.00361

(Prince-)Provostry of Berchtesgaden
(Fürst-)Propstei Berchtesgaden (German)
1194–1803
Coat of arms of Berchtesgaden
Coat of arms
Mediatised to Salzburg
1803
• Joined Kingdom of Bavaria
1806
Preceded by		 Succeeded by
Duchy of Bavaria
Electorate of Salzburg

Berchtesgaden Provostry or the Prince-Provostry of Berchtesgaden (

Prince-Provost
.

Geography

The territory comprised the Alpine Berchtesgaden hollow, namely the modern communities of Berchtesgaden, Bischofswiesen, Marktschellenberg, Ramsau and Schönau am Königssee, located in the present-day German state of Bavaria, as well as a number of estates further afield.

Berchtesgaden and Watzmann massif

The location of the monastery was strategically important. Firstly, it is in an area possessing immensely valuable

Archbishopric of Salzburg
, and to make this situation work to its advantage. Secondly, the Berchtesgaden valley is almost entirely enclosed by high mountains, except for a single point of access to the north, and is thus virtually impregnable.

History

The Berchtesgaden monastery, dedicated to

Saint Peter and Saint John the Baptist, was founded in 1102 within the Bavarian stem duchy as a community of Augustinian Canons by Count Berengar of Sulzbach
under the directions of the will of his mother, the late Countess Irmgard.

In view of the favourable geopolitical circumstances, the provosts had little difficulty in establishing the territorial independence of the monastery, which became an

Prince-Bishop. The title was one of only two within the Empire: the only other one was at the Swabian Imperial Ellwangen Abbey
.

Monastery church and Wittelsbach palace

The position of Prince-Provost was frequently held in conjunction with other high ecclesiastical positions, and the provosts often lived elsewhere. From 1594 until 1723, the title and territories were held by the

Wolf Dietrich Raitenau occupied Berchtesgaden but were repulsed by the forces of Duke Maximilian I of Bavaria
.

Berchtesgaden, c. 1715

In 1802/1803 the provostry and its territories were

secularised and mediatised first to the short-lived Electorate of Salzburg, which according to the 1805 Peace of Pressburg fell to the Austrian Empire, and finally in 1810 to the newly established Kingdom of Bavaria
. The monastic buildings were used for a while as a barracks, but in 1818 the monastery was designated as a royal residence of the Wittelsbachs, who used it as a summer palace.

Following the end of the Bavarian monarchy, the buildings have been administered since 1923 by the Wittelsbach Compensation Fund (Wittelsbacher Ausgleichsfonds). Some of the rooms are open to the public, while other parts of the building are still used by the Wittelsbachs. The monastic church now serves as the parish church of Berchtesgaden.

Provosts and Prince-Provosts of Berchtesgaden

See also

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Berchtesgaden_Provostry&oldid=1190616298"