List of bishops of Hildesheim

This list records the incumbents of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Hildesheim (German: Bistum Hildesheim). Between 1235 and 1803 the bishops simultaneously officiating as rulers of princely rank (prince-bishop) in the Prince-Bishopric of Hildesheim (German: Hochstift Hildesheim), a state of imperial immediacy within the Holy Roman Empire. Hildesheim is the seat of the bishops and the cathedral chapter.

Coat-of-arms of the Diocese and Prince-Bishopric of Hildesheim

Titles of the incumbents of the Hildesheim See[]

Between 1235 and 1803 the elected and papally confirmed bishops of the Hildesheim See were additionally imperially invested princely power as prince-bishops. In 1235 part of the Hildesheim diocesan territory, the episcopal and capitular temporalities (Stift) were disentangled from the Duchy of Brunswick and Lunenburg and became an own territory of imperial immediacy called Prince-Bishopric of Brunswick and Lunenburg (German: Hochstift Hildesheim), a vassal of the Holy Roman Empire. The prince-bishopric was an elective monarchy, with the monarch being the respective bishop usually elected by the Hildesheim Cathedral chapter and confirmed by the Holy See, or exceptionally only appointed by the Holy See. Papally confirmed bishops were then invested by the emperor with the princely regalia, thus the title prince-bishop. However, sometimes the respective incumbent of the see never gained a papal confirmation as bishop (lacking canonical qualification; e.g. Ferdinand of Bavaria and Frederick of Denmark), but was still invested the princely regalia. The respective incumbents of the see bore the following titles:

The respective incumbents of the see bore the following titles:

• Bishop of Hildesheim from 815 to 1235
• Prince-bishop of Hildesheim from 1235 to 1803
• Bishop of Hildesheim since 1803

Bishops of Hildesheim till 1235[]

This is the list of bishops of the Diocese of Hildesheim

Name	From	To		Remarks
	815	834
	834	835
Ebbo	835	847		Archbishop of Reims 816–835
Altfrid	847	874
	874	874
Marquard	874	880
	880	908
	908	919
	919	928
	928	954
	954	984
	985	989
	990	992
Bernward	993	1022
Godehard	1022	1038
Thietmar	1038	1044
Azelin	1044	1054
Hezilo	1054	1079
	1079	1114
	1115	1119		canonically irregular, not consecrated but imperially invested
	1119	1130
Bernard I	1130	1153
	1153	1161
	1162	1170
Adelog of Dorstadt	1171	1190
	1190	1194
Conrad I of Querfurt	1194	1199		Prince-Bishop of Würzburg 1198–1202
	1199	1216
	1216	1221
Conrad II of Reifenberg	1221	1246

Prince-bishops of Hildesheim between 1235 and 1803[]

This is the list of prince-bishops of Diocese and Prince-Bishopric of Hildesheim

Name	From	To		Remarks
Conrad II of Reifenberg	1221	1246		imperially recognised as bishop of princely rank in 1235
	1247	1257
	1257	1260
	1260	1279
Siegfried II of Querfurt	1279	1310
	1310	1318
	1318	1331
Henry III of Brunswick and Lunenburg	1331	1363
	1332	1349
	1363	1365		Bishop of Culm 1359–1363; Prince-Bishop of Worms 1365–1370; Prince-Bishop of Augsburg 1371–1372; Administrator of the Prince-Bishopric of Constance 1371–1372
	1365	1398		Prince-Bishop of Verden 1363–1365
	1398	1424		Prince-Bishop of Paderborn 1394–1399
Magnus of Saxe-Lauenburg	1424	1452		Prince-Bishop of Cammin 1410–1424
Bernhard III of Brunschwick and Lunenburg	1452	1458		Prince of Lunenburg 1457–1464
Ernst I of Schauenburg	1458	1471
	1471	1481
Berthold II of Landsberg	1481	1502		Prince-Bishop of Verden 1470–1502
Eric II of Saxe-Lauenburg	1503	1504		Prince-Bishop of Münster 1508–1522
John IV of Saxe-Lauenburg	1504	1527
	1527	1531		Prince-Bishop of Constance 1530–1531
Otto III of Schauenburg	1531	1537		Count of Schauenburg and Holstein-Pinneberg 1544–1576
	1537	1551
Frederick of Denmark	1551	1556		not consecrated for being Lutheran; also Bishop of Schleswig 1551–1556
	1557	1573
Ernest II of Bavaria	1573	1612		Prince-Bishop of Freising 1566–1612; Prince-Bishop of Liège 1581–1612; Prince-Abbot of Stablo-Malmedy 1581–1612; Elector- Archbishop of Cologne 1583–1612; Prince-Bishop of Münster 1584–1612
Ferdinand of Bavaria	1612	1650		Administrator only, due to lack of canonical qualification; Administrator of the Berchtesgaden Provostry 1594–1650; Elector of Cologne and Administrator of the Archdiocese of Cologne 1612–1650; Administrator of the Prince-Bishopric of Liège 1612–1650; Administrator of the Prince-Bishopric of Münster 1612–1650; Administrator of the Imperial Abbey of Stablo-Malmedy 1612–1650; Administrator of the Prince-Bishopric of Paderborn 1618–1650
Maximilian Henry of Bavaria	1650	1688		Elector- Archbishop of Cologne 1650–1688; Prince-Bishop of Liège 1650–1688; Prince-Provost of Berchtesgaden 1650–1688; Prince-Abbot of Stablo-Malmedy 1657; Prince-Bishop of Münster 1683–1688
	1688	1702
Joseph Clemens of Bavaria	1702	1723		Prince-Bishop of Regensburg 1685–1716; Elector- Archbishop of Cologne 1688–1723; Prince-Bishop of Freising 1685–1694; Prince-Bishop of Liège 1694–1723; Prince-Provost of Berchtesgaden 1688–1723
Clemens August of Bavaria	1723	1761		Prince-Bishop of Regensburg 1716–1719; Elector- Archbishop of Cologne 1723–1761; Prince-Bishop of Münster 1719–1761; Prince-Bishop of Paderborn 1719–1761; Prince-Bishop of Osnabrück 1728–1761
Sede vacante	1761	1763
	1763	1789		Prince-Bishop of Paderborn 1782–1789
	1789	1825		Prince-Bishop of Paderborn 1789–1803

Bishops of Hildesheim since 1803[]

This is the list of Bishops of the Diocese of Hildesheim

Name	From	To		Remarks
	1789	1825		Bishop of Paderborn 1789–1825
	1825	1829		administrator
	1829	1835
	1836	1840
	1842	1849
	1850	1870		Administrator of Osnabrück 1855–1857
	1871	1905
Adolf Bertram	1906	1914		Archbishop of Breslau 1914–1945
	1915	1928
	1929	1934		Bishop of Berlin 1933–1935
	1934	1956
	1957	1983
Josef Homeyer	1983	2004
Sede vacante	2004	2006
Norbert Trelle	2006	2017
Heiner Wilmer	2018

Auxiliary bishops[]

• Johann Christiani von Schleppegrell, O.S.A. (7 Jun 1428 to 8 Oct 1468)^[1]
• , O.F.M. (28 November 1436)
• Johannes Tideln, O.P. (7 Feb 1477 to 28 Jul 1501)^[2]
• Ludwig von Siegen (bishop), O.F.M. (20 May 1502 to 13 Feb 1508)^[3]
• (Waneman) (26 Aug 1540 to 8 Oct 1561)
• , O.F.M. Conv. (23 Nov 1592 to 28 Mar 1620)
• (Pelcking), O.F.M. Conv. (16 Dec 1619 to 28 Dec 1642)
• Adam Adami, O.S.B. (16 Dec 1652 to 19 Feb 1663)
• Johann Heinrich von Anethan (6 Jul 1665 to 13 Nov 1676)
• (12 Dec 1677 to 4 Nov 1696)
• Maximilian Heinrich von Weichs zu Rösberg (1 Oct 1703 to 20 Sep 1723)
• Ernst Friedrich von Twickel (27 Sep 1724 to 17 Jan 1734)
• Johann Wilhelm von Twickel (27 Jun 1735 to 10 Sep 1757)
• Ludwig Hatteisen, O.S.B. (2 Oct 1758 to 3 Apr 1771)
• Johannes Bydolek (10 Sep 1949 to 18 Oct 1957)
• Heinrich Pachowiak (27 May 1958 to 24 Aug 1992)
• Adolf Kindermann (11 Jul 1966 to 23 Oct 1974)
• Heinrich Machens (24 Mar 1976 to 11 Feb 1994)
• Hans-Georg Koitz 24 Aug 1992 to 4 Dec 2010)
• Nikolaus Schwerdtfeger (19 Jun 1995 -)
• Heinz-Günter Bongartz (4 Dec 2010 -)

References[]