Diocese of Samland

The Diocese of Samland (Sambia) (, ) was a Latin Catholic diocese of the Catholic Church in Samland (Sambia) in medieval Prussia. It was founded in 1243 by papal legate William of Modena. Its seat was Königsberg, until 1523 the episcopal residence was in Fischhausen. The bishopric became Lutheran in the 16th century during the Protestant Reformation and was eventually dissolved following the establishment of Ducal Prussia, a Protestant vassal duchy of the Kingdom of Poland.

The territory of the defunct bishopric of Samland came nominally under the jurisdiction of the Bishopric of Warmia in the 17th century, and the title of bishop of Samland was occasionally used by Warmian bishops. From 1617 to 1773, the Bishops of Warmia were the Catholic Apostolic administrators of Sambia. In 1821 Pope Pius VII formally dissolved the Diocese, and merged its territory with the Diocese of Warmia. Most of the area of the medieval bishopric of Sambia became a part of the Russian Kaliningrad Oblast in 1945 and is now under the jurisdiction of the Archdiocese of Moscow. A small section around the town of Gołdap became again a part of Poland and maintains its ties to the Archdiocese of Warmia, being administered by its suffragan Diocese of Ełk.

Samland cathedral chapter was established in Königsberg in 1285 and was dissolved in the 16th century together with the bishopric. In 1989, it was re-established as the Sambian Collegiate Chapter (Sambian Co-Cathedral Chapter since 1992) in Gołdap.

Bishops of Samland Dietrich I. 1252–1254 Heinrich I. von Streitberg 1254–1274 Hermann von Köln 1274–1276, † 1287 Christian von Mühlhausen 1276–1295 Siegfried von Regenstein 1295–1318 Johann I. von Clare 1320–1344 Jakob von Bludau 1344–1358 (Jakob von Kulm 1344–1354) Bartholomäus von Radam 1354–1378 Thilo von Marburg 1378–1386 Heinrich II. Kuwal 1387–1395 Heinrich III. von Seefeld 1395–1414 Heinrich IV. von Schanenburg 1415–1416 Johann II. von Saalfeld 1416–1425 Michael Jung 1425–1442, † 1443 Nikolaus I. Schlotterkopf 1442–1470 Dietrich II. von Cuba 1470–1474 Johann III. von Rehewinkel 1474–1497 Nikolaus II. Krender 1497–1503 Paul von Watt 1503–1505 Günther von Bünau 1505–1518 George of Polentz 1518–1550, turned it into a Lutheran bishopric Joachim Mörlin 1550–1571 Tilemann Heshusius 1571–1577

Catholic Apostolic Administrators Szymon Rudnicki 1617–1621 John Albert Vasa 1621–1633 Mikołaj Szyszkowski 1633–1643 Jan Karol Konopacki 1643–1644 Wacław Leszczyński 1644–1659 Jan Stefan Wydżga 1659–1679 Michał Stefan Radziejowski 1680–1688 Jan Stanisław Zbąski 1688–1697 Andrzej Chryzostom Załuski 1698–1711 Teodor Andrzej Potocki 1711–1723 Krzysztof Jan Szembek 1724–1740 Adam Stanisław Grabowski 1741–1766 Ignacy Krasicki 1767–1773

References

External links GCatholic.org

de:Liste der Bischöfe von Samland