Ratzeberg, Bishopric of

RATZEBURG, rāt´se-būrH´´, BISHOPRIC OF: A German diocese founded by Archbishop Adalbert of Hamburg, who consecrated as its first bishop a Greek named Aristo (between 1062 and 1066). The uprising of the Wends, however, put an end to Christianity in their territory, and it was not until they had been subdued by Henry the Lion that the diocese could be reestablished. The first bishop of the revived see was Evermod, who had formerly been prior of St. Mary-in Magdeburg, and as he was a Premonstratensian, the chapter of the diocese was filled with members from that order. The bishopric was bounded on the north by the Baltic, on the south by the Elbe, on the east by the Elde, and on the west by the Bille. In 1167 the diocese was somewhat diminished by the annexation of Schwerin to Mecklenburg. [The diocese came to an end in 1554, when the bishop, Christoph von dem Schulenburg, resigned and became a Lutheran.]

(A. Hauck.)

Bibliography: Sources are: Meklenburgisches Urkundenbuch, 12 vols., Schwerin, 1863 sqq.; Schleswig-Holstein-Lauenburgische Regesten und Urkunden, ed. P. Hasse, 3 vols., Hamburg, 1886 sqq. Consult: C. F. L. Arndt, Das Zehntenregister des Bistums Ratzeburg, Schönberg, 1833; G. M. C. Masch, Geschichte des Bistums Ratzeburg, Lübeck, 1835; G. Dehio, Geschichte des Erzbistums Hamburg-Bremen, 2 vols., Berlin, 1878; M. Schmidt, Beschreibung und Chronik der Stadt Ratzeburg, Ratzeburg, 1882; A. Rudloff, Geschichte Mecklenburgs, Berlin, 1901; Gams, Series episcoporum, p. 304; Hauck, KD, vols. iii.–iv.