BASLE-LUGANO
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BASLE-LUGANO
drawn into the struggle between the papacy and the
empire; most of tiie bishops took sides with the em-
perors against the popes. Berengar (1057-72) pro-
moted, in opposition to Alexander II, the nomination
of the Antipope Honorius at a s-STiod held at Basle
in 1061; Burkhard of Hasenburg (1071-1107) was
one of the most resolute champions of the imperial
claims and a faithful partisan of Henry IV whom he
accompanied to Canossa. Ortlieb of Froburg (1137-
64) went with the Emperor Conrad III on a crusade
to Palestine and took part in the Italian campaigns
of Frederick Barbarossa; Ludwig of Ortlieb was also
a partisan of the emperor and of the Antipope Pas-
chal; Alexander III, therefore, deposed him in 1179.
Among the succeeding bishops the most noteworthy
were: Henry II of Thun (1238-49), who built the
oldest bridge across the Rhine near Basle (replaced
in 1904-06 by a new one); Henry of Isny (1275-86),
a Franciscan, who after 1286 was Archbishop of
Mainz, as was also his successor Peter Rich of Richen-
stein (1286-96), a devoted partisan of Rudolph of
OF Basle
Hapsburg; Peter of Aspelt (1296-1306), later Arch-
bishop of Mainz, who laboured to restore chiu-ch dis-
cipline in his diocese. During the fourteenth century
the prestige of the See of Basle declined; many of the
bishops involved the diocese in debt in various ways;
by taking part in the political quarrels, by feuds with
the nobles living in Basle, and by quarrels with the
city, which was rapidly growing in strength. The
city of Basle bought nearly the whole of the jurisdic-
tion over itself from the impecunious bishops and
made itself almost entirely independent of episcopal
secular rule. When John II of Mtinsingen (1335-65)
was placed under the ban, along with the city of
Basle, as a partisan of Louis the Bavarian, the citizens
of the town threw the papal nuncio into the Rhine
and forced the clergj- to continue the church services
or to leave the place. The earthquake of 1356 de-
stroyed a large part of the city and also did much
damage to the catliedral. John III of Vienne (1366-
82) became involved in a dispute with Bern which
led to a quarrel with Basle and the siege of this city
by the bishop. The increased burden of debt thus
caused was a source of groat anxiety to the succeeding
bishops, several of whom resigned their office. It
was not until the episcopate of John IV of Flecken-
stein (1423-36), who held two reform synods, that
the see rose again to high reputation. The Council
of Basle (1431-49) was held in the city of the same
name during this episcopate and that of the follow-
ing bishop, Frederick of the Rhine (1436-51). (See
B.\SLE, CouxciL OF.) The diocese suffered greatly
at the time of the struggle of the Swiss confederation
with Charles of Burgundy; many towns and castles
were ravaged and burned during these troubles.
Tlie Diocese of Ba.slc attained its greatest extent in the course of the fifteenth century. The spiritual
power of the bishops, but not their secular jurisdic-
tion, extended over the entire northwestern part of
present Switzerland lying between the Rivers Aare,
Rhine, and Doubs, over the southern part of the
present Alsace as far as Rappoltsweiler and Schlett-
stadt, as well as over some small districts in Baden
and France. The Reformation was to rob the bishops
of a large part of their flock. At the beginning of
the religious agitation the diocese was under the rule
of Christopher of Utenheim (1502-27), one of the
most distinguished of the Prince-Bishops of Basle.
He was a friend of the arts and sciences and a pro-
moter of the new art of printing, then flourishing
at Basle. In order to train and reform his clergy
Bishop Christopher held in 1503 a sj-nod at which
excellent statutes were issued; he also called learned
men as professors and preachers for the university
that had been founded in 1460. This last measure,
however, promoted the entrj' of the new doctrine.
A number of the scholars who had been appointed,
as Capito, Pellicanus, fficolampadius, and for a time
also, Erasmus and Glareanus, took sides with the
Reformers and worked for the spread of the Refor-
mation. Ba.sle became a centre for the printing and
dispatch in all directions of the WTitings of the Re-
formers. Before long the Great Council and the
citizens were split into two religious parties and in-
ternal disputes were common. Bent from extreme
age. Bishop Cliristopher, in 1527, resigned his see.
Before his successor Philip of CJundelsheim (1527-53)
was able to enter the city, the part.y advocating the
new doctrine obtained control, the Catholic members
of the Great Council were driven from office, the
Catholic religion was declared to be abolished, the
monasteries were closed, and the churches were
plundered. The bishop changed his jjlace of residence
to Pruntrut (Porrentruy); the cathedral chapter
went to Freibiu-g-in-the-Breisgau and did not return
into the territory of the diocese until 1678 when it
established itself at Arlesheim.
Succeeding bishops devoted themselves to repairing the severe losses which the diocese had suffered dur- ing the Reformation. The bishop who deserves the greatest credit for the restoration of the prosperity of the bishopric was Jacob Cliristopher Blarer von Wartensee (1575-1608). He made an alliance offen- sive and defensive with the Catholic cantons of Swit- zerland in 1580, proclaimed the decisions of the Coun- cil of Trent, held in 1581 a diocesan sjTiod which bore good fruit, and brought back to the Church numerous subjects who had been estranged from the Catholic religion. He was ably seconded in his la- bours by the Jesuits whom he called in 1591 to Prun- trut and put in charge of the newly founded college. His successors followed in his footsteps, especially Joseph William Rink von Baldenstein (1608-28). In the course of the Thirty Years War the diocese suffered from invasions by the troops of Bernard of Weimar. Diu-ing the episcopate of Bishop John Conrad von Roggenbach (1656-93) the cathedral chapter established itself once more in the diocese, at Arlesheim, as has been mentioned above. Bishop Conrad von Reinach (1705-37), who founded the seminary for priests and built Castle Delsberg, a residence of the prince-bishops, issued a series of ordinances in 1726 which ciu-tailed the rights and privileges of the land. This caused a revolt that lasted into the episcopate of his successor Jacob Sigmund von Reinach (1737-43) and was only sup- pressed with the aid of French troops. The three leaders of the re\olt were executed in 1740. An estrangement resulted that was not overcome in spite of all the oft'orts of the succeeding bishops, Joseph William Rink von Baldenstein (1744-62), Simon Xicholas von Froberg (1762-75), and Frederick Ludwig von Wangen-Geroldseck (1775-82). The French Re\olution put an end to the secular
