Slaying the Servants of the Lord: The Killing of Bishops in Medieval Germany, c.900–1300

Abstract

Abstract The medieval Church did its best to discourage both the involvement of clerics in violence and violence against clerics. The murder of a bishop, in particular, was a relatively rare event in this period. Thus the death of Thomas Becket was the exception, and certainly not the rule. Yet there was one kingdom where despite canonical prohibition prelates did frequently die through violence during the central Middle Ages. Between c.900 and c.1300 some thirty German bishops were either murdered or died in battle, and a number of other prelates suffered violence and were often lucky to escape with their lives. This paper seeks to explain why this should have been the case, examining the various different reasons why so many bishops perished in Germany, and looks at a number of particular cases in detail. Why did such killings became a regular feature of political life in the Reich at this period? How did contemporaries react to such events? The article also asks what this phenomenon—and also the prevalence of political assassinations among laymen—may tell us about medieval German society.