Prince-Bishopric of Speyer

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Prince-Bishopric of Speyer Episcopatus Spirensis (Latin) Fürstbistum Speyer (German)
888–1803
Coat of arms
The Prince-Bishopric of Speyer circa 1700
Status	Prince-Bishopric
Capital	Speyer (to 1379) Udenheim2 (1379–1723) Bruchsal (from 1723)
Common languages	Rhine Franconian, South Franconian
Government	Prince-Bishopric
Historical era	Middle Ages
• Established	3rd or 4th century
• Gained territory	888
• Speyer became     Imperial Free City	1294
• Lost territory to France	1681–97
• Partitioned and     secularised to     France and Baden	1801–03 1803
Preceded by Succeeded by Duchy of Franconia Mont-Tonnerre Margraviate of Baden

The Prince-Bishopric of Speyer, formerly known as Spires in English, (German: Hochstift Speyer, Fürstbistum Speyer, Bistum Speyer) was an ecclesiastical principality in what are today the German states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Baden-Württemberg. It was secularized in 1803. The prince-bishop resided in Speyer, a Free Imperial City, until the 14th century, when he moved his residence to Uddenheim (Philippsburg), then in 1723 to Bruchsal. There was a tense relationship between successive prince-bishops, who were Roman Catholic, and the civic authorities of the Free City, officially Protestant since the Reformation. The prince-provostry of Wissemburg in Alsace was ruled by the prince-bishop of Speyer in a personal union.^[1]