Karl Theodor von Dalberg

Karl Theodor von Dalberg (born Feb. 8, 1744, Herrnsheim, Ger.—died Feb. 10, 1817, Regensburg, Ger.) archbishop of Mainz and arch-chancellor of the Holy Roman Empire, primate of Germany, and president of the Confederation of the Rhine. A member of an important German noble family, he studied canon law at Göttingen and Heidelberg and entered the church, becoming administrator of the bishopric of Erfurt in 1772. An advocate of German unity, he supported the League of Princes (Fürstenbund) formed under Frederick II of Prussia in 1785 and, through Prussian influence, became coadjutor of Mainz and Worms in 1787 and of Constance soon after. In 1802 he became archbishop elector of Mainz and so arch-chancellor of the Holy Roman Empire; in 1803 he received the principality of Aschaffenburg and Regensburg. Dalberg, in fact, thanks to Prussian influence, was the only ecclesiastical prince to survive the reorganization of the empire effected in 1803, from which he emerged as chancellor of the empire and primate of Germany, with ecclesiastical jurisdiction over Mainz, Cologne, and Trier. He hoped to establish a national German church, but in 1805 the pope restricted him to the secular administration of his dioceses. Through Napoleon’s influence, however, Frankfurt and the countships of Löwenstein-Wertheim and Rieneck were added to Dalberg’s territories. He had already turned to Napoleon as the only hope for a unified Germany, and in 1806 he was appointed prince primate of the Confederation of the Rhine. In 1810 Regensburg was ceded to Bavaria, but in compensation Dalberg received the principalities of Fulda and Hanau and the title of grand duke of Frankfurt. After the fall of Napoleon in 1814, the grand duchy was dismembered at the Congress of Vienna; Dalberg retained only the archbishopric of Regensburg.