We’re just leaving Wuerzberg headed southeast to Rothenberg along the “Romantisches Strasse”, the Romantic Highway. It’s quite foggy so there isn’t much visible a few feet away from the bus. We’ll be driving for about an hour.

The first stop was the Bishop’s Palace in Wuerzberg. That place is one-upmanship personified. The area the Wuerzberger Bishop ruled over was smaller than some of the neighboring Bishops. To make sure that the other Bishops didn’t get idea that Wuerzberg was weak or poor, he built a massive, intimidating Bishop’s Palace. Much of the building was destroyed in a bombing raid in March 1945. The furnishings and whatever else could be removed had been taken out of building a couple of years earlier for safekeeping. The building restoration was completed in 1984 along with the stuff that had been kept safe.

Like many of the other cities we’ve visited on this trip, the Bishop was also part of the royal family so he had both religious and political power. That also occasionally conflicted with the Mayor and local businessmen. One the first Prince-Bishops was so disliked he was killed and thrown in the river. Bishops were elected by the elders in the church from among their number and then served for life, much like the Pope is selected. Mayors were also elected from among the businessmen of the town and served for a fixed term.

Since to find the seat of power you just have to follow the money, having two powerful men and institutions in the same small area has to lead to conflict and the common person usually ends up the worst for it. After the first Bishop was killed, the Church built a castle on the hill overlooking the town. As in Passau, a couple of conflicts resulted in the town being bombarded with cannon fire from the Bishop’s Castle!

Eventually by the late 1600’s the tensions were resolved enough for the Bishop’s Palace to be built in town. The palace was completed in 1742. In 1809 the French led by Napoleon arrived and forced the Bishop to resign. That was the end of the Bishopric in Wuerzberg. The biggest and most opulent, decadent buildings are built and occupied just before the fall and “great is the fall thereof.”