The Franconian prince-bishopric whose rulers held the ducal title in East Franconia from Barbarossa's grant of 1168 and built one of Europe's grandest baroque palaces on the proceeds.
The last bishop abdicated as temporal ruler on 28 November 1802; the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss of 1803 gave most of the Hochstift to Bavaria, briefly a Grand Duchy of Würzburg (1806–1814) before reverting to Bavaria.
Polity-specific: the Counter-Reformation prince-bishop (1573–1617) who most shaped the Würzburg state.
The Franconian Circle and the ecclesiastical states from the Reformation to 1806.