Austrian Cannons Have Destroyed the City: A Day in the Life of Prince Bishop Joseph Konrad von Schroffenberg

When the Holy Roman Empire gets mentioned in casual conversation, most eyes roll and Voltaire’s statement about it being neither holy, Roman, nor an empire is often repeated.  Nevertheless, this entity existed until 1806 and some of its history is quite fascinating.  From a modern-day perspective, the religious and political role that church officials played in the empire can be difficult to fathom.  There were three electors of the Empire who were Archbishops of Cologne, Mainz and Trier, who actually voted for the new Emperor.  There were also Prince Bishops, who performed religious duties and also governed territories scattered throughout the borders of the empire.  One such, the last Prince-Bishop of Munich/Freising, Bishop Joseph Konrad von Schroffenberg (1790-1804) and his life offer insights into the social and political issues that surrounded the waning years of the empire.  This paper introduces Joseph Konrad to the historical stage and explores some of the mundane and challenging issues he faced during the decade of the 1790s—one of extremes for the Electorate of Bavaria, (in which Munich/Freising is located), because it experienced the wars of the First and Second Coalition first hand.