ERFURT, BISHOPRIC OF: A Thuringian bishopric established by Boniface in the summer of 741 with its seat at Erfurt. Previous to the erection of this see, Thuringia alone of the German stocks had had no bishopric of its own, being under the jurisdiction of Mainz. The first bishop of Erfurt seems to have been Dadanus, who was one of those present at the Austrasian Synod of 742, and he was apparently succeeded by Boniface himself. Whether this took place before or after Boniface became archbishop of Mainz is uncertain, but at all events it explains the later association of Thuringia and Mainz.

(A. Hauck.)

From the time of Boniface till the fourteenth century, episcopal acts in the Erfurt district were performed either by the archbishops of Mainz or by visiting bishops delegated for the occasion; but from 1313 to 1807 there was a regular line of coadjutors to the archbishop with their seat at Erfurt. A papal bull of 1821 placed Erfurt under the see of Paderborn.