Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online

Get access

Febronianism
(716 words)

Febronianism is a distinctive theoretical manifestation of episcopalianism in the 18th-century church within the Holy Roman Empire. The term is derived from the pseudonym Justinus Febronius under which Johann Nikolaus von Hontheim, the auxiliary bishop of Trier, published his 1763 book on the legitimate authority of the pope in the church (De statu ecclesiae; “On the State of the Church”), to which he added several supplementary volumes in the years that followed [1].

From 1719 to 1724, Hontheim studied law and theology at the universities of Trier, Leuven, an…

Cite this page
Steinruck, Josef, “Febronianism”, in: Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online, Editors of the English edition: Graeme Dunphy, Andrew Gow. Original German Edition: Enzyklopädie der Neuzeit. Im Auftrag des Kulturwissenschaftlichen Instituts (Essen) und in Verbindung mit den Fachherausgebern herausgegeben von Friedrich Jaeger. Copyright © J.B. Metzlersche Verlagsbuchhandlung und Carl Ernst Poeschel Verlag GmbH 2005–2012. Consulted online on 19 March 2024 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2352-0272_emho_SIM_019162>
First published online: 2015
First print edition: 20180126



▲   Back to top   ▲