Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cologne Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cologne The Archdiocese of Cologne (; ) is an archdiocese of the Catholic Church in western North Rhine-Westphalia and northern Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany. The Electorate of Cologne—not to be confused with the larger Archdiocese of Cologne—was one of the major ecclesiastical principalities of the Holy Roman Empire. The city of Cologne as such became a free city in 1288 and the archbishop eventually moved his residence from Cologne Cathedral to Bonn to avoid conflicts with the Free City, which escaped his jurisdiction. After 1795, the archbishopric's territories on the left bank of the Rhine were occupied
Cologne War 1288. After that, the archbishop and Prince-elector used the smaller cities of Bonn, south of Cologne, and Brühl, south of Cologne, on the Rhine River, as his capital and residence; by 1580, both his residence and the capital were located in Bonn. Although the city of Cologne obtained its status as a free imperial city in 1478, the Archbishop of Cologne retained judicial rights in the city; he acted as a Vogt, or reeve, and reserved the right of blood justice, or "Blutgericht"; only he could impose the so-called blood punishments, which included capital punishments, but also physical punishments that