Worms (), a city and former diocese on the Rhine in the present Grand Duchy of Hesse; the origin of the city is obscure. In the Roman era the district of the Vangiones was included in Upper Germany. Julius Caesar settled this small tribe in and around the Celtic Vicus Borbetomagus. From this vicus and the Roman castrum, or military camp, sprang the Civitas Vangionum, later called Worms. It is uncertain at what time Christianity gained an entrance into the settlement; the inscriptions are of too late a date, and the Acts of the Council of Cologne held in 346, in which a Bishop Victor of Worms is mentioned, are a forgery. Yet it is evident from Orosius, "Historia", VII, c. xxxii (P.L., XXXI, 1144), that at the beginning of the fifth century the left bank of the Rhine was predominantly Christian, and had also ecclesiastical organization. It may, therefore, be assumed that as early as the second half of the fourth century there was a bishop at Worms. In the fifth century Worms was the capital of the Burgundians. The first bishop of whom there is documentary proof is Berhtulf, who took part in the Synod of Paris of 614 (Mon. Germ. Hist.: Concilia, I, 192). It is said that towards the end of the seventh century, Rupert, later Bishop of Salzburg, was Bishop of Worms. From Erembert, who died in 793, the succession of bishops is unbroken. Whether the diocese had a permanent existence in the era from the fourth to the eighth century, or whether its existence was interrupted once or several times cannot be positively determined, owing to the condition of the authorities, but its continuance is probable. About 750 the Diocese of Worms, which lay on both sides of the Rhine, was made a suffragan of Mainz. Among the bishops of the succeeding centuries the most important are: Burchard (1000-25), noted for his collection of ecclesiastical canons, called "Collectarium" or "Decretum", and during whose administration the cathedral school flourished greatly; Adalbert (1069-1107), a "pillar and ornament of the Church of Germany", who opposed Henry IV in the struggle over Investitures, while the city supported the emperor; Emerich of Schoneck (1308-18), who had rigid laws passed at the diocesan synod of 1316, both for the secular and regular clergy. In 1122 the Concordat that put an end to the strife concerning Investitures was signed at Worms. The diocese never recovered from the quarrels of the period 1329-43. The cathedral chapter had elected Gerlach of Erbach (1329-32) as bishop, while John XXII had appointed Salmann, Provost of Mainz. After Gerlach's death Salmann was not recognized by the diocese and did not obtain possession of it until 1343; his episcopate lasted until 1359. Matters were even worse during the rule of Eckart of Ders (1371-1405). The citizens of Worms threw off the authority of the bishop completely, and imprisoned the priests. The churches were empty, the services ceased. Bishops Frederick II (1426-45) and Reinhard of Sickingen (1445-82) exerted themselves to introduce reforms, as did also John III of Dalberg (1482-1503), who was a highly educated patron of humanism and lover of art; he also held a visitation.