On 17 June 1075, however, Pope Gregory VII admonished Archbishop Gebhard of Salzburg that he had not yet assigned to his diocese of Gurk its decimae, and that he should do so.

[8] Originally the territory embraced was small, but the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Gurk extended beyond the limits of his diocese, inasmuch as he was also vicar-general of that part of Carinthia under the Archbishop of Salzburg.

On 11 February 1145, the right of the Chapter to elect the bishop, the provost, and the advocate, was confirmed by Pope Lucius II.

The archbishop was to nominate three suitable candidates, one from the diocese of Gurk (unum de gremio ipsius ecclesie) and two others from elsewwere.

[13] In February 1209, an imperial diet was held at Nuremberg by King Otto IV, in which the relationship between Salzburg and Gurk was adjudicated.

[14] Bishop Walther of Gurk admitted that neither he nor his predecessors had ever received investiture of regalia from kings of the Romans or emperors.

[18] In 1448 King Frederick IV of Germany concluded an agreement with Pope Nicholas V to reserve the right of appointment for himself; and when in 1470 Sixtus of Tannberg was appointed bishop of Gurk by the Chapter of the cathedral of Salzburg, Frederick enforced his resignation four years later.

Among the institutions of religious orders the Benedictine Abbey of St. Paul (founded in 1091; suppressed in 1782; restored in 1807) holds first place.

There were also Jesuits at Klagenfurt and St. Andrä; Dominicans at Friesach; Capuchins at Klagenfurt and Wolfsberg; Franciscans at Villach; Olivetans at Tanzenberg; Servites at Kötsehach; Brothers of Mercy at St. Veit on the Glan (in charge of an immense hospital founded in 1877); and a number of religious communities of women for the care of the sick and the instruction of youth.

Chief among the examples of ecclesiastical architecture, both in point of age and artistic interest, is Gurk Cathedral, dedicated to the Assumption of the body of the Virgin Mary into heaven, which dates back to the early days of the diocese, having been completed about 1220.

The Klagenfurt Cathedral was built in 1591, during the Protestant Reformation; in 1604 it was acquired by the Jesuits, and consecrated in honour of the Apostles Saints Peter and Paul.

Also worthy of note are the Romanesque church and cloister of Millstatt Abbey and, as monuments of Gothic architecture, the parish churches at Bad Sankt Leonhard im Lavanttal, Heiligenblut, Villach, Völkermarkt, St Wolfgang ob Grades (Metnitz), and Waitschach (Hüttenberg).