Archbishop Adalbert von Hamburg-Bremen, the so-called "Vicar of the North", was a rather colorful figure of the 11th century and played a significant role in the expansion of Christianity in Northern Europe by establishing dioceses and churches in these newly converted regions. But he was also working towards organizing and consolidating the presence of his archbishopric within the Church and the empire: Adalbert not only maintained a close relationship with the Holy Roman Emperor, Henry III, and even accompanied him in his travels to places such as Hungary, for example, but he also almost managed to control the regency of the emperor's infant son and successor Henry IV. The archbishop's penchant for vanity and short-tempered decisions, however, proved to be his undoing and a wide opposition headed by the Saxon Billung family eventually removed his influence from the royal court in early 1066.
His ecclesiastical career was equally intriguing: Adalbert for one claimed sole jurisdiction in his diocese, angering many Saxon feudal lords bitter enemies, especially the aforementioned Billungers. He was also the leading papal candidate for the emperor at the Council of Sutri in late 1046 before Adalbert declined the offer to instead propose the establishment of a Nordic patriarchate of Hamburg in an effort to consolidate the position of the archbishopric against the emerging Scandinavian dioceses. It must be said that it was only Adam of Bremen, a chronicler of Adalbert's shenanigans, who reported of these plans in any detail, though sources such as the "Triumphus Sancti Remacli" at least confirm that these ambitions were present. These efforts failed IOTL due to multiple converging reasons, be it Adalbert's rather unsympathetic character not lending itself to ally-making or the Papal Curia's reformist tendencies condemning the idea of strong intermediary clerical authorities between Rome and the dioceses. But what if, through more successful political maneuvering on the part of Adalbert, these plans were pushed through and a Nordic Patriarchate was established?
The patriarchal district of Adalbert would have encompassed, or at least encroached upon, the kingdoms of different kings, primarily Germany and Denmark. Only a pseudo-Isidoric patriarchate akin to Lyon in what was the Kingdom of Burgundy, free from any attachment to political borders, would have met the needs. This meant that Adalbert had to increase the number of his dioceses on Imperial territory to twelve by dividing them in order to have a sufficient suffragan base in the archdiocese that was to be created after the establishment of a Danish suffragan archbishopric. The Nordic area would then not be taken into account in this count. This is necessary, because these are the requirements for a patriarchate according to the Pseudo-Isidorean system of that time. At the risk of repeating myself, the issue was that Hamburg-Bremen would need at least 12 suffragan dioceses of whom one would need to be an archbishopric which, in turn, would warrant the establishment of an independent Danish metropolitan, instantly reducing Hamburg-Bremen to a measly two or three suffragan dioceses (whether Ratzeburg was already an established diocese at this point is not clear) and removing the need for a Patriarchate centered around Hamburg-Bremen, though the bishops of Halberstadt, Hildesheim, Paderborn und Minden were obliged by papal decree to "assist" the metropolitan of Bremen due to its frontier nature at the time. Adalbert therefore wanted to split up his own area of authority in order to meet these requirements, but the possibilities for new dioceses were limited by the sheer lack of population and established local churches, leading to places such as Pahlen being considered for a new diocese, a place which was not even considered a village at that time and would never develop to become a diocese due to its negligibility IOTL either.
A consequence of the establishment of a Patriarchate of the North would be a clear denial of the request of the Danish king Sweyn II to establish an autonomous Danish church under the control of a Danish archbishop, placing the Scandinavian Christians under the control of a German archbishop. Danish bishops didn't always participate in the synods called by Adalbert IOTL, a papal blessing of Adalbert's authority might force more cooperation and force Denmark and all of Scandinavia into a much closer orbit to Germany compared to OTL, a trend avoided by the efforts of people like Sweyn II who toiled to fill the vacant church offices with Englishmen (or really anyone who doesn't seem to be connected to the Holy Roman Emperor) at that time.
As to what would the long-term consequences be? I'm not sure, but the precedent might re-enforce the idea of more such patriarchates such as the one nominally granted to Trier over the Gallica Belgica in opposition to Mainz which was supposedly the papal vicar of all of "Germania et Gallia", a lot of explosive potential given events such as the Coup of Kaiserswerth in 1062 over much smaller disputes between different members of the nobility and clergy. What do you think?
His ecclesiastical career was equally intriguing: Adalbert for one claimed sole jurisdiction in his diocese, angering many Saxon feudal lords bitter enemies, especially the aforementioned Billungers. He was also the leading papal candidate for the emperor at the Council of Sutri in late 1046 before Adalbert declined the offer to instead propose the establishment of a Nordic patriarchate of Hamburg in an effort to consolidate the position of the archbishopric against the emerging Scandinavian dioceses. It must be said that it was only Adam of Bremen, a chronicler of Adalbert's shenanigans, who reported of these plans in any detail, though sources such as the "Triumphus Sancti Remacli" at least confirm that these ambitions were present. These efforts failed IOTL due to multiple converging reasons, be it Adalbert's rather unsympathetic character not lending itself to ally-making or the Papal Curia's reformist tendencies condemning the idea of strong intermediary clerical authorities between Rome and the dioceses. But what if, through more successful political maneuvering on the part of Adalbert, these plans were pushed through and a Nordic Patriarchate was established?
The patriarchal district of Adalbert would have encompassed, or at least encroached upon, the kingdoms of different kings, primarily Germany and Denmark. Only a pseudo-Isidoric patriarchate akin to Lyon in what was the Kingdom of Burgundy, free from any attachment to political borders, would have met the needs. This meant that Adalbert had to increase the number of his dioceses on Imperial territory to twelve by dividing them in order to have a sufficient suffragan base in the archdiocese that was to be created after the establishment of a Danish suffragan archbishopric. The Nordic area would then not be taken into account in this count. This is necessary, because these are the requirements for a patriarchate according to the Pseudo-Isidorean system of that time. At the risk of repeating myself, the issue was that Hamburg-Bremen would need at least 12 suffragan dioceses of whom one would need to be an archbishopric which, in turn, would warrant the establishment of an independent Danish metropolitan, instantly reducing Hamburg-Bremen to a measly two or three suffragan dioceses (whether Ratzeburg was already an established diocese at this point is not clear) and removing the need for a Patriarchate centered around Hamburg-Bremen, though the bishops of Halberstadt, Hildesheim, Paderborn und Minden were obliged by papal decree to "assist" the metropolitan of Bremen due to its frontier nature at the time. Adalbert therefore wanted to split up his own area of authority in order to meet these requirements, but the possibilities for new dioceses were limited by the sheer lack of population and established local churches, leading to places such as Pahlen being considered for a new diocese, a place which was not even considered a village at that time and would never develop to become a diocese due to its negligibility IOTL either.
A consequence of the establishment of a Patriarchate of the North would be a clear denial of the request of the Danish king Sweyn II to establish an autonomous Danish church under the control of a Danish archbishop, placing the Scandinavian Christians under the control of a German archbishop. Danish bishops didn't always participate in the synods called by Adalbert IOTL, a papal blessing of Adalbert's authority might force more cooperation and force Denmark and all of Scandinavia into a much closer orbit to Germany compared to OTL, a trend avoided by the efforts of people like Sweyn II who toiled to fill the vacant church offices with Englishmen (or really anyone who doesn't seem to be connected to the Holy Roman Emperor) at that time.
As to what would the long-term consequences be? I'm not sure, but the precedent might re-enforce the idea of more such patriarchates such as the one nominally granted to Trier over the Gallica Belgica in opposition to Mainz which was supposedly the papal vicar of all of "Germania et Gallia", a lot of explosive potential given events such as the Coup of Kaiserswerth in 1062 over much smaller disputes between different members of the nobility and clergy. What do you think?