Prince-abbot

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A Prince-abbot is a cleric, who is a Prince of the Church (like a Prince-Bishop) in the sense of an ex officio temporal lord of a feudal entity known as prince-abbacy or abbey-principality — an area that is ruled by the head of an abbey.

The designated abbey may be a monastery or a convent. Thus, because of the possibility of it being a convent, an abbey-principality is one of the few cases in which the rule can be restricted to female incumbents, styled princess-abbess.

In many cases, they were Prince of the Empire of a Reichsabtei in or near Germany, with a seat in the Reichstag (imperial diet).

Other examples include the abbot nullius of Pinerolo in Piedmont