User:JMvanDijk/Sandbox 9/Box 16

see: Imperial election

Prince-electors

From the 13th century, the right to elect kings in the Holy Roman Empire was granted to a limited number of imperial princes, the so-called prince-electors. There are various theories over the emergence of their exclusive election right.

The Emperor and the Eight Electors (of Trier, Cologne, Mainz, Bohemia, Bavaria, Saxony, Brandenburg and the Electorate of the Palatinate). Copper engraving by Abraham Aubry, Nuremberg, 1663/64.

The secular electoral seats were hereditary. However, spiritual electors (and other prince-(arch)bishops) were usually elected by the cathedral chapters as religious leaders, but simultaneously ruled as monarch (prince) of a territory of imperial immediacy (which usually comprised a part of their diocesan territory). Thus the prince-bishoprics were elective monarchies too. The same holds true for prince-abbeys, whose prince-abbesses or prince-abbots were elected by a college of clerics and imperially appointed as princely rulers in a pertaining territory.

Initially seven electors chose the "King of the Romans" as the Emperor's designated heir was known. The elected king then went on to be crowned by the Pope. The prince-electors were:

Spiritual electors

• The Prince-Archbishop of Mainz
• The Prince-Archbishop of Cologne
• The Prince-Archbishop of Trier

Secular electors

• The King of Bohemia, of the House of Luxembourg at the time of the Golden Bull, but from 1526 onward ruled by the House of Habsburg, who also ruled the Archduchy of Austria and Inner Austria. The Bohemian crown itself was also theoretically elective, but under the Habsburgs it became de facto hereditary.
• The Count Palatine of the Rhine, throughout the entire period a member of the House of Wittelsbach
• The Duke of Saxony, from 1356 a member of the House of Ascania; from 1423, a member of the House of Wettin
• The Margrave of Brandenburg, from 1356 a member of the House of Wittelsbach; from 1373, a member of the House of Luxembourg; from 1415, a member of the House of Hohenzollern.

Subsequent changes

Later additions to the electoral council were:

• The Duke of Bavaria; of another branch of the House of Wittelsbach, granted elector status in 1623, replacing the Count Palatinate of the Rhine following the Bohemian Revolt.
• The Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (also known as the Elector of Hanover) of the House of Welf, granted elector status in 1692. From 1714 the Duke was also the King of Great Britain.

Timeline of electors

	Third ecclesiastical elector	Second ecclesiastical elector	First ecclesiastical elector	Elector of the Saxons	Elector of the Swabians	Elector of the Bavarians	Elector of the Franks	Eighth elector	Ninth elector	Tenth elector
Pre-1059	Prior history of ecclesiastical electors unclear	Prior history of ecclesiastical electors unclear	Prior history of ecclesiastical electors unclear	Duchy of Saxony	Duchy of Swabia	Duchy of Bavaria	Duchy of Franconia	None	None	None
1059–1189							County Palatine of the Rhine – The Palatinate
1189–1214			Archbishopric of Trier
1214–1238						Kingdom of Bohemia
1238–1251		Archbishopric of Cologne
1251–1257 or 1268	Archbishopric of Mainz
1257 or 1268–1296					Margraviate of Brandenburg
1296–1621				Duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg – Electorate of Saxony
1621–1623							Imperial ban due to Thirty Years' War
1621–1648							Duchy of Bavaria – Electorate of Bavaria
1648–1692								County Palatine of the Rhine – The Palatinate
1692–1706									Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg – Electorate of Hanover
1706–1714		Imperial ban due to War of the Spanish Succession					Imperial ban due to War of the Spanish Succession
1714–1777		Archbishopric of Cologne					Electorate of Bavaria
1777–1801								None (Merged into Duchy of Bavaria)
Treaty of Lunéville
1801–1803	Archbishopric of Regensburg	None	None	Electorate of Saxony	Margraviate of Brandenburg	Kingdom of Bohemia	Electorate of Bavaria	None	Electorate of Hanover	None
1803–1805		Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel – Electorate of Hesse	Margraviate of Baden – Electorate of Baden					Duchy of Württemberg – Electorate of Württemberg		Electorate of Salzburg
1805–1806										Electorate of Würzburg
Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire
Congress of Vienna (1814–1815)
Successor states	Fully Subsumed into Kingdom of Bavaria	Electorate of Hesse	Grand Duchy of Baden	Kingdom of Saxony	Fully Subsumed into Kingdom of Prussia	Crown Land of the Austrian Empire	Kingdom of Bavaria	Kingdom of Württemberg	Kingdom of Hanover	Fully Subsumed into Kingdom of Bavaria