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 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

 * Coat of arms of the Archbishopric of Mainz (1250).svg The Prince-Archbishop of Mainz
 * COA Kurkoeln.svg The Prince-Archbishop of Cologne
 * Trier Arms.svg The Prince-Archbishop of Trier

Secular electors

 * Small coat of arms of the Czech Republic.svg 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.
 * Wappen Kurpfalz.svg The Count Palatine of the Rhine, throughout the entire period a member of the House of Wittelsbach
 * Coat of arms of Saxony.svg The Duke of Saxony, from 1356 a member of the House of Ascania; from 1423, a member of the House of Wettin
 * Wappen Mark Brandenburg.png 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:


 * Bavaria Arms.svg 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.
 * Royal Arms of the Kingdom of Hanover.svg 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.