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Holy Roman Empire Electoral System
Electoral system for the Holy Roman Emperor established by the 1356 Golden Bull: seven electors (three ecclesiastical and four secular) formed a coll…
Timeline
- 1356Nuremberg and Frankfurt · GermanyCharles IV issued the Golden Bull fixing the identity and election procedure of the seven electors: the archbishops of Mainz, Cologne, and Trier, plus the King of Bohemia, the Elector Palatine, the Elector of Saxony, and the Elector of Brandenburg, laying the constitutional foundation for imperial elections.
- 1400–1410Frankfurt · HesseIn 1400 the electors deposed Wenceslaus and elected Rupert as king; after Rupert's death in 1410 the electoral college faced pressure to re-elect amid rivals such as Sigismund, and the system retained legitimate authority amid factional struggle.
- 1356–1806Within the Holy Roman Empire · Holy Roman EmpireElectors enjoyed imperial fiefs, rights of appeal to imperial courts, and precedence in the Imperial Diet; elections required a majority and followed the procedure of electing a king, crowning an emperor, and papal recognition, becoming the key institutional bond holding together the empire's fragmented territorial order.
Sources
- The Golden Bull of 1356: A Translated Text — Horst Fuhrmann
- Germany in the Later Middle Ages, 1200–1500 — Joachim Whaley (2014)