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Prince-elector facts for kids

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Balduineum Wahl Heinrich VII
Illustration from the 1341 Codex Balduini Trevirorum showing the electors in deliberation (left to right: Archbishop of Cologne, Archbishop of Mainz, Archbishop of Trier, Count Palatine of the Rhine, Duke of Saxony, Margrave of Brandenburg and King of Bohemia).
Sachsenspiegel die wahl des deutschen Königs
Choosing the king. At the top: the three ecclesiastical princes choosing the king, pointing at him. At the centre: the Count Palatine of the Rhine hands over a golden bowl, acting as a servant. Behind him, the Duke of Saxony with his marshall's staff and the Margrave of Brandenburg bringing a bowl of warm water, as a valet. Below, the new king in front of the great men of the empire (Heidelberg Sachsenspiegel, around 1300)

The Prince-electors (German: Kurfürst (), pl. Kurfürsten, Czech: Kurfiřt, Latin: Princeps Elector) of the Holy Roman Empire, or Electors for short, were the members of the electoral college that elected the Holy Roman Emperor.

From the 13th century onwards, the Prince-Electors had the privilege of electing the monarch who would receive the Papal coronation. After 1508, the election was sufficient to acquire the Imperial title. Charles V was the last person to be a crowned Emperor (elected 1519, crowned 1530); his successors were only elected Emperors by the electoral college, each being titled "Elected Emperor of the Romans" (German: erwählter Römischer Kaiser; Latin: electus Romanorum imperator). In practice, every emperor from 1440 onwards (except for Charles VII and Francis I) came from the Austrian House of Habsburg, and the Electors merely ratified the Habsburg succession.

The dignity of Elector carried great prestige and was considered to be second only to that of King or Emperor. The Electors had exclusive privileges that were not shared with the other princes of the Empire, and they continued to hold their original titles alongside that of Elector. The heir apparent to a secular prince-elector was known as an electoral prince (German: Kurprinz).


Images for kids

  • Philipp Veit 008

    Coats of arms representing the seven original electors with the figure of Germania. Original colours were vivid. Germania's gown was gold, not beige, and the blue-grey was purple. Also, the browns were painted as vivid red and the muted grey in Saxony's arms was a brilliant green.

  • Wapen 1545 Kaiserwappen des Heiligen Römischen Reichs Polychromie

    Coats of arms of prince electors surround the Holy Roman Emperor's; from flags book of Jacob Köbel (1545). Left to right: Cologne, Bohemia, Brandenburg, Saxony, the Palatinate, Trier, Mainz

  • Maximilian I HStAS B 515

    The emperor Maximilian surrounded by shield of electorates

  • Arch Cupbearer Holding Augment

    Kingdom of Bohemia. The white lion bears in his right paw a simple crown symbolizing the King of Bohemia as imperial Arch Cupbearer presenting it to the Emperor. Restored directly from Medieval, hand-drawn armorials.

  • Augmented arms of electoral Württemberg

    In 1777, the number of Electors dropped from nine to eight, until 1803, when Württemberg was raised to an electorate by Napoleon, while the prince himself was elevated from Standard-Bearer (Bannerherr) to Arch-Standardbearer.

  • Kursalzburg

    Grand Duchy of Salzburg was added in 1803. After it was mediatized to Austria in 1805, its electoral vote was transferred to Würzburg. Salzburg and Würzburg were ruled by the same person, Ferdinand III.

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Príncipe elector para niños

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