German Imperial Electors

German Imperial Electors (German Kurfürsten), group of ecclesiastical and secular German princes invested with the power of electing the king of Germany, who in turn would usually be crowned emperor of the Holy Roman Empire by the pope. Originally, all the princes of the empire voted in the election of the German king. In 1263, however, Pope Urban IV issued two bulls recognizing the authority of seven German potentates to choose the king. Nevertheless, the authority and membership of this electorate were not definitely settled until 1356, when the Golden Bull was issued by Emperor Charles IV. The bull named to the electorate the archbishops of Cologne, Mainz, and Trier and four lay members, the margrave of Brandenburg, the duke of Saxony, the count palatine of the Rhine, and the king of Bohemia.

From that time the composition of the electorate remained unchanged until 1623, when the vote of the count palatine was transferred to the duke of Bavaria. In 1648 an eighth electoral vote was added so that the count palatine could vote again, and in 1692 a ninth vote was created for the electorate of Hannover. The number of electors reverted to eight in 1778 after extinction of the Bavarian ducal line.

Beginning in the 15th century, the electors normally awarded the kingship to the head of the house of Habsburg; the practice of papal coronation disappeared after 1530. With the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, the German Imperial Electorate was simultaneously dissolved.