Prince-elector

The prince-electors were the members of the Electoral College of the Holy Roman Empire, which elected the Holy Roman Emperor. Usually, half of the electors were archbishops.
From the 13th century onwards, a small group of prince-electors gained the privilege of electing the King of the Romans. The king would then later be crowned Emperor by the pope. Charles V was the last emperor to be crowned ; his successors assumed the title "Elected Emperor of the Romans" upon their coronation as kings.
The dignity of elector carried great prestige and was considered to be behind only the emperor, kings, and the highest dukes. The electors held exclusive privileges that were not shared with 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.

Rights and privileges

Electors were rulers of Reichsstände, enjoying precedence over the other Imperial Princes. They were, until the 18th century, exclusively entitled to be addressed with the title Durchlaucht. In 1742, the electors became entitled to the superlative Durchlauchtigste, while other princes were promoted to Durchlaucht.
As rulers of Imperial Estates, the electors enjoyed all the privileges of princes, including the right to enter into alliances, to autonomy in relation to dynastic affairs, and to precedence over other subjects. The Golden Bull granted them the Privilegium de non appellando, which prevented their subjects from lodging an appeal to a higher Imperial court. Although this privilege, and some others, were automatically granted to Electors, they were not exclusive to them and many of the larger Imperial Estates were also to be individually granted some or all those rights and privileges.

Imperial Diet

The electors, like the other princes ruling States of the Empire, were members of the Imperial Diet, which was divided into three collegia: the Council of Electors, the Council of Princes, and the Council of Cities. In addition to being members of the Council of Electors, most electors were also members of the Council of Princes by virtue of possessing territory or holding ecclesiastical position. The assent of both bodies was required for important decisions affecting the structure of the Empire, such as the creation of new electorates or States of the Empire.
Many electors ruled a number of States of the Empire or held several ecclesiastical titles, and therefore had multiple votes in the Council of Princes. In 1792, the Elector of Brandenburg had eight votes, the Elector of Bavaria six votes, the Elector of Hanover six votes, the King of Bohemia three votes, the Elector-Archbishop of Trier three votes, the Elector-Archbishop of Cologne two votes, and the Elector-Archbishop of Mainz one vote. Thus, of the hundred votes in the Council of Princes in 1792, twenty-nine belonged to electors, giving them considerable influence in the Council of Princes in addition to their positions as electors.
In addition to voting by colleges or councils, the Imperial Diet also voted in religious coalitions, as provided for in the Peace of Westphalia. The Archbishop of Mainz presided over the Catholic body, the corpus catholicorum, while the Elector of Saxony presided over the Protestant body, the corpus evangelicorum. The division into religious bodies was on the basis of the official religion of the state.

Elections

The electors were originally summoned by the Archbishop of Mainz within one month of an Emperor's death, and met within three months of being summoned. On many occasions, however, there was no interregnum, as a new king had been elected during the lifetime of the previous Emperor. During any interregnum, imperial power was exercised by two imperial vicars under the terms of the Golden Bull. The Elector of Saxony was vicar in areas operating under Saxon law, while the Elector Palatine was vicar in the remainder of the Empire. The Elector of Bavaria sometimes replaced the Elector Palatine between 1623 and 1777, when the Elector Palatine inherited Bavaria.
Frankfurt regularly served as the site of the election from the 14th century on, but elections were also held at Cologne, Regensburg, and Augsburg. An elector could appear in person or could appoint another elector as his proxy. More often, an electoral suite or embassy was sent to cast the vote; the credentials of such representatives were verified by the Archbishop of Mainz, who presided over the ceremony. The deliberations were held at the city hall, but voting occurred in the cathedral. In Frankfurt, a special electoral chapel, or Wahlkapelle, was used for elections. Under the Golden Bull, a majority of electors sufficed to elect a king, and each elector could cast only one vote. Electors were free to vote for whomsoever they pleased, but dynastic considerations played a great part in the choice.
From the 16th century on, electors drafted a Wahlkapitulation, or electoral capitulation, which was presented to the king-elect. The capitulation may be described as a contract between the princes and the king, the latter conceding rights and powers to the electors and other princes. Once an individual swore to abide by the electoral capitulation, he assumed the office of King of the Romans.
In the 10th and 11th centuries, princes often acted merely to confirm hereditary succession in the Ottonian and Salian dynasties. But with the actual formation of the prince-elector class, elections became more open, starting with the election of Lothair III in 1125. The Staufen dynasty managed to get its sons formally elected in their fathers' lifetimes almost as a formality. After those lines ended in extinction, the electors began to elect kings from different families, so that the throne would not once again settle within a single dynasty. All kings elected from 1438 onwards were from among the Habsburg dynasty until 1740, when Austria was inherited by a woman, Maria Theresa, sparking the War of the Austrian Succession and the short-lived rule of a Bavarian Wittelsbach emperor. In 1745, Maria Theresa's husband, Francis I of Lorraine, was elected emperor. All of his successors were also from the Habsburg-Lorraine family.

High offices

Each elector held a "High Office of the Empire" analogous to a modern cabinet office position and was a member of the ceremonial Imperial Household. The three spiritual electors became Archchancellors : the Archbishop of Mainz became Archchancellor of Germany, the Archbishop of Cologne became Archchancellor of Italy, and the Archbishop of Trier became Archchancellor of Burgundy. The secular electors were granted heraldic augmentations to their coats of arms reflecting their positions in the Household. These augmentations were displayed in three alternative ways:

as an inescutcheon on their coat of arms ;
as dexter impalements
integrated into the charge within the escutcheon.

Imperial office	Augmentation	Elector
Arch-Cupbearer	A simple crown, Or	King of Bohemia
Arch-Steward	Gules, an orb, Or	Elector Palatine Elector of Bavaria Elector Palatine Elector of Bavaria
Arch-Marshal	Per fess sable and argent, two swords in saltire, gules	Elector of Saxony
Arch-Chamberlain	Azure, a scepter palewise, Or	Elector of Brandenburg
Arch-Treasurer	Gules, Crown of the Holy Roman Empire, or	Elector Palatine Elector of Hanover Elector Palatine Elector of Hanover
Arch-Bannerbearer	Azure, a lance party per fess, or, and gules bendwise flying to sinister chief a banner, or, with the Imperial Eagle	Elector of Hanover Elector of Hanover Elector of Württemberg

When the Duke of Bavaria replaced the Elector Palatine in 1623, he assumed the latter's office of Arch-Steward. When the Count Palatine was granted a new electorate, he assumed the position of Arch-Treasurer of the Empire. When the Duke of Bavaria was banned in 1706, the Elector Palatine returned to the office of Arch-Steward, and in 1710, the Elector of Hanover was promoted to the post of Arch-Treasurer. Matters were complicated by the Duke of Bavaria's restoration in 1714; the Elector of Bavaria resumed the office of Arch-Steward, while the Elector Palatine returned to the post of Arch-Treasurer, and the Elector of Hanover was given the new office of Archbannerbearer. The Electors of Hanover, however, continued to be styled Arch-Treasurers, though the Elector Palatine was the one who actually exercised the office until 1777, when he inherited Bavaria and the Arch-Stewardship. After 1777, no further changes were made to the Imperial Household; new offices were planned for the Electors admitted in 1803, but the Empire was abolished before they could be created. The Duke of Württemberg, however, started to adopt the trappings of the Arch-Bannerbearer.
The electors discharged the ceremonial duties associated with their offices only during coronations, where they bore the crown and regalia of the Empire. Otherwise, they were represented by holders of corresponding "Hereditary Offices of the Household". The Arch-Butler was represented by the Hereditary Butler , the Arch-Seneschal by the Hereditary Steward, the Arch-Chamberlain by the Hereditary Chamberlain, the Arch-Marshal by the Hereditary Marshal, and the Arch-Treasurer by the Hereditary Treasurer. After 1803, the Duke of Württemberg as Arch-Bannerbearer assigned the count of Zeppelin-Aschhausen as Hereditary Bannerbearer.

History

The German practice of electing monarchs began when ancient Germanic tribes formed ad hoc coalitions and elected the leaders thereof. Elections were irregularly held by the Franks, whose successor states include France and the Holy Roman Empire. The French monarchy eventually became hereditary, but the Holy Roman Emperors remained elective. While all free men originally exercised the right to vote in such elections, suffrage eventually came to be limited to the leading men of the realm. In the election of Lothar III in 1125, a small number of eminent nobles chose the monarch and then submitted him to the remaining magnates for their approbation.
Soon, the right to choose the monarch was settled on an exclusive group of princes, and the procedure of seeking the approval of the remaining nobles was abandoned. The college of electors was mentioned in 1152 and again in 1198. The composition of electors at that time is unclear, but appears to have included bishops and the dukes of the stem duchies.