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Princes of the Holy Roman Empire

 

 
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Princes of the Holy Roman Empire
 
 
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The Holy Roman Empire
Holy Roman Empire

The Holy Roman Empire was a union of territories in Central Europe during the Middle Ages and the Early modern Europe under a Holy Roman Emperor....
 comprised a number of political entities which were deemed to be sovereign
Sovereignty

File:Leviathan gr.jpgSovereignty is the exclusive right to control a government, a State, a people, or oneself. A sovereign is a supreme lawmaking authority....
 after the Treaty of Westphalia (1648). Among the most important of these were the Princes of the Holy Roman Empire.

System
There were two principal types of princes; those who had territory and sovereignty
Sovereignty

File:Leviathan gr.jpgSovereignty is the exclusive right to control a government, a State, a people, or oneself. A sovereign is a supreme lawmaking authority....
 and those who were honorary, having the title but no lands or territories and no claim to sovereignty
Sovereignty

File:Leviathan gr.jpgSovereignty is the exclusive right to control a government, a State, a people, or oneself. A sovereign is a supreme lawmaking authority....
.

The honorary status of prince of the Holy Roman Empire might be granted to certain individuals.






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The Holy Roman Empire
Holy Roman Empire

The Holy Roman Empire was a union of territories in Central Europe during the Middle Ages and the Early modern Europe under a Holy Roman Emperor....
 comprised a number of political entities which were deemed to be sovereign
Sovereignty

File:Leviathan gr.jpgSovereignty is the exclusive right to control a government, a State, a people, or oneself. A sovereign is a supreme lawmaking authority....
 after the Treaty of Westphalia (1648). Among the most important of these were the Princes of the Holy Roman Empire.

System


There were two principal types of princes; those who had territory and sovereignty
Sovereignty

File:Leviathan gr.jpgSovereignty is the exclusive right to control a government, a State, a people, or oneself. A sovereign is a supreme lawmaking authority....
 and those who were honorary, having the title but no lands or territories and no claim to sovereignty
Sovereignty

File:Leviathan gr.jpgSovereignty is the exclusive right to control a government, a State, a people, or oneself. A sovereign is a supreme lawmaking authority....
.

The honorary status of prince of the Holy Roman Empire might be granted to certain individuals. These individuals included:

  • Independent sovereigns outside the Empire (such as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (1))
  • Sovereigns who were vassals, but outside its territory (i.e. the Prince of Piombino
    Principality of Piombino

    The Principality of Piombino was a state of Italy, which existed from 1399 to 1805, when Napoleon absorbed it into the Principality of Lucca and Piombino....
    )
  • Members of the Empire, like the Princes Kinsky
    Kinsky

    The Kinsky family of the Counts and later Princes was one of the oldest and most illustrious dynasties originating from Bohemia, now the Czech Republic....
     or Princes Paar, and those who never had a vote or seat, but held a seat as count in one or several of the four comital councils, or those who had neither a vote nor a seat in the Imperial Diet
    Imperial Diet

    Imperial Diet means the highest representative assembly in an empire, notably:* the historic institution of the Reichstag , either the estates in the Holy Roman Empire...
     (as Salm-Reifferscheidt-Raitz (2))
  • Foreigners of note, such as the Princes of Belmonte, the Princes Chigi
    Chigi-Albani

    Chigi-Albani is a Rome princely family of Siena extraction descended from the counts of Ardenghesca, which possessed castles in the Maremma, southern Tuscany....
    , the Princes Orsini (3), the Princes Orloff
    Orlov

    Orlov is the name of a Russian noble family which produced several distinguished statesmen, diplomatists and soldiers. The family first gained distinction in the person of four Orlov brothers, of whom the senior was Catherine the Great's paramour, and the two junior were notable military commanders....
    , the Princes Potemkin, Lubomirski
    Lubomirski

    Lubomirski is the surname of a Polish szlachta family. Because Polish adjectives have different forms for the genders, Lubomirska is the form for a female family member....
    , or Radziwill
    Radziwill

    Radziwill is a family of Nobility which has been powerful and important for centuries, first in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and later in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth....
    , or the Dukes of Marlborough
    Duke of Marlborough

    The Dukedom of Marlborough , is a hereditary title of British nobility in the Peerage of Peerage of England. The first holder of the title was John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough , the noted English general, and indeed an unqualified reference to the Duke of Marlborough in a historical text will almost certainly be a reference to him...
     (4)


The effective co-states of the Holy Roman Empire
Holy Roman Empire

The Holy Roman Empire was a union of territories in Central Europe during the Middle Ages and the Early modern Europe under a Holy Roman Emperor....
, or Reichsstände, had to meet three requirements:
  • holding of an immediate fief of the Empire
  • a vote (votum virile) and a seat in the Imperial Diet
  • a direct participation in the expenses of the empire.


Not all states met all three requirements, so one may distinguish between effective and honorary princes of the Holy Roman Empire (5).

See also