The Electoral Rhenish Circle (german: Kurrheinischer Reichskreis) was an Imperial Circle of the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a political entity in Western, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars. From the accession of Otto I in 962 ...

, created in 1512. The circle derived its name from four of the seven

prince-elector The prince-electors (german: Kurfürst pl. , cz, Kurfiřt, la, Princeps Elector), or electors for short, were the members of the electoral college that elected the Holy Roman Emperor, emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. From the 13th century ...

s whose lands along the

Middle Rhine Between Bingen and Bonn, Germany, the river Rhine flows as the Middle Rhine (german: Mittelrhein) through the Rhine Gorge, a formation created by erosion, which happened at about the same rate as an uplift in the region, leaving the river ...

comprised the vast majority of its territory.

Composition

The circle was made up of the following states:

References

Sources

*The list of states making up the Electoral Rhenish Circle is based on that in the

German Wikipedia The German Wikipedia (german: Deutschsprachige Wikipedia) is the German-language edition of Wikipedia, a free and publicly editable online encyclopedia. Founded on March 16, 2001, it is the second-oldest Wikipedia (after the English Wikipedia) ...

article Kurrheinischer Reichskreis.

External links

*
Imperial Circles in the 16th Century
– Historical Maps of Germany {{Authority control History of the Rhineland Circles of the Holy Roman Empire 1512 establishments in the Holy Roman Empire