![Princely Hat](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fd/Princely_Hat.svg)
Prince of the Holy Roman Empire ( la, princeps imperii, german: Reichsfürst, cf. ''
Fürst'') was a title attributed to a hereditary ruler, nobleman or prelate recognised as such by the
Holy Roman Emperor.
Definition
Originally, possessors of the
prince
A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. T ...
ly title bore it as
immediate vassals of the Emperor who held a
fief
A fief (; la, feudum) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form ...
(secular or ecclesiastical) that had no
suzerain except the Emperor. However, by the time 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 ...
was abolished in 1806, there were a number of holders of Imperial princely titles who did not meet these criteria.
Thus, there were two main types of princes: those who exercised ''
Landeshoheit'' (
sovereignty
Sovereignty is the defining authority within individual consciousness, social construct, or territory. Sovereignty entails hierarchy within the state, as well as external autonomy for states. In any state, sovereignty is assigned to the perso ...
within one's territory while respecting the laws and traditions of the empire) as well as an individual or shared vote in the
College of Princes, and those whose title was
honorary (the possessor lacking an immediate Imperial fief and/or a vote in the Imperial Diet). The first came to be reckoned as "royalty" in the sense of being treated as sovereigns, entitled to
inter-marry with reigning dynasties. The second tier consisted of high-ranking nobles whose princely title did not, however, imply equality with royalty. These distinctions evolved within the Empire, but were codified by the
Congress of Vienna
The Congress of Vienna (, ) of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon B ...
in 1815 when it created the
German Confederation
The German Confederation (german: Deutscher Bund, ) was an association of 39 predominantly German-speaking sovereign states in Central Europe. It was created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 as a replacement of the former Holy Roman Empire, w ...
and recognised a specific, elevated status (''Standesherren'' or
Mediatized Houses
The mediatised houses (or mediatized houses, german: Standesherren) were ruling princely and comital-ranked houses that were mediatised in the Holy Roman Empire during the period 1803–1815 as part of German mediatisation, and were later recognise ...
) for the
mediatized Mediatization or mediatisation may refer to:
* German mediatisation
German mediatisation (; german: deutsche Mediatisierung) was the major territorial restructuring that took place between 1802 and 1814 in Germany and the surrounding region by ...
princes of the defunct Empire.
The actual titles used by Imperial nobles varied considerably for historical reasons, and included
archdukes,
duke
Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are rank ...
s,
margrave
Margrave was originally the medieval title for the military commander assigned to maintain the defence of one of the border provinces of the Holy Roman Empire or of a kingdom. That position became hereditary in certain feudal families in the Em ...
s,
landgrave
Landgrave (german: Landgraf, nl, landgraaf, sv, lantgreve, french: landgrave; la, comes magnus, ', ', ', ', ') was a noble title used in the Holy Roman Empire, and later on in its former territories. The German titles of ', ' (" margrave"), ...
s,
counts palatine
A count palatine (Latin ''comes palatinus''), also count of the palace or palsgrave (from German ''Pfalzgraf''), was originally an official attached to a royal or imperial palace or household and later a nobleman of a rank above that of an ord ...
,
princely count
(feminine: ) is a historical title of the German nobility, usually translated as "count". Considered to be intermediate among noble ranks, the title is often treated as equivalent to the British title of "earl" (whose female version is "cou ...
s (''Gefürstete Grafen''), as well as princes and
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 emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.
From the 13th century onwards, the prin ...
s. Moreover, most of the German fiefs in the Empire (except electorships) were heritable by all males of a family rather than by
primogeniture, the princely title (or whatever title the family used) being likewise shared by all
agnatic family members, male and female.
Imperial state
The estate of imperial princes or ''Reichsfürstenstand'' was first established in a legal sense in the
Late Middle Ages
The Late Middle Ages or Late Medieval Period was the period of European history lasting from AD 1300 to 1500. The Late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern period (and in much of Europe, the Renai ...
. A particular estate of "the Princes" was first mentioned in the decree issued by Emperor
Frederick Barbarossa in 1180 at the
Imperial Diet of
Gelnhausen
Gelnhausen () is a town, and the capital of the Main-Kinzig-Kreis, in Hesse, Germany. It is located approximately 40 kilometers east of Frankfurt am Main, between the Vogelsberg mountains and the Spessart range at the river Kinzig. It is one o ...
, in which he divested Duke
Henry the Lion
Henry the Lion (german: Heinrich der Löwe; 1129/1131 – 6 August 1195) was a member of the Welf dynasty who ruled as the duke of Saxony and Bavaria from 1142 and 1156, respectively, until 1180.
Henry was one of the most powerful German p ...
of
Saxony
Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...
and
Bavaria
Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
. About fifty years later,
Eike of Repgow
Eike of Repgow (german: Eike von Repgow, also ''von Repkow'', ''von Repko'', ''von Repchow'' or ''von Repchau''; – ) was a medieval German administrator who compiled the ''Sachsenspiegel'' code of law in the 13th century.
Life
Little is known a ...
codified it as an emanation of feudal law recorded in his ''
Sachsenspiegel
The (; gml, Sassen Speyghel; modern nds, Sassenspegel; all literally "Saxon Mirror") is one of the most important law books and custumals compiled during the Holy Roman Empire. Originating between 1220 and 1235 as a record of existing loc ...
'', where the lay princes formed the third level or ''
Heerschild
The ''Heerschild'' (; lat, clipeus militarisStieber, Joachim. W. (1978). ''Pope Eugenius IV, the Council of Basel and the Secular and Ecclesiastical Authorities in the Empire'', E.J. Brill, Leiden, p. 124. ), also called the shield of knighthood, ...
'' in the feudal military structure below ecclesiastical princes. Officially the princely states 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 ...
had to meet three requirements:
* territorial rule and the ''
droit de régale
''Jura regalia'' is a medieval legal term which denoted rights that belonged exclusively to the king, either as essential to his sovereignty (''jura majora'', ''jura essentialia''), such as royal authority; or accidental (''jura minora'', ''jura a ...
'', i.e. sovereign rights, over an immediate
fief
A fief (; la, feudum) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form ...
of the Empire
* a direct vote (''votum virile'') and a seat in the Imperial Diet
* direct support for the expenses and the military
ban of the Empire.
Not all states met all three requirements, so one may distinguish between effective and honorary princes of the Holy Roman Empire.
The Princes of the Empire ranked below 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 emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.
From the 13th century onwards, the prin ...
s designated by the
Golden Bull of 1356
The Golden Bull of 1356 (, , , , ) was a decree issued by the Imperial Diet at Nuremberg and Metz ( Diet of Metz, 1356/57) headed by the Emperor Charles IV which fixed, for a period of more than four hundred years, important aspects of the con ...
(and later electors), but above the ''
Reichsgrafen'' (Counts), ''
Freiherr
(; male, abbreviated as ), (; his wife, abbreviated as , literally "free lord" or "free lady") and (, his unmarried daughters and maiden aunts) are designations used as titles of nobility in the German-speaking areas of the Holy Roman Empire ...
en'' (barons) and
Imperial prelates, who formed with them the
Imperial Diet assemblies, but held only collective votes. Around 1180, the secular Princes comprised the ''
Herzöge'' (Dukes) who generally ruled larger territories within the Empire in the tradition of the former German
stem duchies, but also the Counts of
Anhalt
Saxony-Anhalt (german: Sachsen-Anhalt ; nds, Sassen-Anholt) is a state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of
and has a population of 2.18 million inhabitants, making it the ...
and
Namur, the Landgraves of
Thuringia
Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million.
Erfurt is the capital and lar ...
and the Margraves of
Meissen.
![COA Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg 01 AT Colloredo Hieronymus Joseph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c7/COA_Prince-Archbishop_of_Salzburg_01_AT_Colloredo_Hieronymus_Joseph.png)
From the 13th century onwards, further estates were formally raised to the princely status by the emperor. Among the most important of these were the
Welf Welf is a Germanic first name that may refer to:
*Welf (father of Judith), 9th century Frankish count, father-in-law of Louis the Pious
*Welf I, d. bef. 876, count of Alpgau and Linzgau
*Welf II, Count of Swabia, died 1030, supposed descendant of W ...
descendants of Henry the Lion in
Brunswick-Lüneburg, elevated to Princes of the Empire and vested with the ducal title by Emperor
Frederick II in 1235, and the
Landgraves of Hesse
The Landgraviate of Hesse (german: Landgrafschaft Hessen) was a principality of the Holy Roman Empire. It existed as a single entity from 1264 to 1567, when it was divided among the sons of Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse.
History
In the early Midd ...
in 1292. The resolutions of the Diet of
Augsburg
Augsburg (; bar , Augschburg , links=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swabian_German , label=Swabian German, , ) is a city in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany, around west of Bavarian capital Munich. It is a university town and regional seat of the ...
in 1582 explicitly stated that the status was inextricably linked with the possession of a particular Imperial territory. Later elevated noble families like the
Fürstenberg,
Liechtenstein
Liechtenstein (), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein (german: link=no, Fürstentum Liechtenstein), is a German-speaking microstate located in the Alps between Austria and Switzerland. Liechtenstein is a semi-constitutional monarch ...
or
Thurn und Taxis
The Princely House of Thurn and Taxis (german: link=no, Fürstenhaus Thurn und Taxis ) is a family of German nobility that is part of the ''Briefadel''. It was a key player in the postal services in Europe during the 16th century, until the en ...
dynasties subsequently began to refer to their territory as a "principality" and assumed the awarded rank of a
Prince
A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. T ...
(''Fürst'') as a
hereditary title. Most of the Counts who ruled territories were raised to Princely rank in the decades before the end of the Empire in 1806.
![Millstatt Pfarrkirche Christus Grabmal Johann Siebenhirter 16082014 681](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/61/Millstatt_Pfarrkirche_Christus_Grabmal_Johann_Siebenhirter_16082014_681.jpg)
Ecclesiastical Princes were the
Prince-Bishops (including the Prince-Archbishops of
Besançon
Besançon (, , , ; archaic german: Bisanz; la, Vesontio) is the prefecture of the department of Doubs in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. The city is located in Eastern France, close to the Jura Mountains and the border with Switzer ...
,
Bremen,
Magdeburg
Magdeburg (; nds, label=Low Saxon, Meideborg ) is the capital and second-largest city of the German state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is situated at the Elbe river.
Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archdiocese of Magdebu ...
and
Salzburg
Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label= Austro-Bavarian) is the fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872.
The town is on the site of the Roman settlement of ''Iuvavum''. Salzburg was founded ...
) as well as the actual
Prince-abbot
A prince-abbot (german: Fürstabt) is a title for a cleric who is a Prince of the Church (like a Prince-bishop), in the sense of an ''ex officio'' temporal lord of a feudal entity, usually a State of the Holy Roman Empire. The territory ruled ...
s. They comprised a number of political entities which were secularized and mediatized after the 1648
Peace of Westphalia.
Honorary title
The honorary status of prince of the Holy Roman Empire might be granted to certain individuals. These individuals included:
* Rulers of states of the Empire who did not hold an individual seat in the princely chamber of the Imperial Diet, but held a seat as a count and shared with other counts in the one vote exercised by each of the four regional comital councils or ''Grafenbanken''.
* Sovereigns outside the Empire, such as the
Sovereign Military Order of Malta
The Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM), officially the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta ( it, Sovrano Militare Ordine Ospedaliero di San Giovanni di Gerusalemme, di Rodi e di Malta; ...
.
* Nobles allowed to bear the princely title, but who had neither a vote nor a seat in the Imperial Diet, individual or shared, such as the
House of Kinsky
The House of Kinsky (formerly Vchynští, sg. ''Vchynský'' in Czech; later (in modern Czech) Kinští, sg. ''Kinský''; german: Kinsky von Wchinitz und Tettau) is a prominent Czech noble family originating from the Kingdom of Bohemia. During the ...
. This included nobles who lacked immediacy, but who were allowed, ''
motu proprio
In law, ''motu proprio'' (Latin for "on his own impulse") describes an official act taken without a formal request from another party. Some jurisdictions use the term ''sua sponte'' for the same concept.
In Catholic canon law, it refers to a ...
'', by the Emperor to enjoy the title and rank of prince of an
Imperial state. Although this courtesy tended to become hereditary for families, the right to princely status was called ''Personalist'' (personal) and could be revoked by the Emperor.
* Foreigners of note, such as the
Princes of Belmonte, the
Princes Chigi, the
Princes Orsini, the
Princes Orloff, the
Princes Potemkin,
Lubomirski, or
Radziwiłł[Fra Cyril Toumanoff, "Genealogical Imperialism" (1985) vol 6 (no 134) (NS) Coat of Arms 145, 151 n7.]
* Subjects of the Empire who were given a princely title by an Emperor, but who held no territory or sovereignty at all. This status was occasionally granted to the
morganatic
Morganatic marriage, sometimes called a left-handed marriage, is a marriage between people of unequal social rank, which in the context of royalty or other inherited title prevents the principal's position or privileges being passed to the spous ...
wives and children of electoral and immediate families, allowing them to share in the husband/father's princely title, but not his princely rank and privileges (e.g.,
Frederick William von Hessenstein
Frederick William, Prince von Hessenstein (17 March 1735, Stockholm — 27 July 1808, Panker), was a Swedish soldier and statesman. He was an extramarital son of King Frederick I of Sweden and his royal mistress Hedvig Taube.
Biography
King Gu ...
).
See also
*
List of states in the Holy Roman Empire
This list of states in the Holy Roman Empire includes any territory ruled by an authority that had been granted imperial immediacy, as well as many other feudal entities such as lordships, sous-fiefs and allodial fiefs.
The Holy Roman Empire wa ...
*
List of Imperial Diet participants (1792)
The Holy Roman Empire was a highly decentralized state for most of its history, composed of hundreds of smaller states, most of which operated with some degree of independent sovereignty. Although in the earlier part of the Middle Ages, under the S ...
*
German mediatization
References
External links
Structure of Princes of The Holy Roman Empire
{{Authority control
Titles of nobility of the Holy Roman Empire