Princes of the Holy Roman Empire

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The Holy Roman Empire comprised a number of political entities which were deemed to be sovereign after the Treaty of Westphalia 1648. Among the most important of these were the Princes of the Empire.

[edit] System

There were two principal types of princes, those who had territory and sovereignty, and those who were honorary, having the title but no lands or territories and no claim to sovereignty.

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

(i) Independent sovereigns outside the Empire (such as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta(1));

(ii) Sovereigns who were vassals, but outside its territory (i.e. the Prince of Piombino);

(iii) Members of the Empire, like the Princes Kinsky or 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 who had neither a vote nor a seat in the Imperial Diet (as Salm-Reifferscheidt-Raitz(2)); and

(iv) Foreigners of note, such as Prince of Belmonte, the Princes Chigi, Orsini(3), Orloff, Potemkin, Lubomirski, or Radziwill, or Duke of Marlborough(4).

The effective co-states of the Holy Roman Empire, or Reichsstand, had to meet three requirements: (i) holding of an immediate fief of the Empire; (ii) a vote (votum virile) and a seat in the Imperial Diet; and (iii) 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).

[edit] References

(1) Prince of the Holy Roman Empire (Reichsfürst) 1607, cf in 1620, Austrian prince (His Serene Highness) 27 December 1880, cf 1889 and 1905. Most Eminent Highness by Italian royal decree 1927 (long by usage). Papal Cardinal-rank 1630.

(2) Salm-Reifferscheidt-Raitz were made a princes and altgraves 1790. The family are called Altgrave/Altgravine (HSH).

(3) The Princes of Orsini and Rosenberg were members of the comital council (personaliter) 1683, made a prince 1724, 1790]. Male primogeniture 1629, Prince Assistant to the Papal Throne 1735-1958.

(4) Fra Cyril Toumanoff, "Genealogical Imperialism" (1985) vol 6 (no 134) (NS) Coat of Arms 145, 151 n7.

(5) Fra Cyril Toumanoff, "Genealogical Imperialism" (1985) vol 6 (no 134) (NS) Coat of Arms 145, 147. Duke and Prince Jean Engelbert d'Arenberg, "The Lesser Princes of the Holy Roman Empire in the Napoleonic Era" dissertation, Washington, DC, 1950, published as Les Princes du St-Empire à l'époque napoléonienne (Louvain, 1951) 15ff, quoted in Almanach de Gotha (Almanach de Gotha, London, 1998) 275-286.