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Electors were among the rulers of the States of the Empire, but enjoyed precedence over the other princes. They were, until the eighteenth century, exclusively entitled to the style Durchlaucht (Serene Highness). In 1742, the electors became entitled to the superlative Durchläuchtigste (Most Serene Highness), while other princes were promoted to Durchlaucht.
As rulers of States of the Empire, the electors enjoyed all the privileges of the other princes, including the right to enter into alliances, autonomy in relation to dynastic affairs and precedence over other subjects. The Golden Bull recognised certain additional rights belonging to the electors. For instance, electors were granted a monopoly over all mines of gold, silver and other metals within their territories, to tax Jews, to collect tolls and to mint money; these powers belonged to the Emperor in the other territories, and princes who wrongly assumed them could be deprived of their status. Thus, the electors were among the most powerful princes in the Empire. Electors also enjoyed several judicial powers within their territories. Their subjects could be not be tried in the imperial courts, and appeal from their courts lay only in cases where denial of justice was claimed.
After the abolition of the Holy Roman Empire in August of 1806, the electors continued to reign over their territories, many of them taking higher titles. The Dukes of Bavaria, Württemberg and Saxony made themselves Kings, as did the Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, who was already King of Great Britain; meanwhile, the Margrave of Baden elevated himself to the Grand-Ducal dignity. The Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel, however, retained the meaningless title "Elector of Hesse," thus distinguishing himself from other Hessian princes (the Grand Duke of Hesse-Darmstadt and the Landgrave of Hesse-Homburg). In 1866, however, the Elector of Hesse was dethroned under Otto von Bismarck's plan for German Unification.
The electors, like the other princes ruling States of the Empire, were members of the Reichstag, 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, several lay electors were therefore members of the Council of Princes as well by virtue of other the other territories they possessesed. In many cases, the lay electors ruled numerous States of the Empire, and therefore held several votes in the Council of Princes. In 1792, the King of Bohemia held three votes, the Elector of Bavaria six votes, the Elector of Brandenburg eight votes and the Elector of Hanover six votes. Thus, of the hundred votes in the Council of Princes in 1792, twenty-three belonged to electors. The lay electors therefore exercised considerable influence, being members of the small Council of Electors and holding a significant number of votes in the Council of Princes. 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.
In addition to voting by colleges or councils, the Reichstag also voted on religious lines, as provided for by the Peace of Westphalia. The Archbishop of Mainz presided over the Catholic body, or corpus catholicorum, while the Elector of Saxony presided over the Protestant body, or corpus evangelicorum. The division into religious bodies was on the basis of the official religion of the state, and not of its rulers. Thus, even when the Electors of Saxony were Catholics during the eighteenth century, they continued to preside over the corpus evangelicorum, since the state of Saxony was officially Protestant.
The individual chosen by the electors assumed title "King of the Romans," though he actually reigned in Germany and Austria. The King of the Romans became Holy Roman Emperor only when crowned by the pope. On many occasions, a pope refused to crown a king with whom he was engaged in a dispute, but a lack of a papal coronation only deprived of a king of the title Emperor, and not of the power to govern. The Habsburg dynasty stopped the practice of papal coronations. Since Charles V, all individuals chosen by the electors were merely "Emperors-Elect."
The electors were originally summoned by either the Archbishop of Mainz or the Archbishop of Trier within one month of an Emperor's death, and met within three months of being summoned. During the interregnum, imperial power was exercised by two imperial vicars. Each vicar, in the words of the Golden Bull, was "the administrator of the empire itself, with the power of passing judgments, of presenting to ecclesiastical benefices, of collecting returns and revenues and investing with fiefs, of receiving oaths of fealty for and in the name of the holy empire." The Elector of Saxony was vicar in areas operating under Saxon law ( Saxony, Westphalia, Hanover and northern Germany), while the Elector Palatine was vicar in the remainder of the Empire ( Franconia, Swabia, the Rhine and southern Germany). The Elector of Bavaria replaced the Elector Palatine in 1623, but when the latter was granted a new electorate in 1648, there was a dispute between the two as to which was vicar. In 1659, both purported to act as vicar, but the other vicar recognised the Elector of Bavaria. Later, the two electors made a pact to act as joint vicars, but the Reichstag rejected the agreement. In 1711, while the Elector of Bavaria was under the ban of the Empire, the Elector Palatine again acted as Vicar, but his cousin was restored to his position upon his restoration three years later. Finally, in 1745, the two agreed to alternate as vicars, with Bavaria starting first. This arrangement was upheld by the Reichstag in 1752. In 1777 the question became moot when the Elector Palatine inherited Bavaria. On many occasions, however, there was no interregnum, as a new King had been elected during the lifetime of the previous Emperor.
In the tenth and eleventh centuries, electors often acted merely to confirm hereditary succession in the Saxonian, Franconian and Staufen dynasties. After these 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. For a short time, the monarchy was elective both in theory and in practice; the arrangement, however, did not last, since the powerful House of Habsburg managed to secure succession within their dynasty during the fifteenth century. The Habsburg Archdukes of Austria (and later Kings of Hungary and Bohemia) were all elected kings from 1438 until 1740, when the archduchy was inherited by a woman, Maria Theresa. The House of Wittelsbach came to power for a short period of time, but in 1745, Maria Theresa's husband, Francis I of the Habsburg-Lorraine dynasty, became King; all of his successors were also from the same family. Hence, for the greater part of the Empire's history, the role of the electors was largely ceremonial.
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