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• Introduction
• A Note On the Text
• Acknowledgments
• The Present State of Germany
• Pufendorf’s Preface to the First Edition of 1667 1
• Preface to the Second Edition (1706) 1
• A Letter of Monsieur Mézeray Concerning the Manuscript On the State of the German Empire, Written to a Bookseller of Paris. 1
• To the Reader
• Chapter I: Of the Origine of the German Empire.
• Chapter II: Of the Members of Which the Present German Empire Is Composed .
• Chapter III: Of the Origine of the States of the Empire, and By What Degrees [ Stages ] They Arrived to That Power They Now Have.
• Chapter IV: Of the Head of the German Empire, the Emperor; and of the Election and the Electors .
• Chapter V: Of the Power of the Emperor, As It Now Stands Limited By Treaties; and the Laws and Customs of the Empire; and the Rights of the States of Germany.
• Chapter VI: Of the Form of the German Empire. 1
• Chapter VII: Of the Strength and Diseases of the German Empire.
• Chapter VIII: [of the German State-interest.] a

CHAPTER IV

Of the Head of the German Empire, the Emperor; and of the Election and the Electors.

The Emperor the Head of Germany.1. Though Germany consisteth of so many Members, many of which are [like] great and perfect [justarum] States, yet it has at all times (excepting the Interregnums which have happened) since Charles the Great, been united [subjected] to one Head (which the Ancients only [simply] call’d their King, the later Ages by the more ambitious Titles of the Roman Emperor, and Caesar) and upon the sole account of this Head, it has seem’d, to the most of men, to be one single simple State: And my next business is, to shew how this Head is constituted or appointed; but then it will be worth my while, by way of Introduction, to represent this Affair from its Rise [to trace this matter somewhat further back], that it may the more clearly appear how much the present differeth from the ancient Election, and what is the true Original of the Electoral Princes.

The Empire of the Romans pretendedly given by the Pope.As to Charles the Great, and his Posterity, the Roman Empire and the Kingdom of France are to be severally and distinctly considered: The first of these was collated [conferred] upon Charles, by the [<acclamation and> consent of] the People of Rome, and by the Pope, as the <69> principal Member of that Empire [City],a or rather, as upon one who plainly designed to make himself Emperor, and that as appeareth, in an Hereditary way: So that the Crowning [of] his Successors had not the force of a new and free Election, but [only] of a Solemn Inauguration: For we read, that Charles the Great made Lewis his Son, and Lewis made also Lotharius his Son their Consorts [partners] in |[the Empire]|,a and yet there is no mention made of their [first] asking the Consent of the Pope, or of the People of Rome, on either of these occasions.

The Kingdom of France more hereditary than elective.{But then, as to the ancient Kingdom of France, we cannot affirm, that it was either meerly elective, or meerly hereditary, but a mixture of both [mixed mode of succession]:} For we read frequently, that the Kings of France were constituted by the Consent and Approbation of the Nobility and whole People of France, but in such a manner yet, that they never chose out of the Line of the dead King, but for very great [grave] reasons;1 {which kind of Election is (as we know) still observed in Poland;}2 yet he that shall curiously observe it, shall find, France had more of a Successive than of an Elective Kingdom; So that it seems to have been collated [conferred] on the first of the Race [Line], with a Condition, that he should transmit it to his Posterity, unless they appeared to the People very unworthy of it. So that the Children [filiis] of the Deceased King did not so much gain a new Right to the Kingdom by this Approbation of the Nobility and People, as a Declaration, that they were not uncapable <70> of succeeding, by the Right that was at first collated [conferred] on them:b

Afterwards the Line of Charles the Great being deposed or rejected, and denied the Throne of France [the Franks], the Kingdom of Germany, or, as they then called it, the East Kingdom of France, was, by the most free Consent of the Nobility,Germany given freely to Otho, and after to Conrad. given to Otho the Saxon, who excusing himself on the account of his Age, by his Advice Conrad Duke of Franconia was by them chosen King of Germany, who was, as some think, of the Line of Charles the Great. By his Counsel also afterwards Henry the Falconer,3 Son of Otho Duke of Saxony, was by a free Election advanced to that Kingdom [Kingship], who being contented with Germany, would not accept the Title of Emperor, though the Pope offered it to him;4 but Otho the Great his Son, having subdued Italy, soThe Empire of Rome united to the Kingdom of Germany for ever. united Rome, and the Lands of the Church to Germany, that from thenceforward he that had the Kingdom of Germany without any new Election, should be Emperor of Rome, the Crowning by the Pope being nothing but a Solemnity, though before this Ceremony the Kings of Germany had not usually used the Title of Emperors. The same form of Succession hereupon was used in Germany, which had been observed in the old Kingdom of France, viz. That the Consent of the Nobility and People did not easily depart from the Order of a Lineal Succession in the Royal Family [ab ordine sanguinis]: And this continued to Henry IV. who being young, and <71> perhaps not Governing well the Nobility thereupon, by the procurement of the Pope, rose up against him, and deposed him from the Kingdom, {and, for the time to come, made a Law, That though the Son of the last King were worthy to succeed him, yet he should attain the Throne by a Free Election, and not by a Lineal Succession; as the words of that Constitution run.}5 And from that time on |[hereditary succession gradually ceased]|.a

The ancient Elections not made by any certain number of Princes exclusively.2. That old Approbation and Election was made by all the People <or by the leading men [proceres] and the selectees of the more powerful cities>, though it is not to be doubted but the Authority of the Nobility [leading men] and Princes, or [and] of the Bishops and Peers [Nobilium], was much [most] valued: But now, for some Ages past [several centuries], Seven chuse the Emperor in exclusion of all others; and since the Treaty of Osnaburg,6 Eight of the principal Princes are to do it, who from thence are called, The ELECTORAL PRINCES [Electors, Kurfürsten]: Of these, Three are stiled Ecclesiastical Electors, viz. The Archbishops of Mentz, Trier, and Cologne; and Five are Temporal or Secular Electors, the King of Bohemia, the Dukes of Bavaria and Saxony, the Marquess of Brandenburg, and the Count Palatine of the Rhine.

It is not very clear how these Princes came by this Right [for]a two Ages, viz. from [around] the year 1250, to the year 1500, it was a received Opinion, ThatThe 7 Electors not instituted by Otho III.Otho III. and Pope Gregory V. instituted the Seven Electors, but with this Difference, that some Authors ascribe the principal share in the Act to the Emperor, and others to the Pope, as each man was affected to them [depending on their respective sympathies].7 {Our Countryman} Onuphrius Panvinius <72> was |[[to my knowledge] the first man that opposed]|b this Opinion in a Book, De Comitiis imperatoriis, of the Imperial Diets, which is since [today] approved by all the wisest of the German Nation.8 His best Argument against it, is, Because this Ottonian or Gregorian Constitution was never yet produced by any man, and no man has mentioned it from the times of Frederick II. to those of Otho III,a which contains 240 years; for the first that mentions the Electors was one Martin a Polonian [Pole], who lived under this Frederick [II., some 250 years after Otho III.],9 and therefore his Testimony was justly liable to exception [not beyond all doubt], seeing it was not supported by any better [evidence] in an Affair which happened so long before his own times: And yet, after all, he doth not mention any such Constitution; nor doth he say, the Electors began in the time of that Otho, but [only] that, after his times, the Officers of the Empire began to elect: Which is capable of a double sence, [1] either because they were then possess’d of [they then acquired] very large Dominions [ditiones], who before had the principal Offices [munia] in the Court; or [2] because those Offices were then first collated [conferred] for ever on Princes that had very great Dominions, who, though perhaps they had a Signal Authority, as the most eminent men above all others; yet that the Election [of kings] belonged to other Princes besides these Seven, can be denied by no man who is not very ignorant of the German Antiquities.

Others have ascribed the appointing [of] the Seven Electors to Frederick II, but then there is no Record of any Law <73> to that purpose any where to be found; nor is it probable, that the rest of the Princes so early [suddenly] and so easily parted with their Right of Electing.

But yet they seem ancienter than Frederick II.3. The current Opinion of the most Skilful in the German Affairs, is, That [already] before the times of Frederick II, those Seven Princes, as the great Officers of the Empire, and persons that had great Estates, began by degrees to overtop the rest, and to have the greatest Authority in the Elections of the Emperors<, and—as some reasonably conjecture—since they were required to be present at elections by virtue of their office, other princes used frequently to delegate their votes to them>; but after the times of this Frederick, the German Affairs being wonderfully [unusually] disordered, whilst the rest took little or no care of the Publick [business], these Seven assumed it [that electoral right] wholly to themselves. This, after it was confirm’d into a Custom by some repeated Acts, was at last passed into a Law by the solemn and publick Sanction of the Golden Bull,10 in which the whole form of the Election, and all the Power of the Electors, is contained; and from thenceforward those Princes added to their former Titles that of Electors, and were ever after esteemed as persons set in an higher Station and Dignity than the rest.11

Of the Priviledges of the Electors.4.a Thus, though at the first these Princes seem to have assumed the power [function] of electing the Emperor, [insofar] as they were the great Officers of the Empire; yet afterwards, by the Law call’d the Golden Bull, those very Offices, as well as the Electoral Dignity, are [were] annexed to certain Dominions; so that whoever is legally possessed of them, <74> is thereby made one of the Electors.

[T]he Ecclesiastical Electors [in the mean time]⁺ are made by Election or Collation [Conferral], as the other Bishops of Germany are; where it is to be observed, that though these Bishops, to enable them [properly] to perform the other Functions belonging to their Office, stand in need of the Pope’s Confirmation, and the Pall, which they must not expect gratis;12 yet they are admitted without them [even before papal confirmation] to the Election of the Emperor, because these Secular Dignities pass without the Character [do not depend on a religious stamp of approval]: But then, when the See is vacant, the Chapter has no Right to meddle with the Election [to act in the Elector’s place]:13

In the Secular or Temporal Electors [Electorates] the Succession passeth in a lineal Paternal [agnaticam] Descent,14 so that neither the Electoral Dignity, nor the Lands united to it, admit of any Division: But if a new Elector [Electorate] is to be made, or for some Offence any one is to be deprived of that Dignity, it is, without doubt, agreeable to the other Laws and Customs of the Empire; for the Emperor [alone, by his own authority,] not to dispose of the said Dignity, without the Consent of the other States [Estates], or, at least, not without that of the Electors. Though it is not to be denied, the last Age [and our own] saw an Example to the contrary, against which however one or two of the Electors protested [in vain], the Emperor despising their words, because he saw his Arms prosper [inordinately at the time]. Yet this Prince had wit enough to bestow the Dignity [taken away] on one of the same Line and Family,15 which tended very much to the abating the Envy of [ill will created by] the Fact<, in that his resort to war seemed motivated not by a longing to dominate others or seize their things, but by the demands of his office and the securing of his own prerogative>, <75> and [also] divided two most potent Families, by raising an endless Emulation between them, and made that Party that was obliged by the Grant, obnoxious to [dependent on] the Imperial Family, for the preservation of it.

[It must be added that] If any of the Electors happen to be a Minor, their Guardians supply their place [in the election of Emperors], and the Minority ceaseth when the Prince is Eighteen years of age.

Of the manner of the Election.5. The manner of the Election is [approximately] thus:16 The Elector of Mentz, within one Month after he knows of the Death of the Emperor, signifies it to his Colleagues, and calls them to the Election that is to be made <within three months>, who meet in person, or by their Proxies: When they enter Frankford, each of them is allowed Two hundred Horsemen, and no more; but this thing at this day is not nicely [precisely] observed.17 Whilst the Election is making [taking place], |[all Strangers]|a are commanded to depart [from the city]. They begin the Election in the Chancel [sanctuary] of the Church of St. Bartholomew, with the Ceremony of the Mass, then they come to the Altar, and each of them sweareth, that he will chuse a fit person to be Emperor<, without any side agreement, payment, bribery, or promise>. The Bishop of Mentz, as Dean of the College, gathereth their Votes, and first he asketh the Bishop of Trier, then the Bishop of Cologne, and so all the rest in their order, and gives his own in the last place. The majority of Votes is as good as the whole; but then, whereas there is now eight, it was never yet certainly agreed what should be done, in case the Votes should happen to be equally divided. None <76> of the Electors is excluded from the Right of nominating himself. When the Election is made, it is recorded in Writing, and confirmed with the Seals of the Electors; then they all together go to the Altar, and the Elector of Mentz assembles the People, and declareth to them the Name of the new elected Emperor[, out of the Writing]⁺: After this, the Empire is committed to him upon certain Conditions [legibus], but so, that he is forthwith bound to confirm to all and every one of the Electors, all their Rights and Priviledges.18

By the Golden Bull, Aix la Chappelle [Aachen]19 is appointed for the City where he is to be Crowned, though for the most part, ever since, the Coronation is perform’d in the same place where the Election is made, and because that City is in the Diocess of Cologne, that Ceremony has been commonly performed by the Elector of Cologne; yet the Bishop of Mentz alwaies puts in his Claim for it, and, if I be not deceived, of late this Controversie is thus determin’d; |[That they shall do it by Turns, whereever the Emperor is Crowned]|.a

The rest of the Ceremonies may be easily found in |[German]|b Writers.

The Electors have deposed an Emperor.6. |[Perhaps it would be too hard, and too invidious [offensive], to make a Publick and Formal Law, to declare, That the Electors have a full Right and Power to depose the Emperor, if he deserves it, as well as to elect him:]|a [Yet it is certain, they exercised this Power upon Wenceslaus, Sigismond, the Son of Charles <77> the Fourth being elected in his stead, in the year 1411. This Prince [Charles II], that he might gain the Empire, made the Golden Bull, and rewarded the Electors with great Gifts, which is very much resented by those who are not well affected to the Electors].b [Henry the Fourth was deposed by the other Princes joined with the Electors:]c <Although, even if Wenceslaus seems himself to have given up his throne, I would not guarantee that judicial procedures [regulas iuris] were observed in the case of Henry the Fourth.> And in truth [it is said that] the Bishops of Mentz have pretty plainly and fearlesly sung this Tune, and claimed the Right of deposing the Emperors, to one or two [the other] of them, who were engaged in Designs that were not acceptable to these Prelates. <This must be ascribed to the character of the age, when the popes sought, with the aid of the German clergy, to withdraw themselves from the power of the emperors.>

The Electors have some other special Priviledges.7. The Electors have some other Princely [special] Rights, beyond what belongs to any of the other Princes; for they are not only the greatest Officers of the Empire, but they have Right [possint] also, in some Cases, to [convene meetings and] exclude all the rest of the States and Princes, and to consult amongst themselves about things of the greatest importance. The Archbishop of Mentz is Lord Chancellor [Archchancellor] of Germany.20 The Archbishop of Trier of France, and of the Kingdom of Arles (by which Names the most skilful [learned authors] do not understand all that Country that is now call’d France, but only so much of it as in the XI. Century belonged to the Kingdom of Burgundy, and was then united to Germany).21 And the Archbishop of Cologne is Chancellor of Italy: But then, at this day, the first of these has an effectual Power, and the other two have nothing but meer empty Titles.

The King of Bohemia is Lord Cup-bearer, <78> and in the highest Ceremonies and Solemnities, gives the Emperor the first Cup of Wine. The Duke of Bavaria is now Lord High Sewer [steward], and carrieth the Pome or Globe [Imperial orb, Reichsapfel] before the Emperor in the Solemn Processions.22 The Duke of Saxony is Lord High Marshal, and carrieth the naked Sword before the Emperor. The Marquess [Markgraf] of Brandenburg is Lord High Chamberlain, and gives the Emperor Water [to wash]⁺, and in the Solemn Procession carrieth the Scepter. The Count Palatine of the Rhine is Lord High Treasurer, and in the Procession to the Palace, at the Coronation, scattereth the Gold and Silver Medals [Coins] amongst the People. Each of the Secular Electors has his certain known Deputy [vicarios] for the performance of his Function; Limburg beareth the Cup for the King of Bohemia; Wal[d]burg is Sewer [steward] for Bavaria; Pap[p]enheim carrieth the Sword for Saxony; the Count of Ho[h]enzolleren is Deputy for Brandenburg; and Sintzendorf for the Count Palatine of the Rhine.

There are also other Priviledges belonging to the Electors, which are express’d in the Golden Bull, [as peculiar to them, but]a are at this day possess’d by other Princes too, two [privileges] only excepted, viz. 1. That there lies no Appeal23 from their Judgment; and, 2. That in the regranting their Dependent Fees [feuda, feudal rights], they are [above controul; and as to the taking up their own, they do it without any Charge]:b And perhaps there may be some others. <79>

What is done during the Interregnum.8. When there is an Interregnum, or want of an Emperor, the Count Palatine of the Rhine, and the Duke of Saxony, supply that Defect, and Govern as Viceroys; the first, all the Countries [parts of the Empire] on the Rhine and [in] Schwaben, and whereever the Franconian Laws [ius] and Customs take place: The second takes Care of all the Countries which are under Saxon Laws; but then neither of them are allowed to dispose of [bestow on anyone] the Fees of the Empire, which shall become vacant by the Death of any Prince, [and those] which are [customarily] given by the delivery of a Banner. Nor can they alienate or mortgage any of the Demeans [possessions] of the Empire; all the rest of their Acts are for the most part [customarily] confirmed by the new elected Emperor.

In the last Vacancy [interregnum], upon the Death of Ferdinand III.[,] the Duke of Bavaria disputed the Count Palatine’s Viceroyalty;24 to gain his Point, the Duke of Bavaria used great Policy [cleverness], that he might not be disappointed in his design:a He laid Post-Horses and Curriers [Couriers] on the Road, who gave him an account of the Death of the Emperor very early, and upon that he presently sent Letters to acquaint the Princes, and States with it, and that he had taken upon him[self] the Care of the Empire in the Franconian Circles; whereupon many of the Princes and States being surprized by this subtile Management [without sufficiently considering the matter], congratulated his Honour [responded with hasty congratulations] before the Death of Ferdinand was [barely] known to the Count Palatine, whose Right it was. But however, that Count did not patiently <80> suffer his Right to be thus sliely stoln from him, but declared for the future he claimed [declared to all that he would exercise] this his Vicarian Power, and entered a Complaint against the Duke of Bavaria, for thus usurping his Right: And it is very certain, the far greatest part of the Princes repented they had consented to this Attempt of the Bavarian, but could not then recall their Letters to him: But then, as is usual in such Encroachments, no man was willing to join with the Oppressed, and make his Quarrel his own, [though] afterwards they printed Books one against the other [against one another debating the matter].

Now, though no man could wonder that the Duke of Bavaria should venture upon this Practice [attempt to acquire that dignity for himself], who in the more flourishing state of the Count Palatin’s Affairs, had pretended [already laid claim] to the Electorate, and now having got part of the Palatin’s Country, had encreased his own Power, and was otherwise well assured of the Concurrence and Favour of the House of Austria [both on the account of Kindred and Religion]⁺; yet the far greatest part of the indifferent [impartial] Spectators thought the Count Palatine [Palatine writers] had sufficiently shewn his Right, and demonstrated that this Vicarian Viceroyalty was no part [or appendage] of the Great Lord High Sewer’s Offices, but was [a peculiar right] perpetually annexed to the Palatinate of the Rhine, [just] as the Duke of Saxony has the other half of that [Vicarian] Power in the rest of Germany, not as Elector, but as [Count] Palatine of Saxony: But then, as there were many that openly favoured the Bavarian, [so the rest were not willing openly to espouse <81> the opposite side, and that Prince would not confess he had done wrong, and so]a the Controversie remains undetermin’d still.

Of the King of the Romans.9. Sometimes there is joined to the Emperor Extra Ordinem [the usual procedure aside], a King of the Romans,25 [at least in name,] in pretence as his General Vicar or Deputy, who in his Absence or Sickness [Inability] is to Govern the State, and upon his Death, to succeed without any new [further] Election. But then, though [necessity or] the Good of the State has ever been pretended, as is usual in such Cases; yet the real Cause [reason] has ever, or, at least, most usually been, That they might with the greater ease, in their own lifetimes, preferr [convey] their Sons, Brothers, or near Kinsmen, to the Empire [Throne], by the Influence or Recommendationb of a Regnant Emperor; foreseeing, that one that was chosen in a Vacancy or Interregnum, would have harder terms [arctioribus legibus] imposed on him by the Electors.c

//Joseph King of Hungary, the eldest Son of Leopold the present Emperor of Germany, who was born the 25th. of July, 1678. was chosen King of the Romans the 24th. of January, 1689/90. and Crowned the 26th. at Ausburg. This Emperor has another Son [i.e., Leopold Joseph, d. 1684] of his own Name, who was born the 12th. of June, 1682. who ought to have been taken notice of in the end of the former Chapter, where the Males of the House of Austria are set down, but it slipped my Memory till that Sheet was wrought off. <82>

[a ]“Pope” and “people” are reversed in the text to match the editorial addition. [Ed.]

[a ]E.p.: the Imperial title

[1 ]See I.7.

[2 ]The Polish branch of the Swedish Vasa dynasty ended with the abdication of John Casimir II in 1668, when the Polish nobles elected Michal Korybut Wisniowiecki (1640–73), a descendant of the original Piast dynasty, and then John III Sobieski (1629–96). The latter ruled 1674–96 and was known especially for his significant victories over the Turks in 1673 and 1683, when he rescued Vienna.

[b ]Rather: . . . uncapable of exercising the right acquired from that first conferral

[3 ]According to Breßlau, the epithet has no historical basis (Monzambano, Über die Verfassung, trans. Breßlau, 65, note 2). On the Ottonen, also see I.6, note 20; III.3, note 5; and III.7, note 11.

[4 ]Denzer (Verfassung des deutschen Reiches, ed. Denzer, 1994, 107, note 1) traces this incorrect claim to Otto von Freising’s (d. 1158 ) Chronicle or History of Two Cities, VI.17.

[5 ]Hermann Conring, De septemviris (1644), §§20, 21, relying on Bruno, Historia de bello Saxonico, chapter 91 (Verfassung des deutschen Reiches, ed. Denzer, 1994, 107, note 2). The e.p. variation was prompted by the comment of Kulpis (Severinus, ed. Salomon, 79, note 3).

[a ]E.p.: the power [vis] of successive right gradually diminished, until at last it was openly replaced by elective right

[6 ]The Treaty of Westphalia (1648) created a new (eighth) electorate for Karl Ludwig of the Palatinate, instead of restoring him to the original dignity lost by his father, Frederick V (the Winter King), in 1623, when the electorate was transferred to Maximilian I, duke of Bavaria, as a reward for his support of Emperor Ferdinand II. Two concurrent conferences led to the Peace of Westphalia (1648): The emperor and other Catholic powers negotiated with France at Münster, and with Sweden and its Protestant allies at Osnabrück. Also see notes 15, 22, and 24 in this chapter.

[a ]Rather: . For more than

[7 ]Pufendorf was acutely conscious of how national interests shape the writing of history, and his Introduction to the History was explicitly (see its preface) written from the viewpoints of the respective national historians.

[b ]E.p.: among the first to oppose

[8 ]Onuphrius Panvinius, De comitiis ac potestate imperatoris (Basel, 1568; Straßburg, 1613) (Verfassung des deutschen Reiches, ed. Denzer, 1994, 109, note 3), and Melchior Goldast, Politica Imperialia (Frankfurt, 1614) (Severinus, ed. Salomon, 80, note 1).

[a ]Rather (if earlier to later): the times of Otho III to those of Frederick II. / Otto III lived 980–1002, and Frederick II 1194–1250. [Ed.]

[9 ]Martinus Polonus (d. 1228/29), a Dominican from Silesia, became confessor to various popes (Hammerstein, “Kommentar,” 1188).

[10 ]The Golden Bull was an imperial edict (with a golden seal) issued by Charles IV in 1356 after the Imperial Diets of Nuremberg and Metz. It settled various constitutional matters for Germany, such as the number and rights of the electors, and the manner of the imperial succession; it also excluded any papal role in the electoral process and codified the semiautonomous status of the seven electors.

[11 ]The higher rank demanded by the electors was not acknowledged by all and was still disputed as late as the Peace of Nimwegen (1678) (Monzambano, Über die Verfassung, trans. Breßlau, 67, note 1).

[a ]This section is wrongly designated as §5, with the misnumeration continuing to the end of chapter 4. I have silently corrected the error hereafter. See note a for IV.3 in the original table of contents, p. 20, above. [Ed.]

[12 ]The pallium was a white sash worn over the shoulders and decorated with six black crosses. Although also used to honor bishops in the Middle Ages, it was the formal symbol of an archbishop’s office and had to be purchased from the pope (with Palliengeld) before one could exercise the powers of that role. This widely resented financial requirement was eliminated during the thirteenth century, when it was essentially replaced by the annates. Even so, there were calls for its elimination as late as 1769 (Verfassung des deutschen Reiches, ed. Denzer, 1994, 111, note 5; Verfassung des deutschen Reiches, trans. Dove, 139–40, note 12; Haberkern and Wallach, Hilfswörterbuch für Historiker, 2:467).

[13 ]A chapter or capitulum comprised the diverse clergy active at a cathedral, formally under the authority of the bishop. This quasi-monastic institution became quite complex by the Middle Ages and included secular as well as religious communities, some of them restricted to nobility (Haberkern and Wallach, Hilfswörterbuch für Historiker, 1:156–58).

[14 ]See p. 88, note a.

[15 ]After Elector Johann Friedrich of Saxony (of the Ernestine line) was captured at the battle of Mühlberg in 1547, the electorate was given to Duke Moritz of Saxony (of the Albertine line). In the seventeenth century, Elector Frederick V of the Palatinate was deposed and lost his position to Duke Maximilian of Bavaria at the Reichstag in Regensburg in 1623 (Verfassung des deutschen Reiches, ed. Denzer, 1994, 113, note 6; Verfassung des deutschen Reiches, trans. Dove, 140, note 14). See note 6 in this chapter.

[16 ]According to the Golden Bull, chapters 2 and 4 (Verfassung des deutschen Reiches, ed. Denzer, 1994, 113, note 8). The provisions are rendered more accurately in the e.p. (Severinus, ed. Salomon, 82, note 2).

[17 ]The rule was violated by the election of Leopold I in 1658, and the transgression explicitly censured in a decree appended to the articles of election (Verfassung des deutschen Reiches, ed. Denzer, 1994, 113, note 9).

[a ]E.p.: all outsiders or those whose legal residence is not in the city, beside those accompanying the Electors,

[18 ]Compare Pufendorf’s On the Law of Nature and of Nations, VII.6.7, on limited sovereignty. Of course, the emperor actually had no sovereignty at all, strictly speaking, given the irregularities of the empire as a state.

[19 ]See Golden Bull, chapter 29.1 (Severinus, ed. Salomon, 83, note 1).

[a ]E.p.: That the Archbishops of Cologne and Mainz shall perform it in their respective dioceses of Cologne and Mainz, and that outside of these they will alternate / This is explicitly stated in the agreement of 1657, which Pufendorf had rendered inexactly in the first edition (Verfassung des deutschen Reiches, ed. Denzer, 1994, 115, note 11). [Ed.]

[b ]E.p.: public law

[a ]E.p.: It is obvious that though the Electors have the right to elect the Emperor, they do not automatically [haut statim] by virtue of this right [eo ipso] have the power to strip him of this rank if he so deserves. But perhaps it would be too hard, and too invidious [offensive], to ordain this expressly through a Publick Law. / This seems to reverse the idea of the first edition by focusing the possible offense on the electors instead of the emperor, which is consistent with Pufendorf’s concern to maintain the emperor’s position in the struggle against France in the early 1690s. Thomasius (Monzambano, De statu Imperii, ed. Thomasius, 329) quotes the e.p. change in a footnote, but without comment. [Ed.]

[b ]Rather: Still, it is well known that they exercised this power in the case of Wenceslaus, son of the very Charles the Fourth who—according to the loud complaints of those who envy the Electors their preeminence—supposedly enacted the Golden Bull and placated the Electors with great largesse in order to secure the Empire for his son <at> a later time / Wenzel of Luxemburg (1361–1419), a son of Charles IV (1316–78), was deposed in 1400 for his general neglect of the imperial role. He was succeeded first by Ruprecht of the Palatinate (d. 1410), and then by his half-brother Sigismund (1368–1437). [Ed.]

[c ]Rather: Other princes [beside the Electors] also helped to remove Henry the Fourth from the throne [imperio]. / Henry IV (1050–1106) was forced to abdicate in 1105 by his son, Henry V (1086–1125). See III.6, note 9, p. 89. [Ed.]

[20 ]As chancellor (see IV.7), the archbishop of Mainz (after 1623) was also head of the Council of Electors (Kurfürstenrat); this gave him considerable influence at the Reichstag (Imperial Diet) when there was no set agenda (Monzambano, Über die Verfassung, trans. Breßlau, 69, note 2; Verfassung des deutschen Reiches, trans. Dove, 140, note 15).

[21 ]The kingdom of Arles was formed in 933 and annexed to the Holy Roman Empire by Conrad II in 1034. It covered portions of Provence, Savoy, and Switzerland; and it ceased to exist as a separate kingdom in 1378 when Charles IV ceded it to France.

[22 ]This function belonged to the Counts Palatine until it was lost in 1623 by the defeated Frederick V (the “Winter King”), whose electoral status was transferred by Emperor Ferdinand II to Duke Maximilian of Bavaria. See note 6 in this chapter.

[a ]Rather: most of which

[23 ]That is, to the imperial courts. The only exception to this right of no appeal (privilegium de non appellando; see Golden Bull, chapter 11) was in the case of a complete denial of judicial procedure (Verfassung des deutschen Reiches, trans. Dove, 140, note 17).

[b ]Rather: unencumbered [immunes] / That is, they are not required to render new or additional services in turn; the renewal is, as it were, automatic and on the same terms as before. [Ed.]

[24 ]Ferdinand III died in 1657, succeeded in 1658 by Leopold I. Bavaria’s claim was strengthened by the fact that the (original) Palatine electorate had been transferred to it in 1623. However, the matter had been disputed already in 1612. See Ezechiel Spanheim’s (anonymous) Discours du Palatinat et de la dignité électorale contre les prétensions du Duc de Bavière (1636) (Monzambano, Über die Verfassung, trans. Breßlau, 70, note 1).

[a ]Rather: In this matter, the Duke of Bavaria very cleverly took care to pursue his designs with the greatest dissimulation, so that they could not be prematurely eluded.

[a ]Rather: and the rest did not wish to criticize him openly, nor is it customary for Princes readily to confess their own injuries [toward others],

[25 ]“King of the Romans” (rex Romanorum) was the title of an emperor after he had been confirmed as such but not yet crowned by the pope. Eventually it came also to designate the emperor’s heir or successor, whose crowning as king of the Romans, during the emperor’s lifetime, virtually ensured his succession. Also see V.23.

[b ]The Latin prenso or prehenso means literally to go around and press or shake people’s hands. [Ed.]

[c ]Pufendorf’s chapter ends here; the rest was added by Bohun. [Ed.]