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List of Reichstag participants (1792)
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The Holy Roman Empire was one of the strangest political structures in the world. Although in the earlier part of the Middle Ages, under the Salian and Hohenstaufen emperors, it was relatively centralized, as time went on the Emperor lost more and more power to the Princes. This article will attempt to sort out, to some extent, the political structure of the Empire, and list the various states it consisted of.
Structure of the Diet of the Holy Roman Empire in 1792
The year 1792 , before the vast changes inspired by the French Revolutionary incursions into Germany, is a good point in time to look at and examine the structure of the Empire. The empire was, at this time, divided into several thousand immediate (unmittelbar ) territories, but only about three hundred of these had Landeshoheit (the special sort of sovereignty enjoyed by the states of the Empire), and had representation in the Reichstag (Imperial Diet). The Imperial Diet was divided into three so-called collegia — the Council of Electors , the Council of Princes, and the Council of Cities. As who had votes had gradually changed over the centuries, many princes held more than one vote, as will be indicated. Certain territories which had once held votes in the diet, as for instance the County of Waldeck or the Duchy of Jülich-Kleve-Berg, no longer did so due to the extinction of an old dynasty, or for other reasons.
The Council of Electors
The King of Bohemia (also Archduke of Austria and King of Hungary )
The Archbishop of Mainz
The Archbishop of Cologne
The Archbishop of Trier
The Count Palatine of the Rhine (also Duke of Bavaria )
The Duke of Saxony
The Margrave of Brandenburg ( King of Prussia )
The Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (Elector of Hanover , King of Great Britain )
The Council of Princes
[Note, this is ordered based on the official order of voting in the Diet]
The Ecclesiastical Bench
The Archbishop of Salzburg
The Archbishop of Besançon
The Grand Master of the Teutonic Order
The Bishop of Bamberg
The Bishop of Würzburg
The Bishop of Worms
The Bishop of Eichstätt
The Bishop of Speyer
The Bishop of Strassburg
The Bishop of Constance
The Bishop of Augsburg
The Bishop of Hildesheim
The Bishop of Paderborn
The Bishop of Freising
The Bishop of Regensburg
The Bishop of Passau
The Bishop of Trent
The Bishop of Brixen
The Bishop of Basel
The Bishop of Münster
The Bishop of Osnabrück (notable as, after 1648, it alternated between Protestant and Roman Catholic incumbents)
The Bishop of Liège
The Bishop of Lübeck (a Protestant bishopric)
The Bishop of Chur
The Bishop of Fulda
The Abbot of Kempten
The Provost of Ellwangen
The Grand Master of the Order of St. John
The Prior of Berchtesgaden
The Abbot of Weissenburg
The Abbot of Prüm
The Abbot of Stablo
The Abbot of Corvey
A single vote for the College of the Prelates of Swabia ; see below
A single vote for the College of the Prelates of the Rhine ; see below
These last two were groups of lesser abbots, who together had a joint vote. Unlike those who had a full vote, they were not considered fully sovereign.
The Secular Bench
The Duke of Bavaria (the Elector of Bavaria)
The Duke of Magdeburg (also King of Prussia)
The Count Palatine of Kaiserslautern (also the Elector of Bavaria)
The Count Palatine of Simmern (also the Elector of Bavaria)
The Count Palatine of Neuburg (also the Elector of Bavaria)
The Duke of Bremen (also the Elector of Hanover)
The Duke of Zweibrücken
The Count Palatine of Veldenz (also the Elector of Bavaria)
The Duke of Saxe-Weimar
The Duke of Saxe-Eisenach (also Duke of Saxe-Weimar)
The Duke of Saxe-Coburg
The Duke of Saxe-Gotha
The Duke of Saxe-Altenburg (also Duke of Saxe-Gotha)
The Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach (also King of Prussia)
The Margrave of Brandenburg-Bayreuth (also King of Prussia)
The Duke of Brunswick-Celle (also Elector of Hanover)
The Duke of Brunswick-Kalenberg (also Elector of Hanover)
The Duke of Brunswick-Grubenhagen (also Elector of Hanover)
The Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel
The Prince of Halberstadt (also King of Prussia)
The Duke of Lower Pomerania (also King of Prussia)
The Duke of Upper Pomerania (also King of Sweden )
The Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
The Duke of Mecklenburg-Güstrow (also Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin)
The Duke of Württemberg
The Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel)
The Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt
The Margrave of Baden-Baden (the Margrave of Baden )
The Margrave of Baden-Durlach (the Margrave of Baden)
The Prince of Verden (also Elector of Hanover)
The Margrave of Baden-Hochberg (the Margrave of Baden)
The Duke of Holstein (also King of Denmark )
The Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg (also Elector of Hanover)
The Prince of Minden (also King of Prussia)
The Duke of Holstein-Gottorp -Oldenburg
The Duke of Savoy (also King of Sardinia )
The Landgrave of Leuchtenberg (also Elector of Bavaria)
The Prince of Anhalt (actually, there were four Princes of Anhalt at this time, who split the vote — the Princes of Anhalt-Zerbst , Anhalt-Dessau , Anhalt-Bernburg , and Anhalt-Köthen )
The Princely Count of Henneberg (this vote was divided among the various branches of the House of Wettin —the Elector of Saxony , the Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach , the Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld , the Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg , the Duke of Saxe-Meiningen and the Duke of Saxe-Hildburghausen )
The Prince of Schwerin (also Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin)
The Prince of Kammin (also King of Prussia)
The Prince of Ratzeburg (also Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz )
The Prince of Hersfeld (also Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel)
The Prince of Nomény (to the House of Lorraine ; after 1780 also King of Bohemia, etc.)
The Prince of Mömpelgard (also Duke of Württemberg)
The Duke of Arenberg
The Prince of Hohenzollern-Hechingen
The Prince of Lobkowitz
The Prince of Salm (actually, there were two branches of this family, who split the vote — the Prince of Salm-Salm and the Prince of Salm-Kyrburg )
The Prince of Dietrichstein
The Prince of Nassau-Hadamar (also Prince of Orange and Stadtholder of the United Provinces )
The Prince of Nassau-Dillenburg (also Prince of Orange)
The Prince of Auersperg
The Prince of East Frisia (also King of Prussia)
The Prince of Fürstenberg
The Prince of Schwarzenberg
The Prince of Liechtenstein
The Prince of Thurn and Taxis
The Prince of Schwarzburg (divided into two branches, Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt and Schwarzburg-Sondershausen )
A single vote for the College of the Counts of Swabia ; see below
A single vote for the College of the Counts of the Wetterau ; see below
A single vote for the College of the Counts of Franconia ; see below
A single vote for the College of the Counts of Westphalia ; see below
The Council of Cities
The Council of Imperial Free Cities was not actually equal to the others — its vote was only advisory. In 1792, there were 51 Free Cities, divided amongst six Circles.
Circle of Bavaria
Regensburg
Circle of Franconia
Nuremberg
Rothenburg ob der Tauber
Bad Windsheim
Schweinfurt
Weißenburg in Bayern (Nordgau)
Circle of the Lower Rhine-Westphalia
Cologne
Aachen
Dortmund
Circle of Lower Saxony
Lübeck
Goslar
Mühlhausen
Hamburg
Bremen
Nordhausen
Circle of the Upper Rhine
Worms
Speyer
Frankfurt am Main
Friedberg
Wetzlar
Circle of Swabia
Augsburg
Ulm
Esslingen am Neckar
Reutlingen
Nördlingen
Schwäbisch Hall
Überlingen
Rottweil
Heilbronn
Schwäbisch Gmünd
Memmingen
Lindau
Dinkelsbühl
Biberach
Ravensburg
Kempten
Kaufbeuren
Weil
Wangen im Allgäu
Isny im Allgäu
Leutkirch im Allgäu
Wimpfen
Giengen
Pfullendorf
Buchhorn
Aalen
Bopfingen
Buchau
Offenburg
Gengenbach
Zell am Harmersbach
Membership of single-vote colleges
The two benches of the Council of Princes each contained single-vote colleges. The membership of each of these was as follows:
The Prelates of Swabia
The Prelates of the Rhine
The Counts of the Wetterau
The Princes and Counts of Solms
The Prince of Nassau-Usingen
The Prince of Nassau-Weilburg
The Prince of Nassau-Saarbrücken
The Princes and Counts of Isenburg
The Counts of Stollberg
The Princes and Counts of Sayn-Wittgenstein
The Counts of Salm
The Princes and Counts of Leiningen
The Counts of Westerburg
The Counts of Wetter-Tegerfelden
The Princes of Schönburg
The Count of Wied-Runkel
The Counts of Ortenburg
The Counts of Reuss zu Plauen
The Counts of Swabia
The Prince of Fürstenberg
The Abbess of Buchau
The Commander of the Teutonic Knights
The Prince of Oettingen
The Count of Montfort (also King of Bohemia)
The Count of Helfenstein (also Elector of Bavaria)
The Prince of Schwarzenberg
The Count of Königsegg
The Count of Waldburg
The Count of Eberstein (also Margrave of Baden)
The Count von der Leyen
The Counts of Fugger
The Lord of Hohenems (also King of Bohemia)
The Count of Traun
The Prince-Abbot of St. Blase
The Count of Stadion
The Prince of Thurn and Taxis
the Count of Wetter-Tegerfelden inBonndorf
The Count of Khevenhüller
The Count of Kuefstein
The Prince of Colloredo
The Count of Harrach
The Count of Sternberg
The Count of Neipperg
The Counts of Franconia
The Princes and Counts of Hohenlohe
The Counts of Castell
The Counts of Erbach
The Princes and Counts of Löwenstein-Wertheim
The Heirs to the Counts of Limpurg
The Counts of Nostitz-Rieneck
The Prince of Schwarzenberg
The Heirs to the Counts of Wolfstein
The Counts of Schönborn
The Counts of Windisch-Grätz
The Counts Orsini von Rosenberg
The Counts of Starhemberg
The Counts of Wurmbrand
The Counts of Giech
The Counts of Gravenitz
The Counts of Pückler
The Counts of Westphalia
The Lord of Sayn-Altenkirchen (also Elector of Hanover)
The Count of Hoya (also Elector of Hanover)
The Count of Spiegelberg (also Elector of Hanover)
The Count of Diepholz (also Elector of Hanover)
The Duke of Holstein-Gottorp
The Count of Tecklenburg (also King of Prussia)
The Duke of Arenberg
The Prince of Wied-Runkel
The Prince of Wied-Neuwied
The Count of Schaumburg (shared between the Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel and the Count of Lippe-Bückeburg)
The Counts of Lippe
The Counts of Bentheim
The Princes and Counts of Löwenstein-Wertheim
The Prince of Kaunitz-Rietberg
The Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont
The Count of Toerring
The Count of Aspremont
The Prince of Salm-Salm (as Count of Anholt)
The Count of Metternich-Winnenburg
The Prince of Anhalt-Bernburg-Schaumburg
The Counts of Plettenberg
The Counts of Limburg Stirum
The Count of Wallmoden
The Count of Quadt
The Counts of Ostein
The Counts of Nesselrode
The Counts of Salm-Reifferscheidt
The Counts of Platen
The Counts of Sinzendorf
The Prince of Ligne
See also