The Probert Encyclopaedia of People

ELECTOR

Elector was the title of certain princes of the old German Empire who had the right of electing the emperors. In the reign of Conrad I, king of Germany from 912 to 918, the dukes and counts became gradually independent of the sovereign and assumed the right of choosing future monarchs. In the 13th century the number of these electors was seven - the Archbishops of Mainz, Cologne, and Treves, the King of Bohemia, the Count Palatine, the Duke of Saxony, and the Markgrave of Brandenburg. In 1648 an eighth electorate was created to make room for Bavaria, and Hanover was added as a ninth in 1692. The votes of the Palatinate and of Bavaria were merged in one in 1777. In 1802 the two ecclesiastical electors of Cologne and Treves were set aside, and Baden, Wurtemberg, Hesse - Cassel, and Salzburg declared electorates so that there were ten electors in 1806 when the old German empre was dissolved.
Research Elector