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Imperial Circle - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (266 words) |
 | A map of the Imperial Circles as at the beginning of the 16th century. |
| An Imperial Circle (in German Reichskreis, plural Reichskreise) was a regional grouping of states of the Holy Roman Empire, primarily for the purpose of organising a common defence and of collecting imperial taxes, but also as a means of organisation within the Reichstag (Imperial Diet). |
| These ten circles remained largely unchanged until the early 1790s, when the Wars of the French Revolution brought about significant changes to the political map of the Empire. |
| Germany (22633 words) |
| The electors were also influenced by public opinion when they declared at Rense in 1338 that a legitimate German emperor could be created only by their votes; a king so chosen needed no papal recognition, and the pope, by crowning the German king, only gave him the imperial title. |
| The electoral college was to consist of the three Archbishops of Mainz, Trier, and Cologne; the Count Palatine of the Rhine, the Duke of Saxony (Sachsen-Wittenberg), and the Margrave of Brandenburg; to this number was added later the King of Bohemia. |
| The electors were granted special privileges; besides the royal rights (regalia) and those of taxation and coinage, they received the privilegium de non evocando, that is, their subjects could not be summoned before the court of another jurisdiction, not even before an imperial one. |
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