The Holy Roman Empire comprised a number of political entities which were deemed to be sovereign after the Treaty of Westphalia 1648. Among the most important of these were the Princes of the Empire. February 2006 : ← - January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December- → 28 February 2006 (Tuesday) Al Askari Mosque bombing: Sixty-eight people have been killed so far today in Baghdad, Iraq. ... Look up Sovereign in Wiktionary, the free dictionary The adjective sovereign is used to refer to a state of sovereignty. ... The Ratification of the Treaty of Münster by Gerard Terborch (1648) The Peace of Westphalia, also known as the treaties of Münster and Osnabrück, is the series of treaties that ended the Thirty Years War and officially recognized the United Provinces and Swiss Confederation. ...

System

There were two principal types of princes, those who had territory and sovereignty, and those who were honorary, having the title but no lands or territories and no claim to sovereignty. Sovereignty is the exclusive right to exercise supreme political (legislative, judicial and/or executive) authority over a geographic region, group of people or oneself. ...

The honorary status of prince of the Holy Roman Empire might be granted to certain individuals. These individuals included:

(i) Independent sovereigns outside the Empire (such as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta(1)); The Knights Hospitaller (the or Knights of Malta or Knights of Rhodes) is a tradition which began as a Benedictine nursing Order founded in the 11th century based in the Holy Land, but soon became a militant Christian Chivalric Order under its own charter, and was charged with the care...

(ii) Sovereigns who were vassals, but outside its territory (i.e. the Prince of Piombino); A vassal, in European medieval feudalism terminology, is one who through a commendation ceremony (composed of homage and fealty) enters into mutual obligations with a lord, usually military conscription and mutual protection, in exchange for a fief. ...

(iii) Members of the Empire, like the Princes Kinsky or Paar, and those who never had a vote or seat, but held a seat as count in one or several of the four comital councils, or who had neither a vote nor a seat in the Imperial Diet (as Salm-Reifferscheidt-Raitz(2)); and The Kinsky family of the Counts and later Princes Kinsky (formerly Wchinsky or Tynsky) are one of the oldest and most illustrious dynasties originating from Bohemia, now in the Czech Republic. ... refers to either the historic institution of the Reichstag in Germany, or Diet of Japan. ...

(iv) Foreigners of note, like the Princes Chigi, Orsini(3), Orloff, Potemkin, Lubomirski, or Radziwill, or Marlborough(4). Orlov - Wikipedia /**/ @import /skins/monobook/IE50Fixes. ... His Serene Highness Prince Potemkin of Tauride Knyaz Grigori Alexandrovich Potyomkin (Potemkin) (Russian: Григо́рий Алекса́ндрович Потёмкин) (September 13, 1739 (NS: September 24) – October 5, 1791 (NS: October 16)) was a Russian general-field marshal, statesman, and favorite of Catherine II the Great. ... Lubomirski Coat of Arms Lubomirski (plural: Lubomirscy) is the surname of a Polish szlachta (nobility) family. ... The title given to this article is incorrect due to technical limitations. ... The coat of arms of the Dukes of Marlborough The Dukedom of Marlborough (named after Marlborough, pronounced Maulbruh - in the IPA), is an hereditary title of British nobility in the Peerage of England. ...

The effective co-states of the Holy Roman Empire, or Reichsstand, had to meet three requirements: (i) holding of an immediate fief of the Empire; (ii) a vote (votum virile) and a seat in the Imperial Diet; and (iii) direct participation in the expenses of the empire. Not all states met all three requirements, so one may distinguish between effective and honorary princes of the Holy Roman Empire(5). This page is about the Germanic empire. ... Under the system of feudalism, a fiefdom, fief, feud or fee, consisted of heritable lands or revenue-producing property granted by a liege lord in return for a vassal knights service (usually fealty, military service, and security). ...

References

(1) Prince of the Holy Roman Empire (Reichsfürst) 1607, cf in 1620, Austrian prince (His Serene Highness) 27 December 1880, cf 1889 and 1905. Most Eminent Highness by Italian royal decree 1927 (long by usage). Papal Cardinal-rank 1630. Fürst (plural Fürsten) is a German title of nobility, usually translated into English as Prince. The female form is Fürstin (plural Fürstinnen). ... The term prince (the female form is princess), from the Latin root princeps, when used for a member of the highest aristocracy, has several fundamentally different meanings - one generic, and several types of titles. ... HSH is an acronym for His Serene Highness or Her Serene Highness. ...

(2) Salm-Reifferscheidt-Raitz were made a prince and Altgrave 1790. The family are called Altgrave/Altgravine (HSH). For other uses, see Graf (disambiguation). ...

(3) The Princes Orsini und Rosenberg were members of the comital council (personaliter) 1683, made a prince 1724, 1790]. Male primogeniture 1629, HSH Prince Assistant to the Papal Throne 1735-1958. Rosenberg can refer to Rosenberg, Texas the municipality Rosenberg in the district Neckar-Odenwald, Baden-Württemberg, Germany [1] the municipality Rosenberg in the district Ostalbkreis, Baden-Württemberg, Germany [2] the German names for : Susz in Poland Olesno in Poland Ružomberok in Slovakia Rožmberk nad Vltavou in...

(4) Fra Cyril Toumanoff, "Genealogical Imperialism" (1985) vol 6 (no 134) (NS) Coat of Arms 145, 151 n7.

(5) Fra Cyril Toumanoff, "Genealogical Imperialism" (1985) vol 6 (no 134) (NS) Coat of Arms 145, 147. Duke and Prince Jean Engelbert d'Arenberg, "The Lesser Princes of the Holy Roman Empire in the Napoleonic Era" dissertation, Washington, DC, 1950, published as Les Princes du St-Empire à l'époque napoléonienne (Louvain, 1951) 15ff, quoted in Almanach de Gotha (Almanach de Gotha, London, 1998) 275-286. The Almanach de Gotha was a directory of Europes nobility first published in 1763 at the ducal court of Friedrich III of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (which included the city of Gotha). ...

See also

Structure of Princes of The Holy Roman Empire