Editing Holy Roman Emperor (section)

==Succession==
{{Further|Imperial election|Italienzug|Family tree of the German monarchs|List of royal and imperial elections in the Holy Roman Empire}}
[[File:Balduineum Wahl Heinrich VII.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.35|Illustration of the election of [[Henry VII, Holy Roman Emperor|Henry VII]] (27 November 1308) showing (left to right) the Archbishop of Cologne, Archbishop of Mainz, Archbishop of Trier, Count Palatine of the Rhine, Duke of Saxony, Margrave of Brandenburg and King of Bohemia (''[[Codex Balduini Trevirorum]]'', {{Circa|1340}}).]]
The [[elective monarchy]] of the [[Kingdom of Germany]] goes back to the early 10th century, the election of [[Conrad I of Germany]] in 911 following the death without issue of [[Louis the Child]], the last [[Carolingian]] ruler of Germany. [[Imperial election|Elections]] meant the kingship of Germany was only partially hereditary, unlike the kingship of [[kingdom of England|England]], although sovereignty frequently remained in a dynasty until there were no more male successors. The process of an election meant that the prime candidate had to make concessions, by which the voters were kept on his side, which was known as ''Wahlkapitulationen'' ([[electoral capitulation]]).

Conrad was elected by the [[stem duchies|German dukes]], and it is not known precisely when the system of seven [[prince-electors]] was established. The papal decree ''Venerabilem'' by [[Innocent III]] (1202), addressed to [[Berthold V, Duke of Zähringen]], establishes the election procedure by (unnamed) princes of the realm, reserving for the pope the right to approve of the candidates. A letter of [[Pope Urban IV]] (1263), in the context of the disputed vote of 1256 and the subsequent [[Interregnum (HRE)|interregnum]], suggests that by "[[time immemorial|immemorial custom]]", seven princes had the right to elect the king and future emperor. The seven prince-electors are named in the [[Golden Bull of 1356]]: the [[archbishop of Mainz]], the [[archbishop of Trier]], the [[archbishop of Cologne]], the [[king of Bohemia]], the [[count palatine of the Rhine]], the [[duke of Saxony]] and the [[margrave of Brandenburg]].

After 1438, the title remained in the House of [[Habsburg]] and [[Habsburg-Lorraine]], with the brief exception of [[Charles VII, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles VII]], who was a [[Wittelsbach]]. [[Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor|Maximilian I]] (emperor 1508–1519) and his successors no longer traveled to Rome to be crowned as emperor by the pope. Maximilian, therefore, named himself elected Roman emperor (''Erwählter Römischer Kaiser'') in 1508 with papal approval. This title was in use by all his uncrowned successors. Of his successors, only [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V]], the immediate one, received a [[Coronation of Charles V|papal coronation]].

The elector palatine's seat was conferred on the [[duke of Bavaria]] in 1621, but in 1648, in the wake of the [[Thirty Years' War]], the elector palatine was restored, as the eighth elector. The [[Electorate of Hanover]] was added as a ninth elector in 1692, confirmed by the Imperial Diet in 1708. The whole college was reshuffled in the [[German mediatization]] of 1803 with a total of ten electors, a mere three years before the dissolution of the Empire.