alternatehistory.com

When reading up for my question yesterday regarding the Babenberger Frederick the Quarrelsome of Austria, I came accross a source (in German) about the positions of the duchies and early imperial elections.

The seven prince electors, which were established by the Golden Bull of 1356, weren't divided evenly among the various parts, for instance Swabia, Thuringia, Bavaria, but also Lotharingia and the eldest non stem duchy Carinthia in the Carantanian region(which at the time included Styria, Carniola, Windic March etc.) weren't represented, whereas Brandenburg and Saxony both are from the area of the former Saxon stem duchy.

So what if these regions, most likely joined by the other archbishoprics (Salzburg and Bremen), did achieve better representation and thus gained an electorate.

Bavaria would rather straight forward be represented by the duke of Bavaria (or one of the ducal lines), however originally (and finally) the Bavaria and the Palatinate were united; Thuringia woud be the landgrave of Thuringia; for Carantania Carinthia, Styria and maybe even Austria, but that's the weakest case, unless the area would be Noricum; in Lotharingia the heirs of Upper Lorraine (duchy of Moselle later Lorraine) and Lower Lorraine (duchy of Brabant, also duke of Lothier) were, for that reason, the most prestigious could gain an electoral vote of both of them; and finally the hardest region fragmented Swabia, which could go to the county of Würtemberg or even the Swabian lands of the Habsburg. OTOH a more accepted prince elector of Swabia could also be given to another loyal prince of the empire within that region.

So that would result in an electoral college with 5 spiritual electors (maybe Mainz, Cologne and Trier remain more prestigious, due to their imperial offices) and 9 or 10 secular electors; I suggest 10 secular (so both Lorraine and Brabant would get an electorate; or alternatively a separate electorate for Austria and/or Carinthia/Styria, but these are already held by the same dynasty in 1356). Another consequence could be a even more controversial role of the non Germanic kingdom of Bohemia.

What would the result have been of a larger number of electorates. My personal first guess for Brabant and Lorraine would be a (continuing) stronger involvement in imperial politics, but what would be a more general effect on the empire?
Top