An Extra Electorate?

Can anyone tell me why Hannover was awarded an electorate ahead of any other dukes in the HRE?

I think that the local Duke being next in line to the British crown at the time helped quite a lot. IIRC, it was about supporting the HRE in the war of Spanish succession.
 
The Guelphs were big players in the Empire, and the Electorates were already operating weirdly due to there ALREADY being an extra one--Bavaria, which got added during the Thirty Years War. (Well, okay, technically, Bavaria got the Palatinate's Electorship, with the Palatinate getting a theoretically new one. But to-mah-to, to-may-to...) Adding one more let the Kingdom of Bohemia's electorate operate again, (at least until Bavaria and the Palatinate merged) and as the precedent that electorships could be rewarded had been made...
 
I think that the local Duke being next in line to the British crown at the time helped quite a lot. IIRC, it was about supporting the HRE in the war of Spanish succession.

Except at the time of creation (1692) neither of those issues was on the scene yet. Carlos II had married a bride from a very fertile family in 1690, and both William and Mary, Anne (who was still popping out kids like an overworked bakery) as well as Gloucester were alive, not to mention the numerous Catholic claimants.
 
It was due to the political machinations of Emperor Leopold and his desire to create another Protestant electorate and ally himself with a powerful, connected North German family.
 
my understanding is that after the creation of the neo-Palatine electorate,and the Palatinate going from the Protestant Simmern line to the Catholic Neuberg line, it was considered that there was too great a preponderance of Catholic influence in the College. It needed an infusion of Protestant.
 
my understanding is that after the creation of the neo-Palatine electorate,and the Palatinate going from the Protestant Simmern line to the Catholic Neuberg line, it was considered that there was too great a preponderance of Catholic influence in the College. It needed an infusion of Protestant.

Pretty much this. Really I think it was a combo of the Palatinate going to a Catholic branch and the Saxon Elector converting to Catholicism. After that the only remaining Protestant Elector was the Elector of Brandenburg, so they needed a new Protestant one to balance it out.
 
Except at the time of creation (1692) neither of those issues was on the scene yet. Carlos II had married a bride from a very fertile family in 1690, and both William and Mary, Anne (who was still popping out kids like an overworked bakery) as well as Gloucester were alive, not to mention the numerous Catholic claimants.

Yup, somehow I got confused with the dates. :eek:
 
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