Government of the Holy Roman Empire

Does anyone know anything at all about the government of the HRE? I understand that they were elected... or something? Was it merely a ceremonial thing, with the electors electing the Emperor's chosen replacement or son, or were there any cases where the electors deliberately chose another for solely political reasons? And what role did the Reichstag play? Was there an office similiar to that of Chancellor of the German Empire? And I understand that after about 1530 they were called Emperor-Elect because they weren't crowned by the Pope.

So yeah... I think that's everything I need to know. But if anyone has any other tidbits of knowledge concerning the political makeup of the HRE, it would be welcomed. German history pre-Unification is just so damn convoluted...
 
I'll bite. The Reichstag was not a parliament, but more of a state assembly; each Imperial estate was represented there. The Reichstag as a de facto institution did not come about until 1489, when it convened more regularly. It was initially composed of two colleges, that of the prince-electors and the other princely states. As the urbanization of Europe continued, the Imperial cities were recognized as a third college, though not as important as the other two.

The HRE was a de jure elective monarchy. By the 15th century, however, it was de facto more or less hereditary for the Habsburgs (with one exception, Charles VII, Elector of Bavaria, from 1740-1745). Even though in most cases the electors accepted a Habsburg as Emperor, the issue of the Austrian Succession meant Charles VII's accession to the Imperial post. Of course, since by then the HRE was a collection of sovereign states, being Emperor wasn't as big a deal as it was two centuries earlier.
 
That's pretty much it. The original principle had been that kings were elected by the people in arms and the pope crowned emperors. By the 15th century, you had a system by which the Roman king (emperor-elect, basically) was always crowned emperor by the pope, and there was a set of seven princes whose position - the Kurwürde - allowed them to elect the Roman king whenever the position fell vacant. Eöectorsdhips could be shifted around from one territory to another, but thatwas very erarely done and an emperor could only hopwe to do it if he was in a strong position. After the sixteenth century, though, the elections were almost always foregone conclusions, with the office effectively hereditary.

The Reichstag was an assembly of the estates, basically. the princes and independent territories. The formal structure changed afew times IIRC, you'll have to ask Susano. But it wasn't a permanent institution like a parliament, and the princes attended in person. You called a Reichstag when big decisions needed making. That was why Luther was called before one.

There were several formal reforms after the fifteenthcentury which created a court of final appeal, the Reichskammergericht, a permanent assembly of representatives, and regulated the rights of the princes against the emperor. It was pretty much more rights every time.
 
The HREs insitutions evolved over time, the following is mostly about the time between 1648-1800.

How the Reichstag worked has allready been explained, I might add that smaller territories had to share a vote.

The Reichstag made laws, but they were more like EU guidelines, meant to standardize the territories aproach to stuff like: craftsmen guilds, minting...

The Bishop of Mainz was the Imperial-Arch-Chancellor but he was only tasked with running the Reichstags bureucracy/secretary.

There were two rivaling supreme courts the Reichskammergericht (judes appointed in a complicated system by the Emperor and the princes) an the Reichshofrat (judes appointed by the Emperor, less bureaucratic).

The Empire lacked any direct administrative organs or police.
Enforcing Imperial decisons, tax payments, protecting the peace ect. was the responsibility of the Imperial Circles (Reichskreise).
They were regional associations of Princess & Reichsstädte, lead by a regions strongest prince. The Reichskreise dominated by smaller & church territories worked well, those dominated by larger states like Prussia not so much. Italy had no Reichskreise so imperial authority there was low.

The Imperial Army consisted of contigents of the territories (the smaller did not contribute troops but helped pay for them) reenforcing the Emperors own army.
While the Emperor (Austria) could more or less count on the regiments of the medium sized teritories (like the Bishoprice of Würzburg) the larger ones did only support him if they wanted to (for example in wars against a common threat like France and the Ottomans).

There were several imperial taxes paid by the territories. The Römermonate were going directly to the Emperor others were meant to finance the Reichskammergericht and the Reichsarmee. How much really was paid dependend on the Authority of the Reichskreise / agenda of the larger princes.
 
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