Electoral Rhenish Circle
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8d/Locator_Electoral_Rhenish_Circle.svg/300px-Locator_Electoral_Rhenish_Circle.svg.png)
The Electoral Rhenish Circle as at the beginning of the 16th century
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b9/De_Merian_Mainz_Trier_K%C3%B6ln_002.jpg/300px-De_Merian_Mainz_Trier_K%C3%B6ln_002.jpg)
map of the Electoral Rhenish Circle from Topographia Archiepiscopatuum Moguntinensis by Matthäus Merian, 1646
The Electoral Rhenish Circle (German: Kurrheinischer Reichskreis) was an Imperial Circle of the Holy Roman Empire, created in 1512.
The circle derived its name from four of the seven prince-electors whose lands along the Middle Rhine comprised the vast majority of its territory.
Composition[]
The circle was made up of the following states:
Name | Type of entity | Comments |
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County | Attained imperial immediacy in 1549 under Jean de Ligne, Principality from 1576, raised to Duchy in 1644 |
Beilstein | Lordship | Held by the Counts of Nassau-Dillenburg from 1343 |
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Prince-bishopric | (Re-)established by King Otto I in 953, Prince-elector and Archchancellor of Italy in 1356; including Vest Recklinghausen and the Duchy of Westphalia |
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Bailiwick | An administrative grouping of lands including the immediate Lordship of Elsen, held by the Teutonic Knights |
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Prince-bishopric | Archbishopric established in 781 by Pope Adrian I, Prince-elector and Archchancellor of Germany in 1356; including Eichsfeld, Erfurt, and Aschaffenburg |
County | Emerged from Isenburg-Isenburg in 1199, partitioned in 1502 into Isenburg-Grenzau and Isenburg-Neumagen (to Sayn-Wittgenstein in 1554), extinct in 1664 | |
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County palatinate | Arose from the allodium of the Count palatine of Lower Lorraine in 1085 under Henry of Laach, held by the House of Wittelsbach from 1214, Prince-elector and Truchsess in 1356 |
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Burgraviate | Fiefdom of Cologne around Rheineck Castle , held by the Freiherren of Varsberg from 1576 |
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Barons | Briefadel without territory, Freiherren from 1608, Counts from 1624, raised to Princely Counts in 1695 |
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Prince-bishopric | Established in 902, Prince-elector and Archchancellor of Burgundy (Arles) in 1356 |
Sources[]
- The list of states making up the Electoral Rhenish Circle is based on that in the German Wikipedia article Kurrheinischer Reichskreis.
External links[]
Media related to Electoral Rhenish Circle at Wikimedia Commons
- Imperial Circles in the 16th Century – Historical Maps of Germany
Categories:
- Electoral Rhenish Circle
- History of the Rhineland
- Circles of the Holy Roman Empire
- 1512 establishments in the Holy Roman Empire