ELECTOR

German Kurfrst, prince of the Holy Roman Empire who had a right to participate in the election of the emperor (the German king). Beginning around 1273 and with the confirmation of the Golden Bull of 1356, there were seven electors: the archbishops of Trier, Mainz, and Cologne; the duke of Saxony; the count palatine of the Rhine; the margrave of Brandenburg; and the king of Bohemia. Other electorates were created later for Bavaria (16231778), Hanover (from 1708), and Hesse-Kassel (from 1803). The fact that the house of Habsburg had established a de facto claim to the imperial crown made the electors' basic right nugatory by the 17th century. The office disappeared with the abolition of the empire in 1806, though the ruler of Hesse-Kassel continued to use the title until later in the 19th century.