Prince of the Holy Roman Empire

Prince of the Holy Roman Empire (princeps imperii, Reichsfürst, cf. Fürst) was a title attributed to a hereditary ruler, nobleman or prelate recognised as such by the Holy Roman Emperor. Originally, possessors of the princely title bore it as immediate vassals of the Emperor who held a fief (secular or ecclesiastical) that had no suzerain except the Emperor. However, by the time the Holy Roman Empire was abolished in 1806, there were a number of holders of Imperial princely titles who did not meet these criteria. Thus, there were two main types of princes: those who exercised Landeshoheit (sovereignty within one's territory while respecting the laws and traditions of the empire) as well as an individual or shared vote in the College of Princes, and those whose title was honorary (the possessor lacking an immediate Imperial fief and/or a vote in the Imperial Diet). The first came to be reckoned as "royalty" in the sense of being treated as sovereigns, entitled to inter-marry with reigning dynasties. The second tier consisted of high-ranking nobles whose princely title did not, however, imply equality with royalty. These distinctions evolved within the Empire, but were codified by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 when it created the German Confederation and recognised a specific, elevated status (Standesherren or Mediatized Houses) for the mediatized princes of the defunct Empire. The actual titles used by Imperial nobles varied considerably for historical reasons, and included archdukes, dukes, margraves, landgraves, counts palatine, princely counts (Gefürstete Grafen), as well as princes and prince-electors. Moreover, most of the German fiefs in the Empire (except electorships) were heritable by all males of a family rather than by primogeniture, the princely title (or whatever title the family used) being likewise shared by all agnatic family members, male and female. Imperial state The estate of imperial princes or Reichsfürstenstand was first established in a legal sense in the Late Middle Ages.