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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A18489	The manifest of the most illustrious, and soveraigne prince, Charles Lodovvick, Count Palatine of the Rhine, Prince Electour of the sacred Empire: Duke of Bavaria, &c. Concerning the right of his succession both in the princedome, lands, and estates of the Palatinate: as also in the dignity, voice, session, and function of the electorship-Palatine thereunto annexed. Translated, anno. M.DC.XXXVII.; Manifestum sive deductio. English	Karl Ludwig, Elector Palatine, 1617-1680.	1637 (1637)	STC 5046; ESTC S107765	37,055	164

assembled it may prove a cause of greater division and a fire-brand of warre to consume the Empire Therefore Hedeemeth the restitution of the Palatine though upon due terms of submission to be above all things necessary to obtaine this setled peace for the purchasing whereof more regard should be had to the publike than to any other consideration This being certaine that the Empire can never bee quieted by rigour and extremity but will rather bee forced to keepe in armes and exposed to daily danger Moreover this Translation although it concerneth a member of the Electorall Colledge and bee the most weighty businesse can fall out in the Empire yet it hath beene done without their knowledge and even in this assembly onely intimated unto them as a thing concluded without ever asking their advice or approbation A course never taken before this day For albeit the examples of this kinde are so few that onely one is found where the Electourship was translated for delinquency yet wee may therein observe another kind of proceeding The case happened in the time of Charles the fift and in the person of Frederick Electour of Saxony who renouncing his homage and obligation to the Emperour his Electourship was promised and assigned to Duke Maurice in the Camp of Suntham the 27. October 1546. where the formall words declare that the said promise was made by due course counsell and deliberation of the chiefe States of the Empire The 19. May in the Campe at Wittenberg 1547. the said Duke Fredericke renounced the Electourship and the 21. May passed a particular Act thereof with Obligation The 4. of Iune of the said yeere the Electourship and Office of high Marshall with all the appurtenances was transferred upon Duke Maurice in presence of the Emperour Electours Princes and forraine Nations with power to make use of the Right and Title thereunto belonging The 24. February 1548. the said Duke Maurice was solemnely invested at Ausburg under the Skie and received into the Fellowship and Session of the Colledge by all the Electours who by a speciall Act testified that all was done by their knowledge and approbation by all which circumstances it appeareth that the promise of the Translation and the Investiture of the said Electorate was publikly done in the presence by allowance of all the Electours Besides that it may further appeare how that by this Translation the publike peace whereat it aimeth cannot bee attained His Highnesse doth professe that although the uttermost extremities should be used yet neither the children of the Count Palatine nor His Brother and the rest of that Agnation cannot legally bee excluded in regard of their innocency from their claime and recover of the said Electorall Lands Dignities and to shew that they have no mind to be deprived of their Right so long acquired to their House the instances of the said Brother of the Duke of Newburg and of the other Palatines by their Ambassadours here present made to the Emperours Majesty and the Electorall Colledge do sufficiently testifie For this kind of Investiture called in the Empire simultaneous is of another nature and condition then the custome of common Fees being purchased and received in every mans proper Right by taking an oath and touching of a sword whereof no man therein comprehended can be further deprived then for himselfe and for his owne offence which truth is clearely exemplified in the person of the Duke Mauritius a forenamed for although the Elector Duke Fredericke was lawfully deposed and His brother Duke Ernest excluded by the Ban for their owne offences yet that tainted not the Duke Mauritius who after them was the next of blood by that Right succeeded for it had not beene necessary to have deprived Duke Ernest the brother by Ban if a third party innocent could have forfeited his Right by the crime of another In Summe Poenae debent tenere suos Authores being a thing unjust to take from any man his inherent Right who by no fault of his owne had unrighted himselfe This Law therefore so long rooted in the houses of Electors and temporall Princes cannot bee dissolved without infinite prejudice to them all who for the crime of any one man might be exposed to the uncertainty of their claimes and tenures and disappointed of their naturall Rights and Successions although they were inculpable which is a thing unfit to be councelled and unanswerable to posterity In another suffrage of the said Saxonian Ambassadours this is added The reasons alledged by His Highnesse the Electour of of Saxe upon the point of proscription are founded upon the groundary Lawes whereupon the wellfare of the Empire reposeth and which are left as certaine stable and immutable rules from whence the Arguments which are likewise drawne are confirmed with examples which plainely shew what great warinesse the Emperours Charles the V. Ferdinand the I. and Maximilian II. deceased used in publication of a Ban. Suffrage of the Brandēburgers against the same The Ambassadours of the Electour of Brandenburg opined in this manner They could not but repeate their former suffrage concerning the proposition not being yet able to conceive by what reason the Electours can be excluded from a businesse of such moment that the good or bad Estate of the whole Empire dependeth thereupon The Capitulation solemnly made and sworne requireth that in all important cases the Counsells of the Electours should be taken and expressely prescribeth the manner of proceeding in any businesse which mought happily fall out betweene the Emperour and Electours or Imperiall Estates But although there had beene no such publike Capitulation yet the affaire of it selfe is of such consequence concerning an Electour and his Dignity that it ought not to bee sequestred from their cognisance and advice and the rather because it chiefly touching the Emperours house the remission thereof to the Electours would have cut off all occasion of jealousie or complaint that His Majesty had been too hasty in His owne cause Besides seeing that the forme of a suite and sentence is a part of justice and that justice can bee no wise better administred than according to the Lawes enacted and established it had been very just and necessary not to have condemned the Count Palatine before His cause had been duely heard after the custome of the Imperiall Chamber If it be replyed That the crime of the Palatine was so notorious as it needed not a formall suite That will hardly hold water for in the Capitulation which without all question is a fundamentall Law and of strict observance there is no such distinction found and where it doth not distinguish our part is to be ruled Albeit the writings which are abroad seeme to proove that this which is called notorious is a particular case and the proceedings therein doe contradict the Royall Capitulation Againe before such a sentence had been published many considerations should have been had and circumstances examined specially those which concerned the

forfeited nor translated but onely by failing in blood But for the better understanding of this Point wee must know That the Electorall and Soveraigne Estates which hold in Fee upon the Empire are farre more transcendent than common Tenures of Inheritance It is true indeed that Lands and Lordships which descend by inheritance from the last Possessour to the next heire are subject to many changes They may be sold morgaged alienated attainted confiscated according to the severall Reasons and Statutes of Law and all to the prejudice of the lawfull heires But Electorall Tenures so long as the State of the Empire standeth are warranted against all these kind of changes and but in one onely Case are immutable and unreversable to the Empire and that is for deficiency of male Issue by the Fathers side and extinction of blood For when the Estates of the Empire found it at the first needfull for the policy and peace thereof to erect the Electorall Colledge and invest the three Houses of the Palatinate Saxe and Brandenburg which at that time were Soveraigne with the power elective there passed a Contract betweene the said Houses and the Empire that the said Electorall Dignity should remaine rooted in them and descend from Father to Sonne and so to the next males of the Fathers blood comprehending all that should hereafter be borne as if they had beene then extant and enabling them to succeed in their owne proper inherent and unalienable Right for ever This stipulation in the first Investiture hath beene a leading Rule and President for all after times wherein it hath beene the constant use and practise in the Empire to keepe up the same forme and in all Electorall vacancyes to admit and invest the next of the male blood without rub or interruption This Custome hath received strength and authority in the Empire for the continuance of times from the foundation of Lawes from Covenants and Capitulations from tryall and experience from the approbation of all Estates and from the reverent esteeme and inviolation of it selfe till these present times And for further declaration of this ancient Right and Regality of Succession in Electorall Houses it hath beene a maxime and opinion delivered in all Ages that they succeed not by right of inheritance nor by any will or disposition of the last possessour but by the providence of their Ancestours and by Covenant made with the first Contracters whereby the Right of every male who should appertaine to that Stock and Linage to the worlds end was actually included not onely as pretenders in their owne time but as Compossessours from that present From which infallible grounds these consequences naturally will arise First that it is not in the power of any Father or possessour of these Electorall Lands and Dignities to alienate or engage them to the prejudice of their Blood though it were to pay a Dowry or redeeme a Captive or for any other extreame necessity the reason is because they have no further right in them then during the life of their owne persons and cannot therefore alienate the right of others who by their decease step into their place by surrogation and not inheritance Secondly no Predecessour nor Father can by any Felonious crime whatsoever though it were of the highest treason attaint the blood or forfeit the Right of his Successours who are not guilty of the same crime because their claime is not from their Father but from their Stocke invested in their birth and blood and by Law irrevocable Thirdly the Emperour being onely upon certaine Conditions by choyce not by nature Administrator of the Empire on which these Electorall Dignities and Estates doe hold hath no direct power or dominion over these Tenures all He can doe by the uttermost of Law is to lay His Action against the right of the party offending but not against the Right of the rest which resideth in their innocent blood and is locked up within the barres of immutability as too noble and precious a gift to depend upon the fact or keeping or inheritance of any possessour Since therefore as well the Electorall claime belonging by Covenant to our House as the naturall and lawfull possession of our Estates and Regalities are delivered by our Ancestours and devolved upon us as the first in blood no earth by power whatsoever can call them into question or deprive us our brethren or Agnation of our right and much lesse transferre it to any other without rearing it out of the faith full custodie of ancient Covenants stable lawes and venerable customes and obtruding forraigne plots and innovations and making an irreparable rent in the frame and bodie of the sacred Empire Had wee our brethren or blood beene as guiltie of crime as we are laded with punishments yet if any respect had beene showne to the ordinances of the Empire to the Capitulations of Emperours or to the grave and solid remonstrances of the two foresaid Electours wee should at least have beene tryed by the law but since the proceedings against us in our tender innocence hath been no lesse extreme and rigorous than if we were the most obstinate enemies of the Empire and highest delinquents against His Imperiall Majestie wee doubt not but God in whom we trust and who is Iudge of all will doe us right and when he pleaseth pronounce his sentence according to the justice and equitle of our cause In the meane time we hope that all Kings Potentates Electours Princes Estates and Persons whatsoever that free from partialitie and voide of passion shall examine these violent and precipitious proceedings by our blamelesse innocence will not only be touched with a sense and compassion of our case but will esteemethem all as vicious and unjust and of no force to prejudice our Rights unto which God and nature the consent and sanction of the whole Empire hath entitle us And that the rather both because nothing to this day hath beene nor can be laid to the charge of us or our brethren as criminall against the Estates and lawes of the Empire or his Imperiall Majestie as for that the seysure of our prerogatives the detention of our Estates the translation of our Dignity and the present perpetuation of all like so many linkes of usurpation were contrived and compassed in the time of our nonage whereby wee could not sooner protest nor oppose nor vindicate our Rights nor cuter into the government of our affaires till now that we have attained our Majority Heere wee may note that if the two Electours of Saxe and Brand enburg judged at the first that the translation of our Electourship though but for a time and restrained onely to the person and life of the Duke of Bayaria would not withstanding be injurious to the preheminence of the Colledgre Electorall and to all temporall Princes as depriving innocents of their inherent and simultaneous Right invested in their blood and planted in their Stocke against all the lawes Rights formes and

occasion that the Empire should longer groane under those miseries oppressions which threaten utter destruction And therefore if the Rights of all Parties may be so provided for that none may suffer wrong we are contented to redintegrate the Colledge by acknowledging the Duke of Bavaria for Electour But before he be put in possession we think it needfull first of all that all the Armies speedily dislodge out of the Lands and Territories of the Electours Princes and Townes Imperiall whereby it may appeare that the said Duke be received for respect to the Emperour and zeale of publike peace rather than by constraint which caution is the more reasonable because the troops of the Duke of Brunswick and Count Mansfelt are utterly routed and disbanded and all the Evangeliks have licensed their souldiers so as there being nothing more to be feared it would be unjust and against the lawes of the Empire to burden it with souldiers when there is no warre and oppresse those parts with superfluous charges which live in quiet and obedience Secondly that letters of recognisance be given by his Imperiall Majesty as also by the Duke of Bavaria fully testifying that neither the Ban of the Count Palatine nor Translation of the Electorate shall be any way hereafter alledged to the preiudice of the Electorall greatnesse and dignity or of the Golden Bull or Imperiall Capitulation or else of the Electorall Princely Houses in their severall Rights and Investitures Thirdly that the Rights of all those shall be no wise diminished to whom the Electourship Palatine belonged before the said Ban or Translation but that in their severall degrees they may after the death of the said Duke of Bavaria be admitted into their Rights without delay Vpon these Conditions we shall not refuse to acknowledge the said Duke for the present and the rather because whatsoever shall hereafter happen the Suffrages which we have delivered in open Counsell and which are inserted in the Records of the Empire will beare us witnesse to all Posterity that we failed not in due time place and manner to represent all things which our oath and Electorall Office required The Electour of Brandenburg in his answere given the Baron Hannibal of Dona dated at Coningsberg 22 May 1627. thus declareth The only cause which hath hitherto stopped His Highnes from agreeing to the point of Translation was That he thought it would rather sowe the seeds of discord than be a bond of peace and stirre up forraine Armes then quiet all at home since He hath found by experience to the great losse and ruine of His Countrey as well as other Estates that he was not mistaken in his beliefe But forasmuch as His Highnesse understandeth that His Imperiall Maiesty is out of hope that the Empire would ever be appeased unlesse the Electorall Colledge be first unanimously conjoyned by the introduction of the Duke of Bavaria That on his part he might further the Counsells of Peace and Prosperity of the Empire and avoyd the imputation of future Calamities His Highnesse is not unwilling to beare respect and obedience to His Imperiall Wisdome and conforme himselfe unto His will by receiving and acknowledging the Duke of Bavaria for a Coelectour during his life upon these tearmes and reservations First That he intendeth not by this Act any way to depart from the Suffrage and declaration of his Conscience made in the Diet at Ratisbone touching the publication of the Ban and Translation of the Electorate thereupon ensuing Secondly That thereby He will nothing derogate from the preheminence of the Electorall Colledge nor from the Sanctions of the Golden Bull nor Lawes and Constitutions of the Empire nor the Capitulation Imperiall nor yet from the Rights and Investitures of other Electorall and Princely Houses against any whereof He meaneth not that this His Act shall be drawne in consequence Thirdly He purposeth not in the least manner to prejudice by this His declaration the Cause of the Prince Palatine nor His Children Brother Blood or Agnation much lesse to contribute to their exclusion or any was to charge Himselfe with the Palatine Cause Wee are not ignorant that neere twenty yeeres agoe and now afresh since the Translation of our Electorate certaine rumours have been spread abroad especially in the Courts of forraine Princes as if the Electorall Dignity had of old beene an exed to the House of Bavaria and not of the Palatinate and that heretofore Contracts of alternation had beene made and observed betweene both Houses that they should enjoy the Dignity by turnes All which hath beene forged to this end that it should not seeme strange that the Session and vote Electorall which had been so long neglected by the Predecessours of the Duke of Bavaria should be restored by his industry and returne to the proper house Not to enter into the debatement or this Cause which is a digression from the purpose nor to repeate that which persons of quality have published to refute this vaine pretention we will wholly referre our selves to the Golden Bull as to that supreame and fundamentall law which can onely determine this cause whereby it will appeare whether the Electorate belong to the Bavarian or Palatine Line and what is to bee judged of the pretended part of alternation In the 7. Title thus we finde it Law for entailing the Electourship upon the Palatinate and not on Bavaria Since therefore it is commonly knowne to almost the whole world that the King of Bohemia Count Palatine of the Rhine Duke of Saxe Marquis of Brandenburg have by reason of their Kingdome and Principalities the Right Suffrage and Session to chuse with the Ecclesiasticall Electours a King of the Romanes and install him Emperour And that they are therefore established as true Electours of the Empire with authority to make Elections c. And in the beginning of the 20. Title Whereas all and every one of the said Princedomes by vertue whereof the Temporall Electours have full power right and suffrage to elect the King of the Romanes and make him Emperour together with their rights functions dignities and appurtenances are so straightly knit and united c. By another Edict of the Emperour Charles the 4. who enacted the Golden Bull the same was confirmed Anno 1356 in these words That the right of Election was annexed and founded upon the County Palatine his Imperiall Majesty and all the other Princes had certaine knowledge and no doubt was to be made thereof And a little lower For as much as we firmely know that the voice and Power Elective are founded with such right in the lands of the County Palatine and office of high Truckcesse that the one cannot subsist without the other To this may be added That the Count Palatine by reason of the Palatinate and not of the Dutchy of Bavaria is provisionally the Vicar of the Empire as the Golden Bull clearely ordaineth in the 5 title As often as the Empire shall fall in vacancy