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A48104
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A letter giving an account of the manner of chusing Joseph King of Hungaria to be king of the Romans, on Jan. 21. 1689/90 By the eight electors of the sacred Roman empire. Licens'd, Jan. 18. 1690.
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1690
(1690)
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Wing L1549B; ESTC R213611
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9,091
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14
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as if the said Electors were not capable of this Government ad interim There were great contestations in the last Century at the election of Ferdinand the I. insomuch that in the same Business the Prince of Bavaria did join himself to the Protestant Princes fearing that this Election by little and little would turn into a hereditary one and deprive the Princes of the Empire of their free Election because the Emperor living will always strive to have some of his own Children or of his Kindred about him rather than any Prince besides and as they call the Emperor's Election a free one so they style that of a Roman King a forced one As for the beginning of it it is very old For not only in the time of the Caroline Family the Sons in their Parents Life time were assured of the Succession but were also admitted into the Communion of the Regal and Imperial Dignity and made partakers thereof but this was done too hereafter in the Families of the Emperors of Saxony Suevia and Austria when the Sons in their Fathers Life time were constituted Successors As By Otto I. in his life time Otto II. By Otto II. in his life time Otto III. By Conrad II. in his life time Henry II. By Frederic I. in his life time Henry VI. By Frederic II. in his life time First Henry and then Conrad By Frederic III. in his life time Maximilian I. But all these Examples of those remote Centuries as they did depend on those Emperors Wills so they are more a matter of Fact than of Right Wherefore we will not extend this modern Election of a Roman King beyond its true beginning which was in Ferdinand the First 's time When Charles the V. desired the Princes of the Empire to chuse his Brother Ferdinand King of the Romans there arose a very hot Dispute between the Emperor and the Elector of Saxony the Duke of Lunenbourg the Landgrave of Hess the Prince of Anhalt and the Count of Mansfeld all which would not consent to this Election as contrary to the Golden Bull Yet Charles V. obtained it from the States of Germany and Ferdinand King of Bohemia and Hungaria was proclaimed King of the Romans at Cologn in the Year 1531 on the 5th of January The Reasons which the Emperor his Brother proposed were indeed weighty enough He told the Princes That he did not know a better and fitter Person for this than his Brother the King of Hungaria and Bohemia because his Kingdoms and Frontiers were like a Bulwark to Germany against the Infidels Queen Elizabeth was quite of a contrary opinion for when the States of the Kingdom desired her to nominate a Successor she did forbid it on pain of Death That no body should speak of a Successor during her life For says she one must not dig himself a Grave as long as one doth live The Emperor told them further That he could not always be in Germany because of the several Kingdoms Nations he Reigned over and that all Christendom were now in a very troublesome and desperate state chiefly Germany because of the several Religions and the greatness of the Turks and their Power and then because of the Sedition and the War that arose between the Peasants c. But the Elector of Saxony and his Confederates disapproving this Election desired of the Emperor that if nevertheless Ferdinand being rejected he would have a Coadjutor that he would then with the advice of the Princes interpret the Caroline Law confirm and establish the same by an Edict as it ought to be in this manner That for the future in the Emperors Life time never a King of the Romans should be chosen before the Electors with the six other Princes of the Empire having effectively approved of it that it may be done so Then the Elector of Mentz in the Quality of Arch-Chancellor in Germany must assemble his Collegues with the six other Princes in a fit place to deliberate further about this business and when they have done all this punctually then the Electors only with the King of Bohemia shall have the sole power to create a King of the Romans When the King of the Romans thus is created in the Emperors life time he shall govern the Empire not in his but the Emperor's Name without arrogating or attributing to himself any Power or Government The Princes and States of the Empire shall not be bound to him by Oath or otherwise till after the Emperor's death When the King of the Romans is chosen he is to be sworn by no other Form but by that of the Carolin Law neither shall it be in the power of the Electors to alter this Form Whosoever shall be convicted of having acted contrary to this Oath or whosoever is fallen under any suspition and has not cleared or excused himself of that matter he shall be deprived of all the Rights of Electorship for ever neither shall they henceforth chuse out of one and the same Family three Roman Kings one after another None but one that is of a German Princely Family is to be chosen King of the Romans and whatsoever is established by the Carolin Law concerning the Creation of a King that shall neither the King of the Romans nor the Emperor alter Whensoever the Electors think it fit to create a King of the Romans they need not to impart it to the Emperor beforehand neither shall it be lawful for the Emperor in this case to order the Elector of Mentz to call the Electors together But when for some weighty Reasons as it ought to be a King of the Romans is to be chosen in the Emperor's Life time then the Elector of Mentz shall call his Collegues together and appoint them a certain day on which they shall appear at Francford upon the Mayn neither shall it be in his power to appoint any other place for this illustrious Meeting except the Electors for some great Reasons do grant it him The Elector of Mentz shall not demand the Crown and Scepter with the rest of the Imperial Ornaments of the City of Nurenberg without the consent of the other Electors The three Months time beginning from the denunciation thereof within which the Electors ought to appear shall not be diminished for it concerns the Empire and the Commonwealth very much if one or the other should not be present at that time In the mean time when the Electors are thus a deliberating at Francford all the rest must be excluded And when the least of these things is violated the Electors then are not obliged to come to that place neither to stay there and if any thing had been done there it shall be void and null Upon this the Elector of Saxony promis'd at the Transaction in Bohemia in the year 1534 that he like the other Princes of the Empire would acknowledge Ferdinand the I. for the King of the Romans And Ferdinand on the other side did promise That he
the Vicars approach to the Table and take from thence the Imperial Ornaments which they deliver to the Electors that are present and they keep the Ornaments of the absent Electors And so they conduct the elected King to the Throne in a competent order every one taking his Princely Seat at the usual side and then one of the Canons of Mentz and commonly the chiefest the Thumprobst proclaims the elected King which they in a most ravishing manner accompany to the Palace The King of the Romans that is thus chosen in the Emperor's Life time differs from the Emperor 1. In his Coat of Arms the Emperor has a two-headed Eagle but the King of the Romans has but a single one 2. The Emperor makes use of Bulls but the King of the Romans only of a Seal 3. The Emperor is called Always August but the Roman King is only call'd August 4. The Emperor calls and greets the King of the Romans Our Cousin c. or sometimes Majesty and Cousin together but the King calls the Emperor his Lord and Majesty 5. The King of the Romans can commit High Treason against the Emperor 6. The Power of the Roman King is but by the Commission of the Emperor so that whatsoever he does he does it by the Emperor's Authority which appears by the Capitulation prescribed to Rodolph the II. We will not assume to Us any thing of the Government or Administration of the Sacred Roman Empire no further than as far as his Imperial Majesty will grant and permit Us. Neither shall or will we be in any way prejudicial to his Majesties Highness and Imperial Dignity during his Majesties Life But some say that he has his Power by virtue of his Election which Power is limited and only to be exercised at a certain time and manner Such is to be seen in R. J. Spir. 1542. instead and in the name of his Imperial Majesty and for Our Self And in the Capitulation of Maximilian the II. and Ferdinand the III. by Our Royal and future Imperial Government The King of the Romans on the other side agrees with the Emperor in regard of his Dignity save the Emperor's Prerogative and Preheminence And thence it is that the King of the Romans is called the Head of the Empire after the Emperor because he is in certain hopes to have it as sure as the Dolphin in France is to have the Kingdom of France and a true Prince of Wales that of Great Britain and the Prince in Spain that of Spain Now the Elector of Mentz as Arch-Chancellor through Germany did assemble the Electors of the Roman Empire according to the said manner and the form of the Golden Bull intreating them That they would come to the Election of a King of the Romans at Augsbourg within the space of three Months which they did accordingly and appeared there And first of all Leopold the Roman Emperor and then the eight Electors 1. Anselm Francis Frederic Elector and Arch-Bishop of Mentz and Arch-Chancellor through Germany 2. John Hugo Elector and Arch-Bishop of Trier Arch-Chanceâ—lor through France 3. Clemens Elector and Arch-Bishop of Cologn Arch-Chancellor through Italy 4. Leopold King of Bohemia Arch-Skinker or Arch-Cup-bearer of the Sacred Roman Empire His Person was represented by the Chancellor of the Kingdom of Bohemia 5. Maximilian Maria Elector of Bavaria and Arch-Sewer of the Sacred Roman Empire 6. George the III. Elector of Saxony and Arch-Marshal of the Sacred Roman Empire He was represented by his Ambassador 7. Frederic the III. Elector of Brandenbourg and Arch-Chamberlain of the Sacred Roman Empire did not come in Person but was represented by his Ambassador 8. Philip William Elector Palatin and Arch-Treasâ—rer of the Sacred Roman Empire They being assembled at Augsbourg the Emperor in a fine Speech desired them to chuse a King of the Romans to which hitherto the unhappy Division of the Empire has put a stop and now being united he intreated them to proceed to that Election for the good of the Empire and then that the French King might be frustrated in his imaginary and vain hopes he hitherto did feed himself with in aspiring to an Universal Monarchy and recommended to them his own Son Joseph King of Hungaria as well for his Virtue as his Power This Prince Joseph whose Youth promises great things was born the 26th of June 1678. of Leopold the Emperor his Father and of Eleonora the Empress his Mother the Elector Palatin's eldest Daughter Upon this the Electors continued in their Meetings and Consultations and fixed the 21 11 of January 1690 for that great Election and formed the Capitulation the King of the Romans is bound by Oath to keep and then upon the said day they proceeded to the Election and with one consent they chose Joseph King of Hungaria King of the Romans The Coronation is speedily to be performed and great preparations are made for it and a great quantity of Medals coined The confluence of Strangers of all ranks which come from all parts of Christendom to see this unparallel'd sight is so great here that we reckon above 3000 already come to this place FINIS