Electorate of Cologne

 

This page covers the Electorate of Cologne, including the exclaves of Vest Recklinghausen and the Duchy of Westphalia, which are treated as Landesteile (along with the Upper and Lower Archbishoprics along the Rhein). Smaller subdivisions are listed by Landesteil rather than for the whole country. Subdivisions that were under the sovereignty of the Electorate but were administered by other countries or by foreign subjects are placed in “quasi-countries” and are not listed here. Instead, you can find them on this index page, which will direct you to the page(s) where their quasi-countries are described.

 

• Simplified country name: Cologne-Bonn (1)
• Nation: Ecclesiastical Germany
• Chronology
  • 4th century: Established as seat of a bishopric
  • 5th century: Elevated to an archbishopric
  • 10th century: Archbishop recognized as having secular authority over part of its ecclesiastical territory along the Rhein, eventually consisting of the Oberes Erzstift (Upper Archbishopric) governed from Andernach and the Niederes Erzstift (Lower Archbishopric) governed from Neuss
  • 1180: Archbishop acquires the Duchy of Westphalia and establishes a presence in the Recklinghausen area
  • 1230: Archbishop designated as one of six Electors of the Empire
  • 1288: Elector/archbishop loses the Battle of Worringen and is subsequently evicted from Cologne city, which becomes functionally independent
  • 1305: Towns in Vest Recklinghausen are formally united into a coherent entity
  • 1331: Elector acquires the County of Hülchrath, thereby closing the gap between the Obere and Niedere Erzstifte
  • 1368: Duchy of Westphalia purchases the County of Arnsberg, thereby uniting noncontiguous portions of the Duchy
  • 1445: Duchy of Westphalia loses the Soester Börde (on its northern edge), which associates itself with the County of Mark after a rebellion
  • 1446: Elector grants administrative rights over Vest Recklinghausen to Gemen (shifting to Schaumburg in 1576)
  • 1475: Cologne city is given imperial status, formally removing it from the Elector’s jurisdiction
  • 1547: Beginning of database for the Duchy of Westphalia (2)
  • 1559: Beginning of database for the Oberes Erzstift and Niederes Erzstift (3)
  • 1576: Elector regains administrative rights over Vest Recklinghausen/beginning of database for Recklinghausen
  • 1597: Elector/archbishop establishes permanent seat in Bonn
  • 1794: Obererzstift and Niedererzstift mostly occupied by France/end of database west of the Rhein
  • 1803: Electorate secularized/end of database east of the Rhein
• Outsourcings
  • to Manderscheidian countries (1521-1780)
  • to Bassenheimian countries (1554-1794)
  • to countries in Minor-Dynastic Germany
    • Myllendonk, Anholt, or Vorst-Lombeck (1554-1649; 1735-1794)
    • Gymnich-Vischel, Bourscheid-Büllerheim, or Quadt-Wickrath (1559-1794)
  • to Reifferscheidian countries (1559-1794)
  • to subjects of Jülich (1559-1794)
  • to subjects of Berg, Bavaria, or Cleves (1559-1794)
  • to Neuenahrian countries (1559-1589)
  • to Bentheimian countries (1589-1794)
  • to Leyenian countries (1629-1794)
  • to Lords of Wolff-Metternich (1633-1794)
  • to Fürstenbergian countries (1670-1683)
  • to subjects of Sweden (1692-1794)
  • to subjects of Brabant or the Netherlandic Republic (1694-1745)
  • to subjects of Liege (1782-1794)
• Insourcings
  • within Principality of Dillenburg-Siegen
• Shared-Sovereignty Condominia
  • with Berg or Jülich (1521-1794)
  • with Moers (1519-1794)
  • with Trier (1545-1794)
• Disputed territory
  • with Jülich (1596-1794)
  • with Cleves or Guelders (1772-1794)

 

(1) I need a name that distinguishes the Electorate from the Imperial City of Cologne. My convention, whenever there is such a conflict, is to reserve the stand-alone name for the imperial city and identify the ecclesiastical entity by its seat. The Electorate had no permanent seat until Bonn was selected in 1597, but it was always in the rotation and I use it throughout the period covered by the data base.

(2) Year in which Hermann of Wied, the Elector who tried to convert the Duchy to Protestantism, died. (Same year used for the neighboring Bishopric of Paderborn, also ruled by Hermann.)

(3) I chose 1559 because it minimized the number of boundary and administrative changes I had to account for.