Electoral capitulation

An electoral capitulation was a written agreement in parts of mediaeval Europe in which an imperial candidate made commitments about what he would do in the event of his election, but which could also specify how his responsibilities would be regulated and place limitations on his authority to exercise power.

The most famous electoral capitulation was that of the Holy Roman Emperors, known is Latin as the capitulatio caesarea and in German as the Wahlkapitulation.

From the 13th century onwards, the electoral body for the election of the King of the Romans in the Holy Roman Empire was the group of powerful princes known as the prince electors. And from the election of Emperor Charles V in 1519, a Wahlkapitulation (capitulatio caesarea) was presented by the prince electors to the future Roman-German emperor.

Initially the emperor's powers were almost unlimited, but these were now restricted and specified by the Wahlkapitulation. For example, the last Wahlkapitulation negotiated in modern terms ran to 314 pages and was an important basic law of imperial rule.

During negotiations with France within the framework of the Peace of Westphalia, the Wahlkapitulation of Ferdinand III, which provided for imperial rights (Reichsrecht) and imperial estates (Reichsgüter) to be divested, was repealed, and France was given full sovereignty over territories in Alsace and Lorraine.

The permanent electoral capitulation or ständige Wahlkapitulation (capitulatio perpetua) of 1711 was an attempt to lay down the regulations for future kings in a Wahlkapitulation specified in advance. It included provisions that forbade the Empire from being turned into a hereditary monarchy. In this way the prince electors attempted to protect their political position. However, these documents were never ratified by an emperor and so never elevated to an imperial statute (Reichsgesetz).

In 1806, Francis II initiated the dissolution of the "Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation" because, as a result of the circumstances of history (the Napoleonic or Coalition Wars and the founding of the Confederation of the Rhine), he was no longer in a position to fulfil the duties prescribed in the Wahlkapitulation.

...
Wikipedia