Imperial vicar

An imperial vicar (Reichsvikar) was a prince charged with administering all or part of the Holy Roman Empire on behalf of the Emperor. Later, an imperial vicar was invariably one of two princes charged by the Golden Bull with administering the Holy Roman Empire during an interregnum.

The Holy Roman Empire had no fixed law of succession. When a King or Holy Roman Emperor died, if a King of the Romans had not already been elected, there would be no new Emperor for a matter of several months until all the Electors, or their representatives, could assemble for a new Imperial election. During that time, Imperial institutions still required oversight. This was performed by two Imperial vicars. Each vicar, in the words of the Golden Bull, was "the administrator of the empire itself, with the power of passing judgments, of presenting to ecclesiastical benefices, of collecting returns and revenues and investing with fiefs, of receiving oaths of fealty for and in the name of the holy empire". All acts of the vicars were subject to ratification by the elected King or Emperor. On many occasions, however, there was no interregnum, as a new king had been elected during the lifetime of the previous Emperor.

The vicariate came to be associated with two Counts Palatinate: the Duke and Elector of Saxony (who also held the position of Count Palatine of Saxony) was vicar in areas operating under Saxon law (Saxony, Westphalia, Hanover, and northern Germany). The Count Palatine of the Rhine, also an Elector, was vicar in the remainder of the Empire (Franconia, Swabia, the Rhine, and southern Germany). The Golden Bull of 1356 confirmed the position of the two Electors.

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