State

Electorate of Cologne

Also known as Archbishopric of Cologne

The Electorate of Cologne was the ecclesiastical principality of the archbishops of Cologne within the Holy Roman Empire, one of its seven original electorates. Besides lands along the Rhine, governed from Bonn after the city of Cologne won its freedom, the archbishops ruled the Duchy of Westphalia from 1180. The state lost its left-bank lands to France in the 1790s and was dissolved in 1803.

Electorate of Cologne
Image: Laurens · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

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Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Electorate of Cologne. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/electorate-of-cologne
MLA
“Electorate of Cologne.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/electorate-of-cologne. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Electorate of Cologne.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/electorate-of-cologne.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Electorate of Cologne’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/electorate-of-cologne (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻