electorate · Germany and Central Europe

Electorate of Trier

898 CE – 1803 CE (approx.) · capital Koblenz

The ecclesiastical principality of the archbishops of Trier, one of the seven electors of the Holy Roman Empire, stretching along the Moselle and Rhine.

Origins

Trier had been an imperial capital in late Roman times and a bishopric since the 3rd century. In 898 King Zwentibold granted Archbishop Ratbod immunity and comital rights over the city, the basis of the archbishops' temporal power. Over the following centuries they built a territory along the Moselle from Trier to Koblenz.

Rule and society

Archbishop Baldwin of Luxembourg, brother of Emperor Henry VII, consolidated the territory between 1307 and 1354. The Golden Bull of 1356 confirmed the archbishop as an elector and arch-chancellor for Gaul and Burgundy. The electors moved their residence to Koblenz and Ehrenbreitstein, and Trier kept the Holy Robe relic, exhibited to pilgrims.

Decline and legacy

French revolutionary armies occupied the left bank of the Rhine in 1794. The last elector, Clemens Wenceslaus of Saxony, fled, and in 1803 the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss dissolved the electorate, its remaining eastern lands going to Nassau-Weilburg. After 1815 most of it became Prussian.

Lineage

Imperial Abbey of Prüm 721 CE – 1576 CEImperial Abbey of Saint Maximin 1139 CE – 1669 CEElectorate of Trier

Connections (3)

More states of Germany and Central Europe →

Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Electorate of Trier. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/electorate-of-trier
MLA
“Electorate of Trier.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/electorate-of-trier. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Electorate of Trier.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/electorate-of-trier.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Electorate of Trier’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/electorate-of-trier (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻