Elector of Trier

The Elector of Trier was one of the Prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire.
History
The temporal power of the archbishops was not gained without opposition. The German Kings Otto IV and Conrad IV granted charters to the city, which admitted the jurisdiction of its archbishop, Baldwin of Luxemburg, in 1308. This prince, a brother of the emperor Henry VII, ruled from 1307 to 1354, and was the real founder of the power of Trier. His predecessor Diether III. of Nassau had left his lands heavily encumbered with debt. Baldwin raised them to great prosperity by his energy and foresight, and chiefly as a result of the active political and military support he rendered to the emperors Henry VII., Louis the Bavarian and Charles IV. enlarged his dominions almost to their ultimate extent. He assumed the title of archchancellor of Gaul and Aries (or Burgundy), and in 1315 admitted the claim of the archbishop of Cologne to the highest place after the archbishop of Mainz among the spiritual princes of the empire. Thenceforward the elector of Trier held the third place in the electoral college. After Baldwin's death, the prosperity of Trier was checked by wars and disputes between rival claimants. In 1456 the estates united for the purpose of restoring order and secured the right of electing their archbishops.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the sancta civitas Trevirorum flourished with religious foundations and became a great center of monastic learning. The university, founded in 1473, remained open until 1797. In the latter half of the 16th century the supervision of the Electorate's educational regimen was given to the Jesuits.
The Archbishop-Elector Richard von Greiffenklau (1467-1531) successfully opposed the Reformation. One of his acts was the exhibition of the Holy Robe of Trier, which is believed to have been worn by Jesus before His Crucifixion, to the public. It proved to be so popular that it made Trier one of the major destinations of the Christian pilgrims.
During the Thirty Years' War the Archbishop-Elector Philip Christopher von Sotern favored France, and accepted its protection in 1631. In the following year, the French drove all the Spanish and Swedish troops from the lands of the Electorate but in March 1635 the Spaniards returned, recapturing Trier and taking the Arcbishop-Elector prisoner. He remained in captivity for ten years but he was reinstated by the French in 1645 and confirmed in his possessions by the Treaty of Westphalia. The French occupied Trier in 1674 and 1688 but each time their occupation was brief.
The last Archbishop-Elector, Clement Wenceslaus (1768-1802), granted toleration to the Protestants in 1782 and established his residence in Coblenz in 1786 but in 1794 he fled Napoleon and his Grand Army. With the Peace of Luneville in 1801 France annexed all the territories of the Electorate of Trier on the west side of the Rhine and, in the next year, the Archbishop-Elector abdicated. A new diocese was created for the French department of the Sarre with Trier as its seat. The Electorate’s territories on the east side of the Rhine were secularized and given to Nassau-Weilburg in 1803. But in 1814, at the end of the Napoleonic Wars, almost all the former lands of the Electorate were given to Prussia and the diocese went with them. Another diocese was founded in 1821, with virtually the same boundaries of the old archbishopric, but it was placed under the control of the Archbishop of Cologne.
Archbishops of Trier
*Radbod 883-915
*Rudgar 915-930
*Rudbrecht 930-956
*Heinrich I 956-964
*Dietrich I 965-977
* Ebert 977-993
*Ludolf 994-1008
*Megingod 1008-1015
*Poppo von Babenberg 1016-1047
* Erhard 1047-1066
*Kuno I von Wetterau (Conrad) 1066-1066
*Udo von Wetterau 1066-1078
*Egilbert 1079-1101
*Bruno 1101-1124
*Gottfrid 1124-1127
*Meginher 1127-1130
*Adalberon von Munsterol 1131-1152
*Hillin von Fallemanien 1152-1169
*Arnold I 1169-1183
*Fulmar 1183-1189
Archbishop-Electors of Trier
*John I 1189-1212
*Theodoric II (Dietrich von Wied) 1212-42
*Arnold II von Isenburg 1242-59
*Heinrich I von Finstingen 1260-86
*Bohemond I von Warnesberg 1286-99
*Diether von Nassau 1300-07
*Heinrich II von Virneburg 1300-06 (in opposition)
*Baldwin von Luxemburg 1307-54
*Bohemond II von Saarbrücken 1354-61
*Kuno II von Falkenstein 1362-88
*Werner von Falkenstein 1388-1417
*Lenihan von Weideburg 1417-1419
*Otto von Ziegenhain 1419-30
*Rhaban von Helmstadt 1430-38
*Jakob von Sierk 1439-56
*Johann II of Baden 1456-1503
*Jakob von Baden 1503-11
*Richard von Greiffenklau zu Vollrads 1511-31
*Johann von Metzenhausen 1531-40
*Johann Ludwig von Hagen 1540-47
*John of Isenburg-Grenzau 1547-56
*Johann von der Leyen 1556-67
*Jakob von Eltz-Rübenach 1567-81
*Johann von Schönenberg 1581-99
*Lothar von Metternich 1599-1623
*Philipp Christoph von Sötern 1623-52
*Karl Kaspar von der Leyen-Hohengeroldseck 1652-76
*Johann Hugo von Orsbeck 1676-1711
*Charles Joseph of Lorraine 1711-15
*Franz Ludwig of Palatinate-Neuburg 1716-29
*Franz Georg von Schönborn-Buchheim 1729-56
*Johann Philipp von Walderdorf 1756-68
*Prince Clemens Wenceslaus of Saxony 1768-1803

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