The Electoral Rhenish Circle was an Imperial Circle

Imperial Circle

An Imperial Circle comprised a regional grouping of territories of the Holy Roman Empire, primarily for the purpose of organizing a common defensive structure and of collecting the imperial taxes, but also as a means of organization within the Imperial Diet and the Imperial Chamber Court.Each...

 of the Holy Roman Empire

Holy Roman Empire

The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...

, created in 1512.

The circle derived its name from four of the seven prince-elector

Prince-elector

The Prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire were the members of the electoral college of the Holy Roman Empire, having the function of electing the Roman king or, from the middle of the 16th century onwards, directly the Holy Roman Emperor.The heir-apparent to a prince-elector was known as an...

s whose lands along the Middle Rhine

Middle Rhine

Between Bingen and Bonn, Germany, the Rhine River flows as the Middle Rhine through the Rhine Gorge, a formation created by erosion, which happened at about the same rate as an uplift in the region, leaving the river at about its original level, and the surrounding lands raised...

 comprised the vast majority of its territory.

Composition

The circle was made up of the following states:

Name	Type of entity	Comments
Arenberg Arenberg Arenberg, also spelled as Aremberg or Ahremberg, is a historic county, principality and finally duchy located in modern Germany. The Dukes of Arenberg remain a prominent Belgian aristocratic family.- History :...	County County A county is a jurisdiction of local government in certain modern nations. Historically in mainland Europe, the original French term, comté, and its equivalents in other languages denoted a jurisdiction under the sovereignty of a count A county is a jurisdiction of local government in certain...	Attained imperial immediacy in 1549 under Jean de Ligne Jean de Ligne, Duke of Aremberg Jean de Ligne, Duke of Arenberg was Baron of Barbançon, founder of the House of Arenberg and stadtholder of the Dutch provinces of Friesland, Groningen, Drenthe and Overijssel from 1549 until his death.... , Principality Principality A principality is a monarchical feudatory or sovereign state, ruled or reigned over by a monarch with the title of prince or princess, or by a monarch with another title within the generic use of the term prince....  from 1576, raised to Duchy Duchy A duchy is a territory, fief, or domain ruled by a duke or duchess.Some duchies were sovereign in areas that would become unified realms only during the Modern era . In contrast, others were subordinate districts of those kingdoms that unified either partially or completely during the Medieval era...  in 1644
Beilstein Greifenstein Greifenstein is a community in the Lahn-Dill-Kreis in Hesse, Germany. Its administrative seat is Beilstein. Greifenstein covers 67.43 km² on the eastern slope of the Westerwald range...	Lordship	Held by the Counts of Nassau Nassau (state) Nassau was a German state within the Holy Roman Empire and later in the German Confederation. Its ruling dynasty, now extinct in male line, was the House of Nassau.-Origins:... -Dillenburg from 1343
Cologne	Prince-bishopric	(Re-)established by King Otto I Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor Otto I the Great , son of Henry I the Fowler and Matilda of Ringelheim, was Duke of Saxony, King of Germany, King of Italy, and "the first of the Germans to be called the emperor of Italy" according to Arnulf of Milan...  in 953, Prince-elector Prince-elector The Prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire were the members of the electoral college of the Holy Roman Empire, having the function of electing the Roman king or, from the middle of the 16th century onwards, directly the Holy Roman Emperor.The heir-apparent to a prince-elector was known as an...  and Archchancellor Archchancellor An archchancellor or chief chancellor was a title given to the highest dignitary of the Holy Roman Empire, and also used occasionally during the Middle Ages to denote an official who supervised the work of chancellors or notaries....  of Italy Kingdom of Italy (medieval) The Kingdom of Italy was a political entity under control of Carolingian dynasty of Francia first, after the defeat of the Lombards in 774. It was finally incorporated as a part of the Holy Roman Empire in 962....  in 1356 Golden Bull of 1356 The Golden Bull of 1356 was a decree issued by the Reichstag assembly in Nuremberg headed by the Luxembourg Emperor Charles IV that fixed, for a period of more than four hundred years, important aspects of the constitutional structure of the Holy Roman Empire...
Koblenz	Bailiwick Bailiwick A bailiwick is usually the area of jurisdiction of a bailiff, and may also apply to a territory in which the sheriff's functions were exercised by a privately appointed bailiff under a royal or imperial writ. The word is now more generally used in a metaphorical sense, to indicate a sphere of...	An administrative grouping of lands including the immediate Lordship of Elsen Grevenbroich Grevenbroich is a town in the Rhein-Kreis Neuss, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is situated on the river Erft, approximately 15 km southwest of Neuss and 15 km southeast of Mönchengladbach.-City districts:... , held by the Teutonic Knights Teutonic Knights The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem , commonly the Teutonic Order , is a German medieval military order, in modern times a purely religious Catholic order...
Mainz Archbishopric of Mainz The Archbishopric of Mainz or Electorate of Mainz was an influential ecclesiastic and secular prince-bishopric in the Holy Roman Empire between 780–82 and 1802. In the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy, the Archbishop of Mainz was the primas Germaniae, the substitute of the Pope north of the Alps...	Prince-bishopric	Archbishopric established in 781 by Pope Adrian I Pope Adrian I Pope Adrian was pope from February 1, 772 to December 25, 795. He was the son of Theodore, a Roman nobleman.Shortly after Adrian's accession the territory ruled by the papacy was invaded by Desiderius, king of the Lombards, and Adrian was compelled to seek the assistance of the Frankish king... , Prince-elector and Archchancellor of Germany Kingdom of Germany The Kingdom of Germany developed out of the eastern half of the former Carolingian Empire....  in 1356
Nieder-Isenburg Nieder-Isenburg Nieder-Isenburg was a small mediæval County in northern Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It was located to the east of the town of Neuwied, due north of Vallendar....	County	Emerged from Isenburg-Isenburg Isenburg-Isenburg Isenburg-Isenburg was the name of a state of the Holy Roman Empire, based around Isenburg in modern Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It was created as a partition of the Niederlahngau in 1137. It partitioned into Lower Isenburg and Isenburg-Braunsberg in 1199....  in 1199, partitioned in 1502 into Isenburg-Grenzau Isenburg-Grenzau Isenburg-Grenzau was the name of several states of the Holy Roman Empire, based around the Lordship of Grenzau, in modern Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The first state called Isenburg-Grenzau existed 1158–1290; the second 1341–1439; and the third 1502–1664....  and Isenburg-Neumagen Isenburg-Neumagen Isenburg-Neumagen was the name of a state of the Holy Roman Empire, based around Neumagen-Dhron in modern Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.Isenburg-Neumagen was created on the partition of Lower Isenburg in 1502...  (to Sayn-Wittgenstein Sayn-Wittgenstein Sayn-Wittgenstein was a county of mediæval Germany, located in the Sauerland of eastern North Rhine-Westphalia. Sayn-Wittgenstein was created when Count Salentin of Sayn-Homburg married the heiress Countess Adelaide of Wittgenstein in 1345...  in 1554), extinct in 1664
Electoral Palatinate	County palatinate Count palatine Count palatine is a high noble title, used to render several comital styles, in some cases also shortened to Palatine, which can have other meanings as well.-Comes palatinus:...	Arose from the allodium Allodial title Allodial title constitutes ownership of real property that is independent of any superior landlord, but it should not be confused with anarchy as the owner of allodial land is not independent of his sovereign...  of the Count palatine Count palatine Count palatine is a high noble title, used to render several comital styles, in some cases also shortened to Palatine, which can have other meanings as well.-Comes palatinus:...  of Lower Lorraine Lower Lorraine The Duchy of Lower Lorraine or Lower Lotharingia , established in 959 was a stem duchy of the medieval German kingdom, which encompassed part of modern-day Belgium, the Netherlands, the northern part of the German Rhineland and a part of northern France east of the Schelde river.It was created out...  in 1085 under Henry of Laach Henry of Laach Henry of Laach was the first count palatine of the Rhine . Henry was the son of Herman I, count of Gleiberg. Henry was a follower of Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor... , held by the House of Wittelsbach from 1214, Prince-elector and Truchsess Seneschal A seneschal was an officer in the houses of important nobles in the Middle Ages. In the French administrative system of the Middle Ages, the sénéchal was also a royal officer in charge of justice and control of the administration in southern provinces, equivalent to the northern French bailli... in 1356
Rheineck	Burgraviate	Fiefdom of Cologne around Burg Rheineck, held by the Freiherr Freiherr The German titles Freiherr and Freifrau and Freiin are titles of nobility, used preceding a person's given name or, after 1919, before the surname... en of Varsberg Varsberg Varsberg is a commune in the Moselle department in Lorraine in north-eastern France.-See also:*Communes of the Moselle department...  from 1576
Thurn und Taxis Thurn und Taxis The Princely House of Thurn and Taxis is a German family that was a key player in the postal services in Europe in the 16th century and is well known as owners of breweries and builders of many castles.- History :...	Baron Baron Baron is a title of nobility. The word baron comes from Old French baron, itself from Old High German and Latin baro meaning " man, warrior"; it merged with cognate Old English beorn meaning "nobleman"... s	Briefadel without territory, Freiherren from 1608, Counts from 1624, raised to Princely Counts in 1695
Trier	Prince-bishopric	Established in 902, Prince-elector and Archchancellor of Arles Kingdom of Arles The Kingdom of Arles or Second Kingdom of Burgundy of the High Middle Ages was a Frankish dominion established in 933 from lands of the early medieval Kingdom of Burgundy at Arles...  in 1356

Sources

The list of states making up the Electoral Rhenish Circle is based on that in the German Wikipedia

German Wikipedia

The German Wikipedia is the German-language edition of Wikipedia, a free and mostly publicly editable online encyclopedia.Founded in March 2001, it is the second-oldest and, with over articles, the second-largest edition of Wikipedia, behind the English Wikipedia...

 article Kurrheinischer Reichskreis.

External links