Electors (Ger. Kurfürsten), in the German empire, were those great princes who had the right of electing the emperor or king. In the earliest times, under the Carolingians, the crown was hereditary; afterwards Germany became formally an elective monarchy, but the election was practically almost limited to the reigning family. In the 13th century the right of election, for a time exercised by all the princes of the empire, became limited to the holders of the highest ecclesiastical and civil offices, some of which gradually became hereditary, and connected with territorial principalities, as in the case of the Hohenstaufens and of the Dukes of Bavaria, Saxony, Swabia, &c. Thus, there came to be seven electors, the spiritual electors of Mainz, Treves, and Cologne (as being the three chancellors of the empire), the elector of the Palatinate (as imperial steward), of Brandenburg (as chamberlain), Saxony (marchal), and Bohemia (imperial cup-bearer). During the Thirty Years' War, the right of the Palatinate was conferred on Bavaria; by the peace of Westphalia, an eighth electorate was established, Bavaria and the Palatinate being each allowed the full right; and in 1692 a ninth was added, that of Brunswick-Lüneburg (Hanover), but not without resistance by the electors and states of the empire, so that the new electorate was not fully recognised till 1710. In 1777 the number was again reduced to eight, the Bavarian electorate falling to the Elector Palatine. The electors held a very lofty position in the German empire. The Golden Bull (1356) describes them as 'the seven pillars and lamps of the holy empire.' They had many important rights, exemptions, and privileges, and royal dignity (but not the title of Majesty).
During the French ascendancy great changes took place. Of the old electorates only that of Mainz was left, but three new ones—Baden, Württemberg, and Hesse-Cassel—and later, one of Salzburg, were created. With the dissolution of the German empire the dignity of elector vanished, but the empty title continued to be used by the elector of Hesse-Cassel till 1866. See GERMANY.