Most of the German princes had come…
1338 CE
Most of the German princes had come to back Holy Roman Emperor Louis IV against increasingly fierce papal denunciations by Pope John XXII.
Louis, consistently opposed by the papacy, rallies their support.
In view of the denied recognition by the pope, the prince-electors see the necessity to affirm their franchise.
Six electors from Cologne, Mainz and Trier, Saxe-Wittenberg, Brandenburg, and the Electorate of the Palatinate meet on July 16, 1338, at the Nussbaumgarten in Rhens to support Emperor Louis IV.
The practice of election of the Holy Roman Emperor had finally prevailed since the fall of the House of Hohenstaufen, but it is now fixed that the election by all or the majority of the electors automatically confers the royal title and rule over the empire, without papal confirmation.
The convened prince-electors decide that "Louis is the rightfully elected King of the Romans, and his legitimate power (in the German kingdom) is not dependent upon the pope's will".
In coincidence with the Emperor's loss of power over Italy, the decree means a decisive step beyond the universal claim of the translatio imperii derived from the Roman Empire and conveyed by the pope.
Louis reacts with two mandates of August 6, 1338, stating that the Emperor-elect is vested with complete Imperial rights and all estates are obliged to ignore dissenting papal decretals.
Louis will continue to negotiate, fruitlessly, with Pope John's successors, Benedict XII and Clement VI.