Electorate of Trier

The Electorate of Trier, traditionally known in English by its French name of Trèves, was an ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire that existed from the end of the 9th to the early 19th century. It consisted of the temporal possessions of the prince-archbishop of Trier, also prince-elector of the empire. There were only two other ecclesiastical prince-electors in the Empire: the Electorate of Cologne and the Electorate of Mainz, among which Mainz ranked first.The capital of the electorate was Trier, with the main residence of the Elector being Koblenz from the 16th century onward. The electorate was secularized in 1803 during Napoleonic rule.The Elector of Trier, in his capacity as archbishop, also administered the archdiocese of Trier, whose territory did not correspond to the electorate .HistoryTrier, as the important Roman provincial capital of Augusta Treverorum, had been the seat of a bishop since Roman times. It was raised to archiepiscopal status during the reign of Charlemagne, whose will mentions the bishoprics of Metz, Toul and Verdun as its suffragans.