Cologne (Principia Moderni III Map Game)

The Electorate of Cologne (German: Kurfürstentum Köln or Kurköln) is an ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire and has existed from the 10th to the present. It consisted of the temporal possessions of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cologne (German: Erzbistum Köln), and is ruled by the Archbishop in his capacity as prince-elector. Cologne is one of only three ecclesiastical prince-electors in the Empire, the other two being the Electorate of Mainz and the Electorate of Trier, among which Mainz ranked first.

The capital of the electorate was Cologne until the Elector moved to Bonn after 1288 to avoid jurisdiction conflicts with the authorities of the Free City of Cologne, who largely escaped his authority.