Electorate of Salzburg
The Electorate of Salzburg (German: Kurfürstentum Salzburg or Kursalzburg), occasionally known as the Grand Duchy of Salzburg, was an electoral principality of the Holy Roman Empire from 1803–05, the short-lived successor state of the Prince-Archbishopric of Salzburg.
History
In 1800 the territory of the Prince-Archbishopric had been occupied by French forces during the War of the Second Coalition, whereby Archbishop Count Hieronymus von Colloredo fled to Vienna. Augmented by the Berchtesgaden Provostry and parts of the former prince-bishoprics of Eichstätt and Passau, his lands were reorganized as the Electorate of Salzburg, created for Ferdinand III of Habsburg-Lorraine, younger brother of Emperor Francis II.
Ferdinand had held the Grand Duchy of Tuscany until 1801, when Emperor Francis had to cede the rule over Tuscany to France and Louis of Bourbon-Parma according to the Treaty of Lunéville. The Grand Duke, on good terms with Napoleon, reached his compensation with the former Archbishopric in December 1802. The secularisation was accomplished, when Prince-Archbishop Colloredo in his Vienna exile formally resigned in favour of Ferdinand on 11 February 1803. Two weeks later, the episcopal territory was secularized as part of the German Mediatisation (Reichsdeputationshauptschluss).
