Electorate of Hesse

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Electorate of Hesse Kurfürstentum Hessen (German)
1803–1807 1814–1866
Flag Coat of arms
Hesse-Kassel (red) in 1866, just before the Austro-Prussian War
Status	State of the Holy Roman Empire State of the German Confederation
Capital	Kassel
Common languages	German Northern Hessian dialect
Religion	Protestant (Calvinist), Catholicism (minority)
Government	Absolute monarchy
Elector of Hesse
• 1803–1821	William I
• 1821–1847	William II
• 1847–1866	Frederick William
History
• Established	1803
• Raised to Electorate	1803
• Annexed by Kingdom of Westphalia	1807
• Reestablished	1814
• Annexed by Kingdom of Prussia	1866
Currency	Hesse-Kassel thaler (to 1858) Hesse-Kassel vereinsthaler (1858–1873)
Preceded by Succeeded by Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel Kingdom of Westphalia Kingdom of Westphalia Province of Hesse-Nassau
Today part of	Germany

The Electorate of Hesse (German: Kurfürstentum Hessen), also known as Hesse-Kassel or Kurhessen, was a state whose prince was given the right to elect the Emperor by the Imperial diet in 1803.^[1] When the Holy Roman Empire was abolished in 1806, its prince, William I, chose to retain the title of Elector, even though there was no longer an Emperor to elect. In 1807, with the Treaties of Tilsit, the area was annexed to the Kingdom of Westphalia, but in 1814, the Congress of Vienna restored the electorate.

The state was the only electorate within the German Confederation. It consisted of several detached territories to the north of Frankfurt, which survived until the state was annexed by Prussia in 1866 following the Austro-Prussian War.

The Elector's formal titles included "Elector of Hesse, Prince of Fulda (Fürst von Fulda), Prince of Hersfeld, Hanau, Fritzlar and Isenburg, Count of Katzenelnbogen, Dietz, Ziegenhain, Nidda, and Schaumburg."^[2]