the name given to the decree issued by Emperor Charles IV in 1356, to regulate the manner of election of the emperors and the number and rights of the electors. The number of electors was fixed at seven--the archbishops of Mainz, Cologne and Treves, the king of Bohemia, the count palatine of the Rhine, the duke of Saxony and the margrave of Brandenburg. It was provided that in case of an interregnum the administration of the Empire should lie with the elector palatine and the elector of Saxony. The vital question as to what part the pope should have in the affairs of the Empire was left untouched.