THE LOCATION OF THE SEATS OF THE ARCHBISHOPS OF TRIER, COLOGNE, AND
MAINZ.
In the name of the holy and undivided Trinity, amen. Charles by the
grace of God emperor of the Romans, Augustus, and king of Bohemia.... To
prevent any dispute arising between the archbishops of Trier, Mainz, and
Cologne, electoral princes of the empire, as to their priority and rank
in the diet, it has been decided and is hereby decreed with the advice
and consent of all the electoral princes, ecclesiastical and secular,
that the archbishop of Trier shall have the seat directly opposite and
facing the emperor; that the archbishop of Mainz shall have the seat at
the right of the emperor when the diet is held in the diocese or
province of Mainz, or anywhere in Germany except in the diocese of
Cologne; that the archbishop of Cologne shall have the seat at the right
of the emperor when the diet is held in the diocese or province of
Cologne, or anywhere in Gaul or Italy. This applies to all public
ceremonies: court sessions, conferring of fiefs, banquets, councils, and
all occasions on which the princes meet with the emperor for the
transaction of imperial business. This order of seating shall be
observed by the successors of the present archbishops of Cologne, Trier,
and Mainz, and shall never be questioned.