669 years ago today, on January 10, 1356 (December 8, 1355), Charles IV of the Luxembourgish family issued the Golden Edict at Nuremberg. The Golden Edict The Golden Edict was a basic law of the empire that granted seven prominent grand nobles (electors) the privilege of electing a king and other privileges that other great princes did not have. The picture shows a commemorative stamp issued by Deutsche Post on January 2, 2006 for the 650th anniversary of the promulgation of the Golden Edict. The Holy Roman Empire was vacant for 25 years after the end of the Hohenstaufen dynasty, known as the "era of the great vacancy". In 1273, after the end of the Great Vacancy era, the emperors of Germany were mainly elected by the three most powerful royal families of the time - the Luxemburg family of Bohemia, the Wittesbach family of Bavaria, and the Habsburg family of Austria. This situation of alternating power between the three families continued until the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806. Charles IV (Holy Roman Empire), who was "elected" as emperor from the Luxemburg family in 1346, was extremely weak. Under pressure from the electors, he issued the so-called "Golden Edict" in 1356. The Golden Edict redefined the prerogative of the electors to "elect" the emperor, recognizing the princes' executive, judicial, customs, and coinage powers within their respective states. It stipulated that the citizens and free peasants in each state belonged to the monarch of their state. This effectively recognized the independent status of the states. At that time, the "Golden Edict" officially identified seven electors, namely the Archbishop of Cologne, the Archbishop of Mainz, and the Archbishop of Trier, as well as the Electors of Saxony, the Pharz, Brandenburg, and Bohemia (present-day western Czech Republic). The "Golden Edict" further consolidated the political unity and unity of the German Empire, ending the long-standing disputes caused by each emperor's attempt to rule Germany hereditary. From then on, imperial power was shared by the most powerful family and favored by other electors. This meant that the emperor could not carry out his rule without the cooperation of other electors. However, the "Golden Edict" also led Germany to the road of feudal division. The picture shows the Emperor's Cathedral, which was the tallest building in Frankfurt until the 1960s and has been used as a fireproof observation tower for centuries. The "Golden Edict" issued in 1356 designated this place as the coronation place of the king.