The Golden Book.

The Golden Slam is a basic law of the Empire that grants seven high-ranking nobles (elected emperors) the privilege to elect a king, as well as other privileges that other great emperors do not have.Image: On January 2, 2006, the German Post issued a memorial stamp for the 650th anniversary of the Golden Slam.

The throne of the Holy Roman Empire was vacant within 25 years after the end of the Hohenstaufen Dynasty, which was called "the era of great vacancy" in history. In 1273, after the end of the great vacancy era, the successive emperors of Germany were mainly selected by the three most powerful royal families at that time-the Luxembourg family of Bohemia, the Wittelsbach family of Bavaria and the Habsburg family of Austria. This alternating power between the three major families lasted until the disintegration of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806.

Charles IV (Holy Roman Empire), who was "elected" emperor from the Luxembourg family in 1346, was extremely weak in imperial power. Under the pressure of selecting emperors and marquises, he issued the so-called "Golden Edict" in 1356. The "Golden Edict" re-clarified the prerogative of selecting emperors and marquises to "elect" emperors, recognized that vassals had administrative power, judicial power, tariff power and coinage power in their respective states, and stipulated that citizens and free farmers in each state belonged to the monarch of their states. This actually recognizes the independent status of each state.

At the time, the "Golden Covenant" officially identified seven emperors: Archbishop of Cologne, Archbishop of Meinz, Archbishop of Trier, and Archbishop of Saxony, Archbishop of Faltz, Archbishop of Brandenburg and Archbishop of Bohemia (now in the West of the Czech Republic).

The Golden Slam further consolidated the unity and unity of the German Empire in political form and ended the long-standing dispute arising from every emperor's attempt to rule Germany. Since then, the emperor's power has been shared by the most powerful and owned by the family of other emperors. This means that without the cooperation of other emperors, the emperor would not be able to rule.

However, the "Golden Edict" also led Germany to the road of feudal separatist regime.

The picture shows the Emperor's Cathedral, which was the tallest building in Frankfurt until the 1960s, and has been used as a fire observation tower for centuries. The "Golden Imperial Edict" issued in 1356 made this place the crowning place of the king.