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This paper outlines the Anglo-Habsburg cooperation for the sake of the election of Francis of Lorraine (1708/1745-65) as Holy Roman Emperor in 1745. As the British monarch, King George II (1727-60), was at the same time ? rinc e -elee tor of Hanover, the basis for cooperation between Britain and Austria was twofold. As an ally of Austria in die ongoing War of the Austrian Succession (1740-48), he could subsidize those electors who intended to vote for the Habsburg candidate, Francis of Lorraine, as well, but were in a difficult situation because of the war. As prince-elector of Hanover, he could harmonize his electoral activity with die Habsburg (Bohemian ) policy and effectively support the Habsburg delegates during the election in Frankfurt.
The presentation of these ways of cooperation will be based on literature and printed sources in English, German, and Hungarian, and, further, on primary sources from the Viennese Haus-, Hof- und Staatsarchiv. The reports of Austrian diplomats (Khevenhüller, Wasner, and Zöhrern), the protocols of the Hanoverian Anglo-Habsburg negotiations from July, and those of the electoral meetings in Frankfurt in August and September are excellent resources to reveal the nature and tensions of this cooperation. Since these reports, letters, and protocols originate from Austrian authors, necessarily, in the essay, the Habsburg point of view will be salient. At the end, I will briefly refer to the Convent of Hanover and the "Forty-Five" as factors which have contributed to die estrangement of Britain-Hanover and Austria.
Hanoverian electoral policy in the mid-eighteenth century
The Golden Bull (1356), one of the fundamental documents of the Holy Roman Empire, raised the exclusive body of the seven electors to the political elite of the Empire by granting them a group of special privileges including die right to elect the King of the Romans, the future Emperor. Thus, becoming a member of the Electoral College was regarded as a special honor. Though the electors' number was originally restricted to seven, in the mid-seventeenth century a new electorate was created for the Duke of Bavaria, and finally, a few decades later, the Duke of BrunswickLüneburg (Hanover) joined the noble group of the prince-electors. In principle, the electoral votes were absolutely free, but not the Hanoverian one. The only condition imposed on...