Principality of Regensburg

The Principality of Regensburg was a state of the Holy Roman Empire created in 1803 for Karl Theodor von Dalberg, the former archbishop of Mainz, after Mainz itself was annexed by France under the Treaty of Luneville. Its territory combined the former prince-bishopric of Regensburg with the free imperial city, the abbeys of St Emmeram, Obermunster and Niedermunster, and several nearby lordships. Dalberg received the electoral dignity of Mainz and ruled as Elector-Archchancellor, with Regensburg as his capital. When the Holy Roman Empire dissolved in 1806, the principality joined the Confederation of the Rhine as a member state. Dalberg also held the Principality of Aschaffenburg, and in 1810 he merged his territories into the Grand Duchy of Frankfurt. Regensburg itself was annexed by the Kingdom of Bavaria in 1810, ending the principality after seven years. Its brief existence reflected Napoleon's reorganisation of the German states after the collapse of the old imperial church.