On May 26, 1685,
Charles II, Elector Palatine, the
Calvinist elector of the
Electoral Palatinate, died without children. He was succeeded by his
Catholic cousin
Philip William, Elector Palatine, bringing the balance of electors to six Catholics, one Calvinist, and one
Lutheran. The Holy Roman Empire had been embroiled since 1683 in the
Great Turkish War, repelling attempted
Ottoman conquests in
Southeast Europe. On September 25, 1688, hoping to capitalize on the empire's preoccupation with the Turks, the
French King
Louis XIV invaded across the
Rhine, precipitating the
Nine Years' War. Louis's war aims were to install his preferred candidate,
Wilhelm Egon von Fürstenberg,
bishop of
Strasbourg, as elector of
Cologne, and to occupy the Electoral Palatinate, to which he believed he was entitled as Charles II's sister
Elizabeth Charlotte, Madame Palatine was the wife of his younger brother
Philippe I, Duke of Orléans.
Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor called for the election of his successor. He was granted one vote as
king of
Bohemia, but because the even number of electors might result in a tie, following the precedent of the
elections of 1653 and
1658, he abstained. The remaining seven electors were: •
Anselm Franz von Ingelheim, elector of
Mainz •
Johann Hugo von Orsbeck, elector of
Trier •
Joseph Clemens of Bavaria, elector of
Cologne •
Maximilian II Emanuel, elector of
Bavaria •
John George III, elector of
Saxony •
Frederick I of Prussia, elector of
Brandenburg •
Philip William, Elector Palatine, elector of the Electoral Palatinate ==Election results==