Charles Philip, Elector Palatine, died in December 1740, triggering an imperial interregnum that activated the vicariate — the traditional authority held by certain princes to govern in the Empire's name pending a new coronation. The Palatinate's right to exercise the Rhenish vicariate was an ancient and jealously guarded privilege, and vicariat coinage was struck specifically to assert and commemorate that prerogative. Charles VII would be elected emperor the following year, ending the vacancy.
The 1740 interregnum was itself politically volatile, arising directly from the death of Charles VI and the immediate challenge to Habsburg succession that ignited the War of the Austrian Succession.
Charles Philip, Elector Palatine, died in December 1740, triggering an imperial interregnum that activated the vicariate — the traditional authority held by certain princes to govern in the Empire's name pending a new coronation. The Palatinate's right to exercise the Rhenish vicariate was an ancient and jealously guarded privilege, and vicariat coinage was struck specifically to assert and commemorate that prerogative. Charles VII would be elected emperor the following year, ending the vacancy.
The 1740 interregnum was itself politically volatile, arising directly from the death of Charles VI and the immediate challenge to Habsburg succession that ignited the War of the Austrian Succession.