From 1261 (formally 1356), the title holder was a member of the small group of prince-electors who elected the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.
The first hereditary count palatine of the Rhine was Conrad of Hohenstaufen, who was the younger brother of Emperor Frederick Barbarossa.
The Golden Bull of 1356, in circumvention of inner-Wittelsbach contracts and thus bypassing Bavaria, recognized the Palatinate as one of the secular electorates.
The count was given the hereditary offices of Archsteward (Erztruchseß) of the Empire and Imperial Vicar (Reichsverweser) of Franconia, Swabia, the Rhine and southern Germany.
The position of prince-elector had existed earlier (for example, when two rival kings of Germany were elected in 1257: Richard of Cornwall and Alfonso X of Castile), though it is difficult to determine exactly the earliest date of the office.
One task that still tied him to the former Palatinate area was the chairmanship of the board of trustees of the European Foundation for the Imperial Cathedral of Speyer[3] in the State of Rhineland-Palatinate.