Guarantor of the imperial constitution

Nonetheless, since most clauses in the treaties dealt with the inner workings of the Empire, it is common to regard Sweden and France as external guarantors.

"[2] Cardinal Richelieu first conceived the idea of a French peace guarantee as a form of collective security during the War of the Mantuan Succession (1628–1631).

After the death of Mazarin in 1661, King Louis XIV overplayed his hand, alienated the members of the League and allowed the Emperor Leopold I to regain some of his authority and prestige.

[1][3] The decline of France's guarantor power began with its invasion of the Spanish Netherlands, legally a part of the Empire, in 1667.

[2] The Peace of Westphalia and the guarantor power were renewed in the subsequent treaties of Nijmegen (1679), Ryswick (1697), Rastatt (1714) and, to Russia's benefit, Teschen (1779).

In January 1778, an opportunity presented itself to Catherine the Great when King Frederick II of Prussia requested her mediation in a dispute over Bavaria.

After Catherine's death in 1796, the Russian court took little interest in exercising its guarantor powers, although Tsar Paul I claimed a right to be consulted on all imperial questions.

[1] During the French Revolutionary Wars, the treaties of Campo Formio (1797) and Lunéville (1801) renewed Westphalia and the guarantor clause.